Secondary Schools away from Drogheda/Dundalk

paulocon

Hi,

Just looking to get opinions on secondary schools away from Drogheda and Dundalk.

Does anyone have any dealings with Dunleer or Ardee secondary schools?
Are there any other schools in this general area?

Really appreciate any opinions..

paulocon

Sorry folks,

Struggling to find any feedback on the web re. Ardee Community College - has anyone here any experience (good or bad) of the school?

whelan1

dunleer seems to be a great school, was at the open night a few weeks ago, over 500 kids there now ... i will be sending my kids there

paulocon

whelan1 wrote: »

dunleer seems to be a great school, was at the open night a few weeks ago, over 500 kids there now ... i will be sending my kids there

Everything I've heard about Dunleer has been positive. From an academic point of view, it seems to do well. You also then have a modern facility which is away from the major towns and all the problems and temptations that they present. Was down at the open day the previous year and was very impressed.

whelan1

ye, i know a good few who have gone there and done well, had a young lad doing work experience here last year who was doing the practical leaving cert there, he did really well there even though he wasnt very good study wise, it caters for all

paulocon

whelan1 wrote: »

ye, i know a good few who have gone there and done well, had a young lad doing work experience here last year who was doing the practical leaving cert there, he did really well there even though he wasnt very good study wise, it caters for all

Good stuff. You didn't make the open day at Ardee by any chance?

whelan1

nope, have no intentions of sending kids there so didnt go

dundalkfc10

paulocon wrote: »

Everything I've heard about Dunleer has been positive. From an academic point of view, it seems to do well. You also then have a modern facility which is away from the major towns and all the problems and temptations that they present. Was down at the open day the previous year and was very impressed.

What temptations and problems have Dundalk and Drogheda got in schools that Dunleer and Ardee don't have?

If your child has a wise head they will get on fine at any school you send them to. I went to the Redeemer from ages 3-8, St Josephs in Muirhevnamor from the ages of 8-12 and the Tech in Dundalk from ages 12-17....ALL SCHOOLS IN THE MAIN "PROBLEM AND TEMPTATION AREAS" and at the age of 24 am now 2 exams away from being a fully qualified Accountant.

Your post has actually angered me.

Send your kids wherever they want to go not where you think everybody is all nice and has no problems.

paulocon

dundalkfc10 wrote: »

What temptations and problems have Dundalk and Drogheda got in schools that Dunleer and Ardee don't have?

If your child has a wise head they will get on fine at any school you send them to. I went to the Redeemer from ages 3-8, St Josephs in Muirhevnamor from the ages of 8-12 and the Tech in Dundalk from ages 12-17....ALL SCHOOLS IN THE MAIN "PROBLEM AND TEMPTATION AREAS" and at the age of 24 am now 2 exams away from being a fully qualified Accountant.

Your post has actually angered me.

Send your kids wherever they want to go not where you think everybody is all nice and has no problems.

I can only apologise if my post has angered you in any way, that certainly was not my aim.

Believe me, the last line of your post has really angered me. You are making assumptions on why I am looking at these schools and on what I mean by 'temptations and problems'. I was merely asking for opinions on these schools, not to have someone tell me what I should and shouldn't do.

I can tell you that you have completely got the wrong end of the stick here. You seem to have taken my post as some sort of an attack on Dundalk or Drogheda or on a specific area which certainly isn't the case. Personally, I went to a community school in Drogheda, done well in Leaving Cert, completed a Degree Course and am lucky to have been working ever since. I can have no complaints at all in that regards.

We had a bad experience with one school. Bottom line is that the student didn't suit the school and the school didn't suit the student - it happens, you deal with it and you move on. As the parent of more than one teenager, believe me when I say that each child is totally different - this is something we respect and we have allowed each one to choose where they go to secondary. We have given as much guidance as possible but THEY have made the final choices themselves.


I am now doing some research on other schools in the area. My children went to a small country school and the particular child I am enquiring for has expressed a preference to go to a smaller community-based school. Note that this is HER PREFERENCE.

I certainly would not send my child somewhere that they didn't want to go and I certainly wouldn't send them to a school because I thought that the people there were 'nice and had no problems'. At this stage in life, I know enough to realise that each and every school will present problems of some kind.

In this day and age, I do think that these smaller schools have a number of advantages but this is a personal opinion only. I think that some of the schools in the larger towns have become crowded and when this happens, IN MY OPINION it can lead to several problems.

Like I said, all this is personal opinion only and it is certainly not intended to offend, upset or annoy anyone.

dundalkfc10

paulocon wrote: »

I can only apologise if my post has angered you in any way, that certainly was not my aim.

Believe me, the last line of your post has really angered me. You are making assumptions on why I am looking at these schools and on what I mean by 'temptations and problems'. I was merely asking for opinions on these schools, not to have someone tell me what I should and shouldn't do.

I can tell you that you have completely got the wrong end of the stick here. You seem to have taken my post as some sort of an attack on Dundalk or Drogheda or on a specific area which certainly isn't the case. Personally, I went to a community school in Drogheda, done well in Leaving Cert, completed a Degree Course and am lucky to have been working ever since. I can have no complaints at all in that regards.

We had a bad experience with one school. Bottom line is that the student didn't suit the school and the school didn't suit the student - it happens, you deal with it and you move on. As the parent of more than one teenager, believe me when I say that each child is totally different - this is something we respect and we have allowed each one to choose where they go to secondary. We have given as much guidance as possible but THEY have made the final choices themselves.


I am now doing some research on other schools in the area. My children went to a small country school and the particular child I am enquiring for has expressed a preference to go to a smaller community-based school. Note that this is HER PREFERENCE.

I certainly would not send my child somewhere that they didn't want to go and I certainly wouldn't send them to a school because I thought that the people there were 'nice and had no problems'. At this stage in life, I know enough to realise that each and every school will present problems of some kind.

In this day and age, I do think that these smaller schools have a number of advantages but this is a personal opinion only. I think that some of the schools in the larger towns have become crowded and when this happens, IN MY OPINION it can lead to several problems.

Like I said, all this is personal opinion only and it is certainly not intended to offend, upset or annoy anyone.

Totally understand and I was prob a bit harsh. Im still intrested to know what PROBLEMS AND TEMPTATIONS school's in towns have that rural school's do not have?

whelan1

the only problem i can see is the distance away if the child needs to be collected or forgets something , imo there are no bad schools and transport costs etc is the only hindering thing to me anyway

10green bottles

Long winded answer from the op.It boils down to- I am looking for a private school for young paulocon jnr but i wont pay the going rate for a private school.

If paulocon jnr is bright enough then he/she will make the grade regardless of what school you send him/her to. Wrapping him/her up in cotton wool will do them no favours in the future.
You are letting an 11 year old make huge decisions that YOU should be making.
:rolleyes:

paulocon

dundalkfc10 wrote: »

Totally understand and I was prob a bit harsh. Im still intrested to know what PROBLEMS AND TEMPTATIONS school's in towns have that rural school's do not have?

No worries. Look, drop the 'Problems and Temptations' phrase I used initially. That was very much a throw-away statement which I didn't really think out and was biased by a bad experience we had with one particular school.

The one thing that I do think has happened is that some of the more well known schools have become over-crowded. I've seen this first-hand and when that happens, I think it becomes more difficult for the staff to maintain the ethos of the school. From speaking to others, it would seem that the two rural schools I mentioned cater for smaller numbers. I think it's important for the staff of a school to know the students and I just don't think this is possible in the schools with the larger numbers.

paulocon

10green bottles wrote: »

Long winded answer from the op.

Apologies, I didn't realise that boards limited the length of a post.

10green bottles wrote: »

It boils down to- I am looking for a private school for young paulocon jnr but i wont pay the going rate for a private school.

Can you tell me where I said that in my post? Are you aware of my particular financial circumstances?
I can tell you that that statement is absolute rubbish. If you want to know the truth instead of making assumptions based on absolutely no knowledge of the particulars, we have a large family and while we could afford to send a couple of our children to private school, it would be a struggle to send them all. Based on the fact that it wouldn't be fair to send some and not send others, we decided that private could be ruled out as an option. I have other concerns about private school but I'll not go into them for fear of breaking the restriction on post length.

10green bottles wrote: »

If paulocon jnr is bright enough then he/she will make the grade regardless of what school you send him/her to.

What exactly does make the grade mean?
Our main concern is that our children be happy with whatever school they go to and indeed, to be happy with whatever career choice they eventually make - I certainly won't be pushing them down any particular path. Academic achievement is important but it's not the be-all and end-all. If a child isn't happy in school, there is an increased chance that they won't reach their potential from an academic point of view. I think other factors like the ethos of the school, extra-curricular activities, teacher-student relationship etc are hugely important when choosing a school.

10green bottles wrote: »

Wrapping him/her up in cotton wool will do them no favours in the future.

Where did I say I was looking to wrap my children up in cotton wool?

10green bottles wrote: »

You are letting an 11 year old make huge decisions that YOU should be making.

We are not letting our 12 year old make huge decisions herself. We are looking into all the options, presenting her with all the information, bringing her to and showing her all the options and helping her come to an informed choice based on what she wants.

I don't know if you have teenage children yourself but believe me, each one is very different and in my opinion, there is no 'one package suits all' when it comes to choice of secondary schools.

10green bottles wrote: »

:rolleyes:

I can only apologise if my parenting style and opinions disappoint you to such an extent that you need to roll your eyes. Not everyone can be perfect!

dw_newtown

I've recently done a 12 week placement In Ardee C.S as part of my Community Sports Leadership course and the teachers there are very commited to their job. I found them very welcoming and helpful.

As a past pupil also, It did me no harm and I'd imagine its a bit more laid-back than most secondary schools, which is a plus if u ask me.

I honestly cant understand what you have against ACS, its no better or worse than any other school in the county. If your snobbery is based on the state of the building itself or a bad experience you had, don't knock it til you try it.

paulocon

dw_newtown wrote: »

I've recently done a 12 week placement In Ardee C.S as part of my Community Sports Leadership course and the teachers there are very commited to their job. I found them very welcoming and helpful.

As a past pupil also, It did me no harm and I'd imagine its a bit more laid-back than most secondary schools, which is a plus if u ask me.

I honestly cant understand what you have against ACS, its no better or worse than any other school in the county. If your snobbery is based on the state of the building itself or a bad experience you had, don't knock it til you try it.

Hi there,

I have nothing against ACS at all. I was asking people's opinions on it as I wasn't familiar with either it or Dunleer nor did I know anyone who had attended either. The bad experience we had was with another different school as I have explained above.

I have since spoken to a number of people who have attended Ardee or have had children attend and the feedback has been very positive. I have been told that there is an excellent teaching staff and generally a very good atmosphere in the place. By all accounts, the principal runs a pretty tight ship. I don't know where you got the idea that I was snobbish towards Ardee - fair enough, it's an older building but that wouldn't worry me at all to be honest.

delly

Folks, the OP is looking for opinions on schools and not permission to question the schooling of there own children. Less of the criticism please.

peejay1986

Trust me, Dunleer is not as perfect as it sounds. I know a lot of people who've come out of there worse off than they were. A school is only as good as the pupil's ability to learn/behave.

I would recommend Ardee. It's a good sized school - not too big but you still feel like you're in a well sized environment. A lot of sporting options and I was never restricted subject-wise. As with everywhere there are a couple of ass-hole teachers who are just there to collect their wages, but some of the teachers who taught me honestly had a huge positive effect on my learning. Many of them are still there.

I also had some personal issues while going through school and the staff were brilliant at understanding this. The support from the non-teaching staff is second to none. My cousins are currently attending Ardee and they're excelling in sporting and academic sectors.

Would recommend this school to anyone.

paulocon

peejay1986 wrote: »

Trust me, Dunleer is not as perfect as it sounds. I know a lot of people who've come out of there worse off than they were. A school is only as good as the pupil's ability to learn/behave.

I would recommend Ardee. It's a good sized school - not too big but you still feel like you're in a well sized environment. A lot of sporting options and I was never restricted subject-wise. As with everywhere there are a couple of ass-hole teachers who are just there to collect their wages, but some of the teachers who taught me honestly had a huge positive effect on my learning. Many of them are still there.

I also had some personal issues while going through school and the staff were brilliant at understanding this. The support from the non-teaching staff is second to none. My cousins are currently attending Ardee and they're excelling in sporting and academic sectors.

Would recommend this school to anyone.

Thanks a million for that, very much appreciated and great to hear some first-hand experiences of the school.

borderlinemeath

I know nothing of either school, but just on the subject of overcrowding...

A friend of mine was at her wits end last year, her son had completed his junior cert in a large town based school. He was only 14 on completing the JC so both himself and his parents wanted him to complete transition year but this option wasn't available to all students and it was done on a lottery basis. Ended up he wasn't one of the lucky ones who got to do transition year and worse still when it came to picking his subjects for LC he was made drop some of his best subjects due to overcrowding in the classes - limiting his career choices going forward.

She visited Dunleer and tranferred her son there this year..

peejay1986

borderlinemeath wrote: »

I know nothing of either school, but just on the subject of overcrowding...

A friend of mine was at her wits end last year, her son had completed his junior cert in a large town based school. He was only 14 on completing the JC so both himself and his parents wanted him to complete transition year but this option wasn't available to all students and it was done on a lottery basis. Ended up he wasn't one of the lucky ones who got to do transition year and worse still when it came to picking his subjects for LC he was made drop some of his best subjects due to overcrowding in the classes - limiting his career choices going forward.

She visited Dunleer and tranferred her son there this year..

What school was that at? That's crazy! Surely the parents should kick up a fuss about it? Overcrowding is understandable(ish) but they should have measures in place to make sure it doesn't affect the pupils in such a way. To restrict their learning is a disgrace.

Sadly I hadn't the option to do transition year when I was in Ardee. I was there at a time when they'd just stopped it due to poor numbers. However they've recently started up transition year again and a lot of pupils are taking up the option. My cousin is doing it at the minute and has been involved in some great courses/work experience as a result.

Transition year is often looked upon as a waste of time or just a reason to 'do nothing' for a year. It can be brilliant way to reduce the monotony of coursework.

borderlinemeath

peejay1986 wrote: »

What school was that at? That's crazy! Surely the parents should kick up a fuss about it? Overcrowding is understandable(ish) but they should have measures in place to make sure it doesn't affect the pupils in such a way. To restrict their learning is a disgrace.

Sadly I hadn't the option to do transition year when I was in Ardee. I was there at a time when they'd just stopped it due to poor numbers. However they've recently started up transition year again and a lot of pupils are taking up the option. My cousin is doing it at the minute and has been involved in some great courses/work experience as a result.

Transition year is often looked upon as a waste of time or just a reason to 'do nothing' for a year. It can be brilliant way to reduce the monotony of coursework.

I don't want to name the school, (not my child or my battle) but it does have a decent enough reputation. It was unfortunate the way everything worked out - from what my friend could ascertain - they believed her son to be bright and mature enough to go straight into 5th year, but the problems with not being able to do his chosen subjects was the straw that broke the camels back. And getting a meeting with the Principal was like getting an audience with the pope - so I would say there were a good few parents who were of the same mindset.

This happened last year, his JC completed in 2010 so things may have changed since.