Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Good secondary school in Waterford?

Options
  • 16-07-2015 11:34pm
    #1
    andreia ferreira
    Registered Users Posts: 8 ✭


    Hi,

    I will be moving to Waterford this month and have to choose a secondary school for my daughter.

    Could you please advise me on what school to choose? Mixed, Catholic?

    I have heard good things about Ursuline but also that it is quite elitist?

    My daughter is a very good student who wants to go to university and I would like a good school to prepare her.

    We are Portuguese and she didn't learn Irish so an only Irish school is not possible for her.

    Thank you very much in advance! I really need some guidance here 😊.

    Kind regards,
    Andreia


«1

Comments

  • Options
    #2
    natnifnolnacs
    Registered Users Posts: 755 ✭✭✭natnifnolnacs


    Before picking a school, do you know where you will be living? It's important to factor that in as traffic in some parts can be quite bad...

    I would probably recommend Newtown. Up until last year, it was a fee paying school (boarding and day pupils) but they are now accepting non fee paying students. They have high standards and it's quite a multi cultural school with many nationalities attending. I am connected to the school in that they have a music school where the kids can get lessons and I have worked there for a few years now. It's not that big a school so it's a bit more of a community and has a nice atmosphere.

    The Abbey community college is a school just over the bridge in ferrybank and it has a good reputation and has had lots of investment in the last few years so should have good resources. I know one or two of the teachers over there and have heard good things.

    Both the above are mixed schools. The Ursuline is girls only. I know plenty that have gone there and gotten good results


  • Options
    #3
    sunnysoutheast
    Registered Users Posts: 2,072 ✭✭✭sunnysoutheast


    The Ursuline is probably more academic than Newtown, we know many people with children doing well at both. If your child is academic (like ours) I would suggest the Ursuline, our daughters will both be going there.

    Bear in mind that the transition year is compulsory at the Ursuline (our daughters will be going to Yeat's College to avoid this).

    Don't know anything about the Abbey or Presentation, they weren't options for us.

    You will need to act quickly to get the place confirmed!


  • Options
    #4
    Wanderer78
    Registered Users Posts: 28,838 ✭✭✭✭Wanderer78


    hmmm this will be an interesting one. unfortunately ive realised our educational system has become a business and a big competition. i think the most important thing for your kids is that they ll be happy in wherever you place them and you probably wont figure that out until you get there. it ll be interesting to hear from other parents here though as im not a parent myself. after spending a large portion of my life in our educational system, im become very disappointed with it. i think its failing us in many ways. i think its failing to properly prepare our kids for the real world. i feel theres too much efficiencies on the world of academia and not enough teaching of kids in real life skills such as how to look after oneself both physically and mentally. some people just arent designed for the world of academia and simple have no interest. the world needs people that are not designed for academia for other purposes but when an educational system is designed for this world of academia, it has a tendency to simply discard these type of people that are not. i have seen this happen a lot with sometimes disastrous effects but hopefully this is changing. i think some parents put too much pressure on their kids to perform well at school. this really annoys me. jasus, leave them be kids will yea. it wont be long and theyll be worrying about marriage, kids, mortgages etc. even though i can understand to a degree where parents are coming from, they just want their kids to have a good life, which is fair enough, there really is more to life than education and work etc. i think homework is a bad idea, and heres why. not only are we making our kids go to school(work) all day, but we re encouraging(making) them take some home(work) home with them. basically what we re doing here is saying to our kids, if you dont go to work all day and bring some home with you later, you ll be a failure. errr emmm say wha! we re basically telling our kids, your life should always be work work work. this is an incredibly bad thing for society.

    went to st pauls secondary school myself but that was many years ago. we had some good times and bad times but really it was just a lot of fun. i wish you and your family the very best of luck and welcome you to waterford. i hope you and your family are just happy here as im sure its not easy to move a whole family. im sure our educational system isnt the worst and certainly not the best in the world but its probably not that bad at all. im sure wherever you chose to send your kids will be fine.

    apologies for the rant

    best of luck


  • Options
    #5
    reni10
    Registered Users Posts: 1,152 ✭✭✭reni10


    sunnysoutheast wrote: »

    Bear in mind that the transition year is compulsory at the Ursuline (our daughters will be going to Yeat's College to avoid this).

    So are you saying they will do 3 years in the Ursuline and then the 2 year Leaving Cert course in Yeats College so you can avoid 4th yeah?


  • Options
    #6
    sunnysoutheast
    Registered Users Posts: 2,072 ✭✭✭sunnysoutheast


    reni10 wrote: »
    So are you saying they will do 3 years in the Ursuline and then the 2 year Leaving Cert course in Yeats College so you can avoid 4th yeah?

    Yes, that's the plan.

    My personal view is that transition year is largely pointless. A break before 3rd level starts is far better (which is what both of us did).


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #7
    Wanderer78
    Registered Users Posts: 28,838 ✭✭✭✭Wanderer78


    sunnysoutheast wrote: »
    Yes, that's the plan.

    My personal view is that transition year is largely pointless. A break before 3rd level starts is far better (which is what both of us did).

    id have to agree and disagree. i didnt do transition but feel i should have. i think i just needed a break after the junior. i also repeated the leaving which was very stressful. i do like your idea of taking a break before college though. i probably should have also done that but i was quite driven and motivated at that stage. i know somebody else that made sure that both her daughters went working for a year before college. it worked out well. each to their own i guess. its hard to know exactly what the right thing to do is but just take a chance and try different things.


  • Options
    #8
    sunnysoutheast
    Registered Users Posts: 2,072 ✭✭✭sunnysoutheast


    Wanderer78 wrote: »
    id have to agree and disagree. i didnt do transition but feel i should have. i think i just needed a break after the junior. i also repeated the leaving which was very stressful. i do like your idea of taking a break before college though. i probably should have also done that but i was quite driven and motivated at that stage. i know somebody else that made sure that both her daughters went working for a year before college. it worked out well. each to their own i guess. its hard to know exactly what the right thing to do is but just take a chance and try different things.

    Transition year might suit some parents/children, it's up to them, but it's not for us. I think it's too early in the education process. It's not as if the school holidays are short in secondary years.

    I think the real life experience of working for a year, and possibly moving out for a period, is incredibly valuable in terms of life skills and context-setting for living away at college. It was for me, if nothing else it convinced me that a working life selling things door-to-door wasn't really a realistic option.


  • Options
    #9
    Wanderer78
    Registered Users Posts: 28,838 ✭✭✭✭Wanderer78


    sunnysoutheast wrote: »
    Transition year might suit some parents/children, it's up to them, but it's not for us. I think it's too early in the education process. It's not as if the school holidays are short in secondary years.

    I think the real life experience of working for a year, and possibly moving out for a period, is incredibly valuable in terms of life skills and context-setting for living away at college.

    you make very good points alright but as somebody who i recently met that has been working in our educational system for some time, mainly at third level, said to me, our schools are actually factories of education. so if you dont learn at the speed of the system or by the methods of the system, you might end up in trouble. theres just too much pressure on kids in the system and i think parents have a roll to play in that. dont forget, institutional life just simple doesnt work for some. yes we all need discipline and direction in our lives but its actually ok if school doesnt work for you as long as there are options for these kind of people. i actually feel our education system is robbing kids of their child hood to some degree. let them be kids as ive explained earlier

    your second point is good though but i feel this is where the education system kinna fails. on meeting another person who has also been working in our education system for some time, special needs department, she has seen it year in year out, kids arriving in dublin late summer, not a clue about life, struggling to find accommodation, not a clue on how to look after themselves etc, fail dramatically and rather quickly, head home head hanging. this is actually a system failure. heres my two cents worth. why not try address these issues at secondary level, i.e. show kids how to look after themselves both physically and mentally. things like home economics etc should be mandatory for all students, p.e. should be mandatory for all students everyday. this can take the form of something like yoga. im sure theres other things that can be changed and improved. others may have ideas. i just feel theres too much focus on academia in our system. more to life. our current system is a sink or swim system. unfortunately some do sink and sometimes theyre kinna forgotten about. we need to address this. i do like your year out before college though. good idea


  • Options
    #10
    deisemum
    Registered Users Posts: 5,580 ✭✭✭deisemum


    I found Transition Year beneficial for my 2 sons. They got to try out a lot of things that helped them mature and and develop life skills for college or work.

    Anyone I know that went to the Ursuline or Newtown were happy with their experiences.


  • Options
    #11
    wmpdd3
    Registered Users Posts: 9,624 ✭✭✭wmpdd3


    OP, all depends on where you live / work. It can take 40 mins to cross town at 8:30 am.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #12
    Wanderer78
    Registered Users Posts: 28,838 ✭✭✭✭Wanderer78


    wmpdd3 wrote: »
    OP, all depends on where you live / work. It can take 40 mins to cross town at 8:30 am.

    done a school run some time ago. jasus traffics mental at that time


  • Options
    #13
    obezyana
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,498 ✭✭✭obezyana


    The Abbey in ferrybank is a great school with a v good reputation.


  • Options
    #14
    JenniFurr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 232 ✭✭JenniFurr


    I went to both the Mercy and St. Paul's. I left the Mercy in 2003 after finishing my Junior Cert and finished my Leaving Cert in 2006 in St. Paul's.

    If I had to advise one over the other I would say the Mercy. They have a better reputation (maybe not quite as good as other girls only schools but still pretty good) and have a much better success rate with students. Although I wasn't happy there for various reason, most of my year seemed to like it.

    I much prefered St. Paul's. They were amazing to me as I was able to take extra subjects for Leaving Cert and they planned around my schedule, even having a teacher who did lunchtime classes for two of us who wanted to study physics. I don't see any other school in the area doing that! They were really accommodating to me, unlike the Mercy. The only reason I wouldn't suggest St. Paul's is that it has changed principals so many times in the last few years that it has lost what little reputation it had.


  • Options
    #15
    Wanderer78
    Registered Users Posts: 28,838 ✭✭✭✭Wanderer78


    JenniFurr wrote: »
    The only reason I wouldn't suggest St. Paul's is that it has changed principals so many times in the last few years that it has lost what little reputation it had.

    whose principal there now?


  • Options
    #16
    obezyana
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,498 ✭✭✭obezyana


    Awh good ole St Pauls i remember many a lunch time doing laps of the school corridor :D


  • Options
    #17
    old gregg
    Registered Users Posts: 3,245 ✭✭✭old gregg


    obezyana wrote: »
    The Abbey in ferrybank is a great school with a v good reputation.
    Both of ours went to the Abbey and loved it.


  • Options
    #18
    JenniFurr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 232 ✭✭JenniFurr


    Wanderer78 wrote: »
    whose principal there now?
    Have no idea. A few months into my 6th year they brought in a new guy (around 05/06.) Can't remember his name. He was from a private school and tried to change the place a lot. I don't really think he got much respect from teachers and students. A few teachers left around that time. Casey and Collins are the ones who stick out.
    I heard from someone in my class that he only made it a few years and there's a new guy now. Apparently they haven't the numbers they used to and have taken on some special needs students. This is all hearsay though.


  • Options
    #19
    JenniFurr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 232 ✭✭JenniFurr


    obezyana wrote: »
    Awh good ole St Pauls i remember many a lunch time doing laps of the school corridor :D

    And hoping Whittle wouldn't stop you for the wrong shoes or piercing while he was waiting by the office. Or at least in my day...


  • Options
    #20
    obezyana
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,498 ✭✭✭obezyana


    JenniFurr wrote: »
    And hoping Whittle wouldn't stop you for the wrong shoes or piercing while he was waiting by the office. Or at least in my day...


    Whittle was an angry man. He was avoided at all cost. :D


  • Options
    #21
    Wanderer78
    Registered Users Posts: 28,838 ✭✭✭✭Wanderer78


    JenniFurr wrote: »
    And hoping Whittle wouldn't stop you for the wrong shoes or piercing while he was waiting by the office. Or at least in my day...

    swany my days and his thing was long hair on males. his approach didnt work on me anyway and still hasnt


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #22
    obezyana
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,498 ✭✭✭obezyana


    Wanderer78 wrote: »
    swany my days and his thing was long hair on males. his approach didnt work on me anyway and still hasnt


    Ah yes i remember him alright. Some man for catching people coming in late in the mornings or after lunch. I never worried about being late and bumping into Mr Hartrey tho as he knew my dad so i always got away with it. :D


  • Options
    #23
    Wanderer78
    Registered Users Posts: 28,838 ✭✭✭✭Wanderer78


    obezyana wrote: »
    Ah yes i remember him alright. Some man for catching people coming in late in the mornings or after lunch. I never worried about being late and bumping into Mr Hartrey tho as he knew my dad so i always got away with it. :D

    hahaha hartrey sound fella


  • Options
    #24
    obezyana
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,498 ✭✭✭obezyana


    Wanderer78 wrote: »
    hahaha hartrey sound fella


    Yep he surely was and he would of made a great principle altho i always got the impression he like the cushy number he had. :)


  • Options
    #25
    Wanderer78
    Registered Users Posts: 28,838 ✭✭✭✭Wanderer78


    obezyana wrote: »
    Yep he surely was and he would of made a great principle altho i always got the impression he like the cushy number he had. :)

    damn right he would have and he was right to


  • Options
    #26
    JenniFurr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 232 ✭✭JenniFurr


    obezyana wrote: »
    Whittle was an angry man. He was avoided at all cost. :D

    Yes a very angry man. I remember him giving me a telling off for something and I burst out laughing because all I could focus on was one stray moustache hair growing off in the wrong direction. Ah good times.


  • Options
    #27
    Speak Now
    Registered Users Posts: 8,510 ✭✭✭Speak Now


    JenniFurr wrote: »
    Have no idea. A few months into my 6th year they brought in a new guy (around 05/06.) Can't remember his name. He was from a private school and tried to change the place a lot. I don't really think he got much respect from teachers and students. A few teachers left around that time. Casey and Collins are the ones who stick out.
    I heard from someone in my class that he only made it a few years and there's a new guy now. Apparently they haven't the numbers they used to and have taken on some special needs students. This is all hearsay though.


    They have an ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) Centre, only one in town I think. Taking on special needs students is a rather crude way of putting it. Great addition to the community you would think.


  • Options
    #28
    thomasm
    Registered Users Posts: 1,501 ✭✭✭thomasm


    Another vote for the Abbey here. Great school. They are very strict but also very fair which is exactly how I think it should be.


  • Options
    #29
    delthedriver
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,958 ✭✭✭delthedriver


    Newtown is a great school.


    If the student is academically bright, she should have no problem emerging from Newtown with great results and progress to University as a well rounded individual.


  • Options
    #30
    obezyana
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,498 ✭✭✭obezyana


    delthedriver wrote: »
    Newtown is a great school.


    If the student is academically bright, she should have no problem emerging from Newtown with great results and progress to University as a well rounded individual.


    Is that not the same for any student leaving any school with great results?


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #31
    JenniFurr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 232 ✭✭JenniFurr


    Jerry Seinfeld wrote: »
    They have an ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) Centre, only one in town I think. Taking on special needs students is a rather crude way of putting it. Great addition to the community you would think.

    I meant no disrespect at all. I had only heard incomplete information from another former student and this was how it was conveyed to me. This is why I referred to it as hearsay as I hadn't the full facts. I'm getting a bit defensive here because I feel you have construed something else from what I had intended but I'm sorry if it has caused offense. I had only heard that the school was in decline and could not fill their classes like the could several years ago (which as a former student I can believe) so they searched for other ways to use the staff and premises. You're right though, It is a great addition to the community but I was trying to say that they're reason for opening this centre may not have been very altruistic on the school's part.


Advertisement