'Educate Together'

ADNetti

Hi everyone,
Looks like we might be moving to Cork this summer from the Middle East. My kids (4,9) are currently at a private IB school but unfortunately there are none in Cork. I came across the Educate Together schools and they seem to be quite close in their ethos to what my kids are used to. Can anyone shed any light on it please? Or just give me an idea of positives and negatives?
I understand that I should look into feeder-schools as well, so Glasheen primary came up as an alternative.

huskerdu

Hi,
As a starting point, here is the website of Educate Together, which should give you lots of information on ET schools.
http://www.educatetogether.ie/

After that, you need to get in contact with the schools that you are interested in and see if they have places available.

ET schools allocate places based on a waiting lists and many of them have long waiting lists, so you may not be able to get a place.

ADNetti

Thanks for your reply. I am quite aware of the facts you have mentioned. However, I am really just looking at the quality of the education currently, coming from a multi national IB environment I would like to see that my kids will be supported in a similar way.

huskerdu

Hi,

I don't know what IB means. Can you explain ?

Educate Together schools are non-feeing paying national schools. The class size will be approx. 28, the same as most other Irish primary schools. The curriculum, with the exception of Religious education / instruction is the standard Irish primary school curriculum.

Its hard to give overall feedback on all ET schools. You would be better off asking about a specific school that you are interested in.

lazygal

IB is probably international baccalaureate?


There's not much point in asking about the quality of ET schools. Every school in Ireland runs itself. One ET might be fantastic with dedicated teachers and parents who are actively involved, another might be less brilliant. Same with any other school. All schools in the public system teach the same curriculum, except for those that do indoctrination as part of the school day.

ADNetti

Indeed IB stands for International Baccalaureate. The approach is rather different than other systems in Europe, hence I worry about the changes. Thanks for all your replies.