Primary School close to Lucan

Koltashe

Hi,
My daughter is almost 7 months old and I'm trying to find a good primary school to enroll her in. We currently live in Lucan and besides Mount Sackville in Castleknock I don't know any other good schools nearby.
Can someone rcommend a primary school? I'm open minded in regards to mixed vs all girls school, don't mind if its private r public, just want to make sure it is a good school with good reputation and academic base. I don't mind droping her off in the morning so any areas not too far away will do.
Thank you.

smelltheglove

I had tried mount sackville a few years ago for my daughter but they were full and I am glad I didnt now. The way I see it, what the other children would have had there, given location, most of them would be well off, would have been out of reach for my child and it would have been harder for her as she grew older. I grew up in Castleknock and I know the kids can be very competitive about what one has compared to the other.

St. Marys is the parish I am in and all the neighbours kids go there, as far as I know after senior infants they are seperated to a boys side and a girls side. It has a good reputation, my daughter goes to St. Thomas' though, for one St. Marys is a nightmare for parking as it is in Lucan village and St. Thomas' is beside Superquinn so loads of parking. My daughter was in another school for junior infants and when we moved to Lucan we transferred her to St. Thomas'(we had moved to the country temporarily), in 2 weeks she learnt more in St. Thomas' than a full year in the other school. She was there only 2 wks when the parent teacher meeting was on and the previous schol had a meeting a month before so still fresh in my mind it was obvious that her new teacher had a much better perception of her in that little time than her previous one that seemed to be talking about a stranger.

I would highly recommend St. Thomas if you are in their catchment area. Most schools in Lucan will only take from their catchment unless drastic circumstances are involved.

Orion

smelltheglove wrote: »

Most schools in Lucan will only take from their catchment unless drastic circumstances are involved.

There are 4 Educate Together schools in Lucan and 1 in Castleknock - none of which operate on a catchment area basis.

Adamstown Castle Educate Togeteher N.S.
Lucan Educate Together N.S.
Lucan East Educate Together N.S
Castleknock Educate Together N.S.
Castaheany Educate Together N.S.

Full contact details for all of them are at http://www.educatetogether.ie/5_schools/listofschools.html

I'm not recommending any specific school - but people already now I'm a fan of Educate Together and I have no knowledge of the non-ET primary schools in your area - hence no comments on the reputations of any of them.

ArthurDent

Actually there is a 5th ET school in Lucan - Griffeen Valley Educate Together


all the ET schools operate a "first come first served" policy, exclusively (with the exception of Lucan ET, which 0ffers 90% of places on this basis and reserves the other 10% as discretionary placs)

All the catholic schools in the area operate strict ctachment areas -o you would need to find out which catchment area you belong too.

There are also 2 gaelscoileanna - Naomh Padraig and Eiscir Riada - not sure of their enrolment policies

There is a COI school also - St Andrews - they operate a COI/other protestant religions first policy, but many catholics (and others attend)

HPT

Scoil Mhuire is worth some consideration also.
http://www.scoilmhuire.ie

Koltashe

Thanks a million guys I'll have a look at all the schools u've suggested.
Smelltheglove, I went to Mount Sackville for my 5th and 6th year of secondary and agree with u about competition between the girls, but they do have a fairly good academic base.
I visited Kings Hospital Secondary School today and loved it, whish they had primary as well. :mad: Does anyone have any idea what primary school kids go to in order to get into KH?
I'm just so confused!!! I just want to make sure I do my best to give my DD the bast start in er education, and I've heard horror stories how kids after going to a real bad primary couldn't get into decent secondary... Does anyone know if this is actuallu tru?
Thanks again.

elaine93

St marys in lucan is horrendous (the one between st josephs secondary school and the church, don't know about the other one). We were doing phonics in 6th class, I couldn't wait to get out of that awful place. Don't go there!! The story about them not letting into you into a good secondary isn't true, but a bad primary will put your child off learning for the rest of her life, which is more important. St Andrews (the one across from st Marys) gets you into KH because its protestant. Also Mt. Sackville secondary is pretty crap now in terms of academics and teachers, but great if you like hockey. Thats what they spend all their money on, sports and hockey. ET aren't very good, I know loads of people who came from one and they were soooooo behind in first year. There is no respect or discipline. They are also behind because since so many students who don't speak English go there (I don't think thats a bad thing, just practicality wise) they end up working very very slowly to try and teach to students who don't speak the language. Irish basically doesn't get done. The gaelscoil in blanchardstown is supposed to be good, most gaelscoils actually are good, wish I'd gone to one.

BostonB

Having kids mixing with their school mates out of school, and thus in the local area is important IMO, and is something they miss if they go to school out of their own area. Not ust in primary but as they go to secondary too.

Also the traffic is a nightmare in in the areas you are talking about, and I wouldn't under estimate the hassle and agro that will cause you.

dragon_lordMTB

My daughter is in LENTS and we find it very good. Welcoming school and teacher is excellent. Feel free to PM if you want more info.