Educate Together or Catholic School Cork?

gemini_girl

My ds is starting school this Sept & we are unable to decide which school to send him to. We have no religion & are raising our kids likewise. The local boys catholic school has a great reputation (Carrigaline) & The E.T school is only open 3 years so am finding it hard to compare the two. Someone said to me that sometimes kids who are expelled often are sent to E.T school so this has put me off but I'm sure there is little truth in that. Another friend visited the school & felt there was too much religion because of ET being multi & not non denomonational. I've no prob with ds learing about faiths & religions but in ET schools how much time is spent per week teaching about religions compared to religious schools? Would love to hear some first hand experiences please as I don't know anyone who has sent their kids to an ET school. Thanks:)

byhookorbycrook

All primary schools are timetabled to spend 2.5 hours per week on religion, be it a particular religion or a number of religions.

If you are finding it hard to decide(presume the child is on the pre-enrolement list for both by now??)then make an appt to visit both schools, you'll learn a lot by the "feel" of the place.Each school is different so one can't say all Catholic/Gaelscoileanna/Educate Together schools are great/awful,so much depends on the principal and staff.

gemini_girl

yes thats true. we have to have the accept/decline form back in by fri if we send him to the ET school so i'll try & see if i can call in before then to the school. Its so hard trying to decide as its my childs education at stake!

ShamoBuc

Also speak to your neighbours, they might be able to help you. They might have brothers/sisters/friends that have children there.
Ring and make an appointment to see the principals. They will speak to you and maybe show you around and will answer any queries you may have.
Choosing the right school is hard to do, whichever you get a 'good feeling' from might be enough to sway it either way if all other things appear equal!

giveth

I went to the Carrigaline boys national school up to 1994, so quite a while ago. But I do not have fond memories of the place. Some not so nice teachers and I now really resent the way religion was taught to me there. My brothers who went there also feel the same way. The only way to describe it was indoctrination but I guess most catholic schools are/were like that.
If it was my kids, they would go to the E.T school. But maybe the national school has changed since my time there...
Also I loved secondary school(Carrigaline community school) so it wasn't just a case if me not liking school.

byhookorbycrook

Giveth, primary schools have changed hugely since the 90s, never mind since the turn of the millenium!!Most schools are vastly different now, so it would be worth OP's while to visit both.

gemini_girl

Well we went to the ET school & it was great. The principle was lovely & took loads of time to show us around & chat to my son so I got a very good feeling for the place & we are happily going to send my son to school there. Thanks to everyone for all the comments:D

Daisy M

Ok I have been waiting for a thread like this so I can ask a question on the educate together schools.

Our school (not an e.t. school) recently had an inspection. Now the inspector made a recommendation that rather than their been classes in the school that children should work together according to their ability so in a set group you may have children aged from 7 to 10 depending on their ability.
Having spoke to someone else who works in the education system apparently this type of education was practiced in England in the 70s. He taught there at that time eventually the system was deemed not to work and was scrapped. He would be totally against this been implemented in our school. It has been decided not to act on this as parents and teachers see to many problems with it.

Can anyone shed anymore light on this please?

byhookorbycrook

Daisy, Educate together refers to childrens' religious views, not academic groupings.

Daisy M

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Daisy, Educate together refers to childrens' religious views, not academic groupings.

Thanks that was what I had previously thought. Not really sure what the inspector was talking about so.

byhookorbycrook

I am wondering what the inspector meant?Did he/she mean that children from say 2nd to 6th should be taught say Maths together?Is the report up on the Dept of Education site?

Daisy M

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

I am wondering what the inspector meant?Did he/she mean that children from say 2nd to 6th should be taught say Maths together?Is the report up on the Dept of Education site?

No she said that children should be taught according to their ability so you could have a few average 9yr olds been taught with 7/8 yr olds who were ahead of their own class and maybe 10/11 year olds who were behind. That way they would be working in a group with the same ability as each other and apparently no classes!! I dont like the sound of that how would they move along when would a parent know it would be time to move on to secondary school? I have a child with mild dyslexia and she gets help from the learning support teacher. She strives to keep up with her class in english, she is ahead in maths. I think her confidence would be shattered if she was working with children signifigantly younger than her and I doubt she would have the same enthusiasm for her learning.
Maybe the inspector worded herself wrong or was taken up wrong or maybe shes a little alternative!