Good primary school in or near Loughlinstown, Co Dublin ?

Supercell

Hi,

We have a little boy on the way in April and we are moving to a new house in Loughlinstown next week so are looking for advice for a public primary school in the area?

He will be mixed race (if that matters) and we would prefer the school he goes to isn't overly religious as his parents aren't!
He will be brought up speaking Mandarin and English at home and I would have no problems with him going to an Irish school. I've read that bilingual children can pick up extra languages comparatively easily and from what I've read Irish schools in general have a pretty good reputation.

I've read about feeder schools for secondary level before - I went to Newpark Comp in Blackrock in my youth and would like him to go there too - are there any feeder requirements for Newpark that we need to consider?


Sorry if this seems rambling, any advice greatly welcomed

Lola92

Congrats on your pregnancy!

I don't know the primary schools too well in the Loughlinstown area I'm afraid, I have heard good things about the gaelscoil in Ballybrack though. It is in the Glencar estate.

A word of advice though, Newpark is a very hard school to get in to (although having a parent as an ex-pupil will help I guess!). Many children who were previously going to Andrews/Wesley but whose parents can no longer afford the fees are applying for there now instead. I would get your child's name down on the waiting list as soon as possible after he is born.

AFAIK there are two waiting lists - A & B. My parents have been trying to get trying to get my brother with ASD in for the last 5 years or so. He is now in sixth class and they only live about 5 mins walk away so catchment areas etc. are not an issue. As our family is catholic he and his twin brother were put on the B list so that might be something to bear in mind.

Best of luck!

Supercell

Thanks Lola, very useful advice, we will definitely try to get our babies name down as soon as possible after they enter the world in April

I had heard something similar about Newpark and the local fee paying schools.
Newpark's application form doesn't ask if either parent is a previous pupil, so maybe that doesn't help any more? I suppose we will just have to wait and see.