School of Choice

Tim Robbins

What is your school of choice for your kids?

Obviously there may be some trade offs between facilities, where the nackers are going etc.

gramlab

Other - please state

Voted catholic.

Ideally would have been educate together, but because of where I live, work etc the local catholic school got the nod.

Not too displaeased though as it has a good reputation.

GLaDOS

Don't have kids and shant for a good while but I'd put the overall reputation of the school ahead of its religious views. Ideally they'd go to a secular school, but whichever school is best really.

asdfgh86

Protestant

Went to DSP which was the first Educate Together school. Recommend it.

Dades

Won't decide until I've been in the door and checked them out myself.

Daughter is down for ET schools (gotta sign up early), and the RC schools won't take names for a few years anyway. Not even sure I'll be in the same neighbourhood tbh.

In theory a secular school would be ideal - but only if it happens to be a better school in other respects too. If an RC school seems better - so be it.

Rev Hellfire

The school which is most convenient and has the best academic record.

Rb

Roman Catholic

I went to Protestant schools, despite never being christened/baptised/whatever a Protestant. My mother tried to get me in St. Marys, as it had a good reputation, however they wouldn't allow me in due to not being a Catholic and my parents weren't willing to tar me with the brush of a certain cult merely for the sake of doing so.

My primary school was a "multi-denominational" school with its feet in Protestantism.

When I've my own kids, it'll really depend on the schools at the time but there's quite a lot of people (and their kids) in society that I won't want my kids mixing with. Currently it looks like it *could* be a gaelscoil for primary and a Protestant secondary. The kids will be brought up without religion though, so it doesn't matter which school they go to in the end(in terms of Protestant/Secular) so long as it has a good record, which the ones I know of do. Would never send my children to a Catholic school though, and would actively leave an area if that were the only choice.

Pace2008

Other - please state

Rev Hellfire wrote: »

The school which is most convenient and has the best academic record.

Pretty much this.

I can only speak for myself, but in the CBS I went to our 'indoctrination' didn't entail much apart from going to mass once a year, and watching The Matrix in religion class.

Tim Robbins

Protestant

Dades wrote: »

Won't decide until I've been in the door and checked them out myself.

Daughter is down for ET schools (gotta sign up early), and the RC schools won't take names for a few years anyway. Not even sure I'll be in the same neighbourhood tbh.

In theory a secular school would be ideal - but only if it happens to be a better school in other respects too. If an RC school seems better - so be it.

Our nipper (arrived this week :-)) is down for Educate Together.

I wonder where the nackers go. Are they more likely to go Educate Together, RC or what?

Tim Robbins

Protestant

Rev Hellfire wrote: »

The school which is most convenient and has the best academic record.

How do you check academic record for primary schools?

Black Dog

Tim Robbins wrote: »

How do you check academic record for primary schools?

Tim,

The Department of Education and Science publishes reports on schools following a "Whole School Evaluation". These are on its website. These are the most reliable and properly conducted reviews of a school's work.

Locally, schools come to have a reputation of being a 'good' school or a 'bad' school but I think it is important to realise that much of this reputation is based on rumour, assumption and gossip.

If you are considering a school for your own child I would advise you visit the school yourself and have a look around; call to see the principal, make enquiries and get a feel for the place. Often, you will learn a great deal on a visit like this.

Tim Robbins

Protestant

Tim Robbins wrote: »

I wonder where the nackers go. Are they more likely to go Educate Together, RC or what?

They don't:
http://www.itmtrav.com/publications/edu_equality.html

These figures show how difficult the current situation is. One study in the Archdiocese of Dublin highlights that while most Traveller children are attending primary schools, few of the 748 children aged 13-16 years attend second level education on a regular basis.6 A 2001 study conducted in North Cork found that of the 229 Traveller children in the 5-12 age category, there are 167 (73%) attending primary school but that while they are officially enrolled in schools, attendance is often quite poor. 7 Even at primary level, Traveller children are not benefiting from education services and many parents are concerned at the level of attainment of their children at primary and post-primary level.

Joe1919

Tim Robbins wrote: »

where the nackers are going etc.

I'm just wondering what you mean by 'nackers' .

Joe1919

Protestant

Joe1919 wrote: »

I'm just wondering what you mean by 'knackers' .

I guess I should have asked for clarification before jumping to a conclusion

Dades

Tim Robbins wrote: »

I wonder where the nackers go. Are they more likely to go Educate Together, RC or what?

Wonder away - just not on this forum, thanks. There lies a can of worms. No more talk of 'knackers' anywhere people.

Many congratulations, btw!

Rb

Roman Catholic

What about tinkers?

Tim, I wouldn't worry about it one way or another, they never integerate.

PDN

Dades wrote: »

No more talk of 'knackers' anywhere people.

Although it is ironic when it's spelt wrongly in a thread about choosing schools.

Tim Robbins

Protestant

Dades wrote: »

Wonder away - just not on this forum, thanks. There lies a can of worms. No more talk of 'knackers' anywhere people.

Many congratulations, btw!

Apologies I didn't mean "travellers", I meant the word in the Dublin Northside venacular if you know what I mean.

Sorry Dades.

Tim Robbins

Protestant

PDN wrote: »

Although it is ironic when it's spelt wrongly in a thread about choosing schools.

Language evolves PDN...

http://www.urbandictionary.com/zazzle.products.php?defid=2194408

Rev Hellfire

Tim Robbins wrote: »

How do you check academic record for primary schools?

Lets change that to reputation for primary schools. It would be unusual to send a child to a school without canvassing information about it from acquaintances.

It might not be scientific but you should at least gauge how other children are performing.

Protestant

My home village (on the news a lot recently) has an ET school now essentially on the road I grew up on.

There are a couple of big RC national schools aswell that have the advantage of playing fields etc but they are much bigger.

I would probably send them to the ET school - the first generation not to go to the national school since it opened.

I would offer them some land from the family farm whenever I inherit it but unfortunately it is under a few feet of water at the moment.

Edit: For secondary school it will probably be an RC school or Gaelscoil in town. It depends I guess there might be more options by the time I have to consider it.

beans

Competence of teachers, management, facilities, ease of access - all these would come before religious ethos for my (hypothetical) kids. Can't see any downside to my non-Catholic children being schooled by the brothers, say, if it was the best educational option available to us at the time.

Surely there must be enough children not being raised Catholic in national schools these days to necessitate extra classes while the others are being groomed for communion etc? Can anyone confirm this? I remember a lot of missed school-days and classes in the run-up to my own confirmation and all that.

ArthurDent

Protestant

beans wrote: »

Competence of teachers, management, facilities, ease of access - all these would come before religious ethos for my (hypothetical) kids. Can't see any downside to my non-Catholic children being schooled by the brothers, say, if it was the best educational option available to us at the time.

Surely there must be enough children not being raised Catholic in national schools these days to necessitate extra classes while the others are being groomed for communion etc? Can anyone confirm this? I remember a lot of missed school-days and classes in the run-up to my own confirmation and all that.

even if there are a substantial number of children in a catholic school not participating in religious instruction there is no obligation on the school to provide anything for them - if a parent wishes to remove their child from these classes (as is their constitutional right) the school is not obliged to provide anywhere for them to go/provide supervision for them.

Ickle Magoo

Protestant

Both kids going to an independent school affiliated to ET. One just started, one going next year. It's on the other side of town but without baptismal certs it was the only school we could be assured would accept them. :mad:


For the first year there were enough funds to have two JI classes so there are only 17 kids in my son's class which is brilliant. Their secular & inclusive ethos meant it was a bit of a one horse race in terms of schools we were actually comfortable sending the kids to & the level of parental involvement with regards to curriculum and activities is excellent - nothing but glowing reports so far.