The Irish Secondary school in Bray....

Foxytocin

Does anybody know anything about this school? My daughter is at nationsal school in Bray, her Irish is good but not fluent. Would she be able to go to an Irish speaking secondary school? Would they take her?
Is the school any good!

(My first post ever on boards.ie)

c0c

They probably give priority to siblings of current pupils and to students coming from the two Gaelscoileanna in Bray and the one in Greystones. Hopefully they'll still have room for 'newbies' after that and I wouldn't worry about your child not being able for it. I went to a gaelcholáiste and while most of my classmates came from gaelscoileanna, not all did. After the first term, you wouldn't know the difference. My best advice is to ring the school and see what the admissions situation is like. It can't do any harm to put her name down just so you have the option. School contact details here.

The Real B-man

My Cousin is 2years old and is on the 3rd waiting list for Loreto 1 & 2 list are for if you are a past pupil & have family in the school theres a long list for all the schools in bray even if you are 2!

Goodluck.

orchidsrpretty

I went to this school starting in 1996. It was a brilliant school then but I hear it is going downhill. I came from a english national School- when this is the case it is a requirement for the students to go to the Gaeltacht before entering 1st year. Its a great opportunity to meet classmates before the daunting 1st day!

I had awful Irish before I attended but you pick it up very quickly when you have to speak it all day:)

Foxytocin

thanks orchids... in what way is it going down? leaving cert results not as good? getting a bit rough? Getting bigger in numbers? building a bit delapidated!?

DazMarz

The only Irish Secondary School in Bray, or most of North Wicklow for that matter, that I know of is Colaiste Raithin in Bray.

I attended this school and absolutely loved it. It has a really great teaching staff, atmosphere and always acheives excellent grades. It is sadly lacking in many facilities (PE halls, large computer labs, woodwork classes, metalwork classes, Home Ec labs etc.) due to lack of space. But it is a very fine school for any person to send their children to.

Clodagh84

My son, who was in Pres, Bray, decided that he needed to repeat 5th year, but wanted to do it in Colaiste Raithin. The headmaster interviewed us, and I guess, based on the fact that my son was already fluent in French, he could see that he had a knack for languages. His Irish was no better than the average person at the time.
My son absolutely adored his last two years in this school, due to the small classes, a family atmosphere, and the high teaching skills of all the teachers. Not having all the facilities of a bigger school did not take away from my son`s happy experience. But, he wasn`t a student big on sports anyway... he was into art.
His leaving certificate results were also way higher that I ever expected, had he stayed in Pres.... and he did all his exams through the medium of Irish. The students get more marks if they take the exam in Irish.
Now, he is also fluent in the Irish language!
I would try and get a personal interview with the headmaster, if I was trying to get my child in there now.... dont worry about the waiting list. Just try and bring something unique to the interview!

Alaragh

I went to the school up to transition year and then had to leave because I moved out of county. Even though I hated my last year in it it's a great school, transition year can be a bit dodgy but other then that the teachers are fantastic and it's a very personal learning environment. In fact I'm still in touch with quite a few teachers from it and they always welcome me whenever I go down to visit.

When I started in first year only about 20 people had come from Irish speaking primary schools so don't worry about her not being able for it. If she's willing to learn then she won't have a problem. The level of Irish taught in all-irish secondary schools is no different to the level of Irish taught in english speaking schools, the junior and leaving cert irish exam is the same for everyone all over the country. And I can safely say this because I'm doing my leaving this year in an english speaking school.

The great thing about all-irish schools is that the attitude to irish is different. My mother often gets asked "Why did you send your kids to an all-irish school?" and her reply is simply this. "So that my kids don't feel the same way about irish as you do." and it's true.

I agree with everyone else who says an interview is a good idea if you can get it. The principal and vice principal are lovely and I'm sure they won't hesitate at offering her a place.