School Closure

manna452121

Sad to see a great school closing. http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/local-news/two-limerick-schools-to-merge-in-2015-1-5558385

sioda

God that's crap. My first school :-(

ComputerKing

Sad to here it's closing but it had really gone down hill in recent years.

Jofspring

I have heard Nessans numbers have plummeted also so best for both schools really.

Nessans is a state of the art facility.

AgBaintTriail

I wonder if another nearby school will press across the road for lebensraum...

Poxyshamrock

It'll be sad to see the Salesians go.

boomerang

I won't be sad to see it close.

Lisa2011

I am a former student of Salesians. Many years since I was though and it was a great school with wonderful teachers. I know it has downhill a bit but I am surprised by this.

steveon

Was talking to a friend of mine and her daughter will be going into 6th yr when its moving, I dont feel this is acceptable at all the stress of the leaving cert is bad enough but to be expected to find your way around a new school in your final yr is totally unaccepable.

Plus St nessans is a considerable distance away for a lot of students that went to St Nessans in the first place as they live in my area and can simply walk across the bridge to the school...Sad to see and I pity our future generations of kids as their choices are getting smaller and smaller.

ComputerKing

steveon wrote: »

Was talking to a friend of mine and her daughter will be going into 6th yr when its moving, I dont feel this is acceptable at all the stress of the leaving cert is bad enough but to be expected to find your way around a new school in your final yr is totally unaccepable.

Plus St nessans is a considerable distance away for a lot of students that went to St Nessans in the first place as they live in my area and can simply walk across the bridge to the school...Sad to see and I pity our future generations of kids as their choices are getting smaller and smaller.

I can't really see any stress as they are just being moved to nessans. Nearly no one from the area went to the secondary school anymore so its not really going to make a difference to the few who walk.

kilburn

sioda wrote: »

God that's crap. My first school :-(

Only the secondary school closing chief

sioda

Ooops

Lisa2011

I dont think there will be any stress involved in moving especially for exam year students and Nessans is not that far from those that attend Salesians.

There will be additional though of new uniforms.

I wonder does the school intend to take in first year students next september

ComputerKing

Lisa2011 wrote: »

I dont think there will be any stress involved in moving especially for exam year students and Nessans is not that far from those that attend Salesians.

There will be additional though of new uniforms.

I wonder does the school intend to take in first year students next september

As far as I heard they won't be taking in new students so the current first years will have completed their Junior Certs when they move. However I checked the list of open nights and they are down as having one.

kilburn

Nessans is getting a big revamp as part of regeneration aswell

thesimpsons

Lisa2011 wrote: »

I dont think there will be any stress involved in moving especially for exam year students and Nessans is not that far from those that attend Salesians.

There will be additional though of new uniforms.

I wonder does the school intend to take in first year students next september

leaving cert can be very stressful for students and more importantly so if there is an additional stress thrown in to the pot - change in environment, change in teacher & teaching methods, routine, etc. why don't you think it would be any different "especially for exam year students"? I know of plenty of girls who came through Salesians in last few years having got very good leaving certs and university courses of their 1st choice. an additional stress like changing school could be very detrimental to achieving this.

mgbgt1978

Yey !!! Slightly less traffic in that area in the mornings.....see, there's usually a silver lining.:)

Insect Overlord

thesimpsons wrote: »

an additional stress like changing school could be very detrimental to achieving this.

They have a few years' notice, and they switch-over will happen at the start of the year. You might have a point if they were changing buildings in February or March, right before the exams.

thesimpsons

don't agree with you at all - having had 2 kids go thru leaving cert I feel there is only one thing they should have to worry about during that year and its routine, keeping things very even and being as stress free as possible.

however, I've often wondered how Salesians managed to keep going as long as it has been - with only 5/6 students in some classes, or 30 students in a whole year, it's days have been numbered for a while imo

CrazyChick18

As a past pupil I am saddened by this but the school is old and dated but if I was a parent I would be disappointed even if you just sent a first year in this year.

As well st nessans is a mixed school so girls are obviously going to outnumber the boys and a lot that are attending Salesians might not have wanted to be in a mixed school, but saying that st nessans is obviously bigger and a newer school.

relaxed

I wonder will the high school build a bridge across the road and take it over?

Jofspring

I was told nessans only has 80 students now.

It's a number I can't believe as when I was attending there was around 800 students. It is pretty much a brand new school so I can't understand the rapid decline in numbers.

If Nessans only has around 80 and Salesians similar then it's only right to amalgamate.

It may be extra stress for certain students but sadly it has to be done at some stage.

MarkR

From their website.

The College grew to almost 950 students and 61 teaching staff in the mid-nineties. Currently we have an enrolment of 360 students, 3 special needs assistants and a teaching allocation of 38.00 teacher equivalents including resource teachers and learning support teachers.

So 80 might be the first years?

Lisa2011

For a secondary school 80 is small so i think it might be first year students.

My cousin is also a former student of Salesians and said that the funds to run the school no longer exist. If this is true its a shame.

bigpink

How do they have such low numbers?

spurious

Schools change, areas change. You often get a glut of 12 year olds for a period fo a few years and then it gradually reduces until the intake in local schools is too low to be sustainable.

This trend generally reverses again, but no one in the Department of Education seems to realise this and shuts schools. Then you get a situation where there aren't enough places and new schools have to be built and then a few years later they are over quota again.

For what it's worth, knowing both schools, i think it will be good for the children of both schools, especially if some staffing allowance is made to ease the transition.

bigpink

But then I hear its hard to get into Ard Scoil and Laurel Hill

Insect Overlord

They've got good reputations (and deservedly so), so the demand is always going to be high. The two merging schools aren't what they used to be.

juneg

bigpink wrote: »

But then I hear its hard to get into Ard Scoil and Laurel Hill

you hear right!!

And taking another school off that common application form will cause more hassle to prospective first years all over the city.

Lisa2011

The Limerick Leader has an article about it. There are some parents who are former students and they are very angry about it. They choose to send their daughters to an all girls school and did not want them being in a school with boys as they are not used to it. Also the added cost of new uniforms is frustrating for them aswell

ComputerKing

Lisa2011 wrote: »

The Limerick Leader has an article about it. There are some parents who are former students and they are very angry about it. They choose to send their daughters to an all girls school and did not want them being in a school with boys as they are not used to it. Also the added cost of new uniforms is frustrating for them aswell

I disagree if they won't them to go to an all girls school they can apply to any of the other all girl schools to transfer. But it was pointless keeping two schools with so little pupils open.

RachealB

Its a shame its closing my daughter is in first year and loves it there. She was bullied in primary but a group of girls that go to Nessans school and she is refusing to go. Will have to look at moving her, but the schools said very hard to change as they are full... So we are stumped. I do not see why they have to move a school that they do not want to go with , if we wanted our daughters to go to Nessans we would have put them there first. I belive that in Nessans have some really bad apples and they made my daughters life hell. she has been crying since she heard the news. She is now saying she will drop out of school if we cant find alternative as she will not go there, with regards people that numbers are low, I think Nessans has about 350 pupil as St endas closed and they where put in Nessans. I am sorry but as a parent we should have a choice and voice. I don't want my daughter going to a school that is know locally as a place to go if you don't want to learn. I live next to this school and don't want her going there not a chance. Will fight for her and want she wants. This country is a joke all about money, no one has thought about the kids. What is best for them and there education.x

thesimpsons

the alternative to her going to Nessans (though I believe it will actually be a new school with new name, uniform, new ethos, patrons, etc) then your alternative is to either find a place now in another Limerick school or apply again next year as an incoming first year student and hopefully obtain a place in a different school. Alternatively, move her at the start of 2nd year when places do sometimes come up as kids move around schools.

remember too, no school is perfect and that all schools have bad teachers and all schools have bullies and bullying.

manna452121

Change of plan,for a short while. http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/education/limerick-s-salesian-school-to-stay-open-extra-year-1-5656410