Primary school for a 4 year old in Cork

komitskio

Hi All, I would be glad if you help me with choosing a good primary school for my son, I just moved to Cork from Eastern Europe and my family will be joining me in September. He is quite independent, dresses himself alone and goes to the loo without adult help, the thing is that he does not speak English. Is there a school that could have preliminary classes or so?
Thanks in advance

Vivara

My understanding is that not speaking English won't be a problem, especially since he's only four. My friend moved from Russia when he was eight, and he was just allowed to sit in the classroom until he picked it up. It took about a year for him, but since your child is only four, he will pick it up much more quickly.

What part of Cork are you living in? Normally I would just suggest the local national school; they're all fairly similar and at a high standard, but then there might be some that would be less than helpful with a child that doesn't speak English.

If you let us know where you're living, we can help you out with suggesting schools... because there are quite a few and there's none "above the rest".

V.

Balmed Out

You may consider waiting a year before enrolling but if not get on it immediately, I think Irish kids typically start at 5 years with the previous year being in a play school (nursery school) heavily subsidized by the state.


Im not a teacher and dont have kids but from listening to friends who are teachers.....

School children with special needs, language problems etc can qualify for some 'resource' hours whereby they get one to one teaching attention. These hours are allocated around now I think so if a school knew they were expecting you're child the school and consequently youre child would be allocated a weekly number of hours. Resource teachers can be shared amongst schools so its important that a school would know as soon as possible if ye would qualify. I think they may be redone again at Christmas if yere too late to qualify now.

komitskio

I live in Montenotte now but I plan to move to Bishopstown area in November. The Glasheen boys school is appraised in the net, so I was thinking about it....

Oafley Jones

Glasheen Boys is a great school. They've also no problems getting numbers. If your son isn't close to turning five they'll tell you hold off till next year.

mcko

Is it me or are people having a laugh sending a child to school who can't speak English. I bet if I went to Eastern Europe they would not take my kid if he did not speak the lanuage.

Ludo

Well kids who speak no Irish go to GaelScoils and learn everything through a language they may never have spoken...they'll pick it up though. Not exactly the same obviously but close enough. Anyway what do you expect them to do...not go to school?

ABajaninCork

mcko wrote: »

Is it me or are people having a laugh sending a child to school who can't speak English. I bet if I went to Eastern Europe they would not take my kid if he did not speak the lanuage.

It IS you!! This is the best age for the child to speak another language. The little boy will pick up English in no time at all...

My friend sent her half French son to the Lycee Francais in South Ken. It was a requirement of the school he be fluent in French. Which he wasn't. Do you know what? He picked up French very quickly, and now speaks the language better than English which is his mother tongue.

Meanwhile - do you suggest he stays at home??

OP - you obviously have a good command of English. Have you tried teaching your child a few basic phrases, just to get him started? I'd get a few picture books too. You know - the ones where you have the picture and the words underneath?

Good luck!

the beer revolu

mcko wrote: »

Is it me or are people having a laugh sending a child to school who can't speak English. I bet if I went to Eastern Europe they would not take my kid if he did not speak the lanuage.

What a stupid post!
It has already been explained why.

We really need a generation of kids growing up without education or a good command of English like a hole in the head.

OP, the situation you describe is not unusual in modern Ireland. Any school should be able to cope fine and the little lad will be speaking Cork in no time, especially with your excellent command of written English.

mcko

My kids went to Glasheen and the amout of teachers time spent dealing with the non English seaking kids was unreal, last year a Spainish kid started in 5th year, no English, resorce teachers teaching English to non English speakers. I had to pay for maths grinds as the resorce teacher was busy.

I have no problem with non nationals but they should have basic English to start school.
Its not fair on the majority and we need to cater to the majority for a change.

the beer revolu

mcko wrote: »

My kids went to Glasheen and the amout of teachers time spent dealing with the non English seaking kids was unreal, last year a Spainish kid started in 5th year, no English, resorce teachers teaching English to non English speakers. I had to pay for maths grinds as the resorce teacher was busy.

I have no problem with non nationals but they should have basic English to start school.
Its not fair on the majority and we need to cater to the majority for a change.

5 YO child moves to Ireland. Has no English. What do you do? Not educate them?

That's funny, your kid needs grinds and it's the Spanish kid's fault. Nice!
BTW what's a non national?
It seems you do have an underlying problem with foreign nationals.
Do you start sentences with "I'm not racist but....."

Vivara

mcko wrote: »

Is it me or are people having a laugh sending a child to school who can't speak English. I bet if I went to Eastern Europe they would not take my kid if he did not speak the lanuage.

ABajaninCork wrote: »

It IS you!! This is the best age for the child to speak another language. The little boy will pick up English in no time at all...

the beer revolu wrote: »

OP, the situation you describe is not unusual in modern Ireland. Any school should be able to cope fine and the little lad will be speaking Cork in no time, especially with your excellent command of written English.

the beer revolu wrote: »

5 YO child moves to Ireland. Has no English. What do you do? Not educate them?

That's funny, your kid needs grinds and it's the Spanish kid's fault. Nice!
BTW what's a non national?
It seems you do have an underlying problem with foreign nationals.
Do you start sentences with "I'm not racist but....."

Good God guys... If you see from my post above (the first response to the OP), I'm all for English learning through "direct immersion" but I think mcko is merely pointing out that there is no way schools in other parts of the EU would accept someone who hasn't a word of the native language. We are quite accommodating here — which is fantastic! Go to Germany or Poland or Spain and you couldn't just sign up in a school and hope for the best; they'd look at you as if you had seven heads.

(I must say, although my friend started in fourth or fifth class with no English, I do think it may be a bit much to move someone that age without a word of it and hog up resources for other kids who have educational demands, but I don't know, I'm hugely pro-Europe and multicultural so I still think everyone should be accommodated.)

With regards to Glasheen Boys School: I think it would be a good choice!

Ludo

Try googling attending school in Germany with no German language....same goes for France. Plenty of stories about kids who went to public school there without any french or german of all ages and picked it up quickly enough. May not be conclusive proof as it is "something I read on the internet" but it's not like other countries don't allow this as some people are making out here. Another case of people bemoaning and cribbing about Ireland for no good reason as usual on boards.ie. Schools will try to accomadate kids without the language and some will be better than others. It is not an Irish problem.

ABajaninCork

Vivara wrote: »

Good God guys... If you see from my post above (the first response to the OP), I'm all for English learning through "direct immersion" but I think mcko is merely pointing out that there is no way schools in other parts of the EU would accept someone who hasn't a word of the native language. We are quite accommodating here — which is fantastic! Go to Germany or Poland or Spain and you couldn't just sign up in a school and hope for the best; they'd look at you as if you had seven heads.

(I must say, although my friend started in fourth or fifth class with no English, I do think it may be a bit much to move someone that age without a word of it and hog up resources for other kids who have educational demands, but I don't know, I'm hugely pro-Europe and multicultural so I still think everyone should be accommodated.)

With regards to Glasheen Boys School: I think it would be a good choice!

If you're going to quote me, then why don't you quote the post in full???

ABajaninCork wrote: »

It IS you!! This is the best age for the child to speak another language. The little boy will pick up English in no time at all...

My friend sent her half French son to the Lycee Francais in South Ken. It was a requirement of the school he be fluent in French. Which he wasn't. Do you know what? He picked up French very quickly, and now speaks the language better than English which is his mother tongue.

Meanwhile - do you suggest he stays at home??

OP - you obviously have a good command of English. Have you tried teaching your child a few basic phrases, just to get him started? I'd get a few picture books too. You know - the ones where you have the picture and the words underneath?

Good luck!

The bolded part is the salient point I was trying to make. The OP has a good command of English. So I suggested making a start by buying a few picture books and teaching him a few basic phrases to get him started.

And it is most certainly NOT true about EU schools not taking kids that don't speak the language. Read the part of my post about the Lycee Francais, for example. In the UK certainly, not knowing the language isn't a barrier to education.

Diziet

Vivara wrote: »

I'm all for English learning through "direct immersion" but I think mcko is merely pointing out that there is no way schools in other parts of the EU would accept someone who hasn't a word of the native language. QUOTE]

Do you have any actual evidence of this, or is it random xenophobia? Because I have several friends who did exactly this in France, Germany and Switzerland, and Chinese friends who did the same in London. In all cases the children caught up within a year.

Edna_K

mcko wrote: »

My kids went to Glasheen and the amout of teachers time spent dealing with the non English seaking kids was unreal, last year a Spainish kid started in 5th year, no English, resorce teachers teaching English to non English speakers. I had to pay for maths grinds as the resorce teacher was busy.

I have no problem with non nationals but they should have basic English to start school.
Its not fair on the majority and we need to cater to the majority for a change.

This post needs to be challenged further for blatant untruths.

A resource teacher primarily teaches children with special needs. That child will have access to a specific amount of hour’s dependant on the diagnosis of the child. Resource teachers are not used to teach "English to non English speakers."

evilivor

Edna_K wrote: »

This post needs to be challenged further for blatant untruths.

A resource teacher primarily teaches children with special needs. That child will have access to a specific amount of hour’s dependant on the diagnosis of the child. Resource teachers are not used to teach "English to non English speakers."

You dare correct the other poster's spelling and then drop this howler.

who_me

evilivor wrote: »

You dare correct the other poster's spelling and then drop this howler.

And to add insult to injury "amount of hour’s" - it should be number of hours or amount of time, not amount of hours nor number of time. Booooh. :P

Balky78

Hiya! we are relocating to Cork in June , so far our 14 year old daughter has been accepted at St Alloyisus and our 4year old at the Educate Together in Carigaline, we are trying to place our 15 yr old son at CSN and still without a place for our 9yr old son.we would like to get the youngest two together at the same school. And ideally get our eldest two in at CSN and Mount Mercy respectively, which are both in Bishopstown, so in the long run also a primary school in that are also for our youngest two boys.so that we are all in the same area. (English teaching please.)
Please bear with me here as i have a few questions,

1) can anyone give me any info with either of the two, St Alloyisus, and Edu Together Carrigaline?

2) what would be a good option for our 15 year old son? should we not get a place at CSN.
and would Edu together Carigaline be a good option also for our 9 year old boy??
Thanks a mil for all your help.

bee06

Were will ye be living? Or does it depend on where the kids go to school?

You'd be mad to have some kids in Bishopstown and some in Carrigaline IMO.

hoodwinked

Bishopstown and carrigaline both have huge traffic problems, as does douglas and the N25 which is between them, it could take you over an hour minimum.

as for the schools themselves, Carrigaline educate together is a small new school, i've heard the teachers there are excellent,

CSN is also a brilliant secondary imo if i had a boy i would send him there, (i am biased my husband and his friends went there)

if you are in bishopstown for the boys primary i would look at scoil SN (the primary to CSN) or glasheen (which also feeds CSN)

if you are in Carrigaline educate together is probably the best primary school if you want english language. there is a secondary Carrigaline community which i have heard is good too.