Q: I am a single parent struggling to educate four children. I find the bills for school books, uniforms and other charges at this time of year quite crippling. Surely there should be some form of assistance available to meet these costs? - Cork mother

A: The start up cost for school can be enormous. The National Parents Council has estimated that a full school uniform can cost as much as £137 and a first year books list up to £110. You can add various materials, equipment and sports gear on to that. A full set of Leaving Cert books can easily cost £150.

And secondary schools like yours levy various additional charges also.

There is some help available. Schools get some money from the Department of Education to cover books' costs for pupils deemed by the schools to be needy. This is done at the discretion of the principal; the school's allocation from the Department is commensurate with the estimated level of disadvantage among its pupils. About £6 million was spent on this books scheme last year.

You need to have a discreet word with the principal and explain that you are experiencing problems.

It is also possible through the school principal to have the registration fee for sitting the Junior or Leaving Cert reduced or abolished.

All this places a heavy burden on the shoulders of the principal. Principals themselves, particularly in disadvantaged areas, are often well aware of where the problems lie and may make the contact themselves - or simply supply the books at a reduced rate.

They are encouraged by the Department to operate book rental schemes and organise the re sale of old books within the school, which many do very successfully; some schools use the free books money to operate a rental system.

Incidentally, voluntary contributions are just that, voluntary; you are not obliged to pay them and schools in the free scheme or national schools cannot force you to do so. If they are in the market to provide free education, then they are obliged, under the rules, to provide it free.

Again, most schools are flexible in this and the vast majority will have some families - who are not paying the voluntary contribution.

I think that needy parents are sometimes not aware of this and feel that they must get - the money together somehow, whereas a quiet word with the school principal could solve the matter.

I have heard of some schools which are charging an additional fee for Transition Year which, again, is entirely voluntary - parents do not have to pay it. Indeed schools get an extra £50 per Transition Year pupil to cover the additional costs involved and the Department of Education has certainly not sanctioned any additional Transition Year fee. (The National Parents' Council does estimate an extra £50 cost for a Transition Year student over and above other years in its cost calculations.)

Obviously, trips outside of the classroom and the materials involved in practical projects will cost money, and schools have to cover these costs somehow; but parents in difficult circumstances should not hesitate to make their situation known.

Q: The debate on all Irish schools has set myself and my husband to thinking about whether such a school would be a good choice for our young son. Our command of Irish is not great, but all of these people seem so enthusiastic and make it sound exciting. What do you think? - concerned parents, Dublin

A: Clearly for people interested in Irish and with a commitment to the language, an all Irish primary school for their children is a good idea. But I do feel that parents themselves need to make that commitment.

It doesn't matter what your level of command of Irish is know your son is not going to be using very taxing vocabulary during the first few years - but I think you should attend classes yourself and know enough Irish to conduct conversations at home and help her with school work through Irish.

To send a child to an all Irish school without this home commitment would - it seems to me - put her in an unreal situation, where there is a big divide between home and school.

Many of these schools do provide classes and various back up facilities for parents and many parents enjoy brushing up their Irish with their kids.

However, to be honest, I'm not sure that all parents approach all Irish education in this frame of mind. It seems to me that a certain trendiness has crept into all of this and that the "in" thing in liberal circles is to opt for an all Irish school.

There is, as you suggest, a sense of enthusiasm about these schools, and the parents are involved in a way they could never realistically be in a conventional school. They get a great sense of "this is our school", or "this is an alternative school", where things are done differently. The usually small size of these schools is also often attractive. Certainly, the parents work extremely hard at fundraising and winning support for the school.

There is nothing inherently wrong with any of this, but I feel you should be clear in your mind as to whether it is genuine interest in the language motivating you or the thought of joining an enthusiastic bunch of parents doing their own thing outside the ambit of the priests and nuns.

Personally, I am always surprised at how many parents who, having missed getting a place in the nearest multi denominational, look next to the nearest gaelscoil rather than the local national school. I wonder if I were to recommend a large all Irish Christian Brothers national school to you would you be enthusiastic about it?

Q: My son will be doing his Leaving Cert in 1997 and he is very interested in film studies, particularly special effects. If he were to pursue a career in this area what subjects would he need to take for Leaving Cert? - Dublin 18 parent

A: There are no particular Leaving Cert subject requirements for any courses in the area of film. In fact, the majority of all college courses do not require specific Leaving Cert subjects; and it is complicating the issue unnecessarily to look at it from this perspective.

To be eligible for the colleges of the National University - UCD, UCC, UCG, and Maynooth - students must have Irish, English and a third language in the Leaving Cert.

For various faculties, including medicine, science, engineering and other technological areas, you must also have maths and a science subject.

In the case of Trinity, a student needs two languages and maths - Irish can count as the second language. The vast majority of the other colleges - RTCs, DIT, DCU and UL included - require English and maths, but UL insists on a second language which may or may not be Irish.

These are the broad general parameters. Anyone with this spread of subjects is a position to apply for most college courses. There will be particular requirements in relation to some - such as medical/ science courses in Trinity requiring two science subjects and various language courses requiring a higher grade in the particular language - but mostly anyone who has Irish, English, maths, another language and a science subject is covered for most things.

I think people are inclined to concentrate too much on choosing Leaving Cert subject for career relevance; instead I'd recommend he choose the subjects he is good at and likes best.

After that, with his interest in film, he may go for communications in the DIT, for example, for which entry is simply points based. He might also look to various film related courses in the Dun Laoghaire College of Art and Design.

In this latter case, he would need a portfolio: places are decided on the basis of exam results and portfolio. For this purpose, art/design would obviously be a relevant Leaving Cert subject.

He might, however, also look to Ballyfermot Senior College for a PLC place. Here the admission decision is made following an interview, so it would be important for him to find out as much as he can about the business and perhaps get a bit of experience so he can acquit himself well at the interview.