Primary & secondary schools

rebecca_ib81

Hi,
I'm looking for feedback, comments for primary schools in Cork. We're currently based in Douglas so the boy's name is down for the local schools there but we're wondering is it worth casting the net a bit wider to get a 'good' primary school - keen, helpful teachers, good facilities, good results. Location is preferably southside.
Also any thoughts on secondary schools?

I know that they're very subjective questions, but any feedback would be appreciated (by pm if neccessary).

Thanks!

pwurple

I've girls, but I supppose the schools for boys with the best reputations are the fee paying ones in the city. Presentation Brothers and Christian Brothers (PBC and CBC)? The feeder primary schools for those then are what you want I guess? St Josephs and St Antonys are the feeders for pres as far as I remember. Not sure what the primary feeder schools for christians are.

hoodwinked

also take a look at Ashton, it's supposed to be a great school again you'll have to check for feeder primary schools.

beer enigma

I find St Anthony's excellent - I've a boy there and couldn't fault it. Some risk that Flor (headmaster) could be retiring and that may change things, but for facilities, quality of teachers and any resource requirements excellent.

Looking at Douglas Community for follow on - I've had family through both fee paying and non fee paying in cork and to be honest it was more about how they got on with the school. Two in fee paying, one went onto UCC and one didn't three in non fee pay, two went to UCC.

Maybe no help, but my experience.

Faith

hoodwinked wrote: »

also take a look at Ashton, it's supposed to be a great school again you'll have to check for feeder primary schools.

Strong preference is given to Protestants and those who have older brothers and sisters in the school. Can be hard to get in if you don't meet one of those criteria.

Another +1 for St. Anthony's here. It's a great school.

kub

rebecca_ib81 wrote: »

Hi,
I'm looking for feedback, comments for primary schools in Cork. We're currently based in Douglas so the boy's name is down for the local schools there but we're wondering is it worth casting the net a bit wider to get a 'good' primary school - keen, helpful teachers, good facilities, good results. Location is preferably southside.
Also any thoughts on secondary schools?

I know that they're very subjective questions, but any feedback would be appreciated (by pm if neccessary).

Thanks!

Rockboro on Borrenmanna Road sounds like the place for you.
Any primary school is a feeder to Pres/ Christians. Obviously if a boy plays rugby then that is a help.

run_Forrest_run

kub wrote: »

Rockboro on Borrenmanna Road sounds like the place for you.
Any primary school is a feeder to Pres/ Christians. Obviously if a boy plays rugby then that is a help.

and don't forget the small matter of plentiful amounts of hard cash.

Balmed Out

Ashton hasn't been allowed discriminate on basis of religion since early to mid 90s. Feeder schools st Luke's Douglas st finnbars and the tiny two teacher school in blackrock. No idea about now but it used not get great grades but did give people a mote rounded education, opposite of pres and Christians.
I'd consider spraoid naoimh the best boys secondary .

Edit actually perhaps rochestown may be best secondary as it's supposed to have improved massively. I went to st Anthony s and by comments can only presume it's a lot better now . A lot of well to do people seem to use crab lane no idea if good.

kub

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

and don't forget the small matter of plentiful amounts of hard cash.

Well just going by the impression that i am getting from the OP's post. I suppose you get what you pay for.

murphym7

The feeder primary school for Christians is Christians (there is another local national school up in St Luke’s I think, that get looked after too.)

I have had experience of both private and public education. In my opinion it really depends on the boy, not the school. A young fella will get on great in a national school & non private secondary school. The same boy can also go to private primary and secondary and get on abysmally, it depends on a lot of things. You will find that the boys coming from national school entering CBC will often buy and sell many of the boys who were in private primary school all along. A possible reason is the 8 months less the CBC primary kids do in the course of their primary education and also having no pressure in the entrance exam for the senior school as they are guaranteed their senior school place, the boys from national schools need to work harder and be generally quite clever to get their place.

I would recommend St Anthony’s also, you will know by 4th or 5th if CBC or PBC will be of any extra benefit to him than sending him to Rochestown college (I recommend), Douglas Com or Criost Ri.

I have seen thick as sh1t fellas with a terrible leaving cert do well in life due to the connections they have made in CBC/PBC, which is something to consider.

pwurple

The only thing to remember with st anthonys (all of my brothers went there), is the traffic in the mornings if you don't live nearby. My mother used to curse it.

Missyelliot2

pwurple wrote: »

The only thing to remember with st anthonys (all of my brothers went there), is the traffic in the mornings if you don't live nearby. My mother used to curse it.

It's awful in Douglas too!

Missyelliot2

kub wrote: »

Rockboro on Borrenmanna Road sounds like the place for you.
Any primary school is a feeder to Pres/ Christians. Obviously if a boy plays rugby then that is a help.

Wouldn't rush to Rockboro. My friends child went there - the classes were very small, which might sound like an advantage, but IMHO, the more people kids mix with, the better. Also, they ended the school year earlier in June, as they had finished the curriculum. I found this strange, as I know my own kids loved the last few weeks - time out for sports, tours etc.

Good Luck!

beer enigma

rebecca_ib81 wrote: »

Hi,
I'm looking for feedback, comments for primary schools in Cork. We're currently based in Douglas so the boy's name is down for the local schools there but we're wondering is it worth casting the net a bit wider to get a 'good' primary school - keen, helpful teachers, good facilities, good results. Location is preferably southside.
Also any thoughts on secondary schools?

I know that they're very subjective questions, but any feedback would be appreciated (by pm if neccessary).

Thanks!

I'm posting again as I feel this thread has gone into 'feeder' school mode, whereas my reading is that rebecca_ib81 is just looking for a good primary school.

My young fella went through years of gromits with a 'specialist' from the age of 7. We were told things were fine & natural healing etc....but he was reserved and quiet.

He joined St Anthony's .....we were given great feedback from the school as soon as he started falling behind in 1st class. Teacher feedback was great and as a result we got a second opinion. The problem was much bigger and necessitated a fairly major op.

All the way through, the school supported, wrote letters to local authority and provided as much resource as they could.

He's 11 tomorrow and is now back on par with his classmates, we've had feedback all the way through, he still needs a laptop for writing but the school identified the need and provided it.

For me, St Anthony's have been amazing - he may or may not be academic - he may or may not play rugby or soccer or gaa and to be honest that's up to him. I'm an ex pro rugby player but feel we were very very lucky to get the support from st Anthony's & certainly wouldn't be driven by sports schools.

Sorry if it sounds like a lecture, but I can't fault them & if you're within the locality & not driven by feeder schools, then in my opinion, look no further.

now online

Depending on the childs age, scoil Padraig Naofa in Rochestown is an excellent school. But only if he's like a month or two now. You have to put his name down years in advance. Apart from that major hurdle, its a newly built school with a fantastic principal, young committed staff and what seems to be a great ethos!

Karmella

Sorry to hijack the thread but anyone know how St Anthony's and Beaumount Boys compare? I've a boy who'll be starting primary Sept 2015, and Beaumount is the closer to us of the 2 schools.

Paz-CCFC

There's also the options of the two Gaelscoileanna, if you haven't already considered them - Gaelscoil na Dúglaise and Gaelscoil Mhachan.

As well as the obvious advantage in Irish, children who have two languages early on tend to naturally be able to learn subsequent languages in comparison to monolingual speakers. Gaelscoil Mhachan also teaches German. I'm not sure about the one in Douglas, but, from my experience, third languages seem to be taught more in Gaelscoileanna than in national schools. I don't have any statistics at hand, and I'd hope the vast majority of schools today would encourage a third language, but it seems to happen more often in a Gaelscoil.

A friend of mine went to Gaelscoil Mhachan and it seems to have stood to him, in languages among other things.

pwurple

Karmella wrote: »

Sorry to hijack the thread but anyone know how St Anthony's and Beaumount Boys compare? I've a boy who'll be starting primary Sept 2015, and Beaumount is the closer to us of the 2 schools.

Beaumont is a very good school as well. The girls school is right next door, which is very handy if you have a boy and a girl. I place a good bit of weight on the ability to walk or cycle themselves to school, teaches a bit of self sufficiency. It's handy when their friends live nearby as well. A lot of st anthony boys are driven down from rochestown direction.

kub

Paz-CCFC wrote: »

There's also the options of the two Gaelscoileanna, if you haven't already considered them - Gaelscoil na Dúglaise and Gaelscoil Mhachan.

As well as the obvious advantage in Irish, children who have two languages early on tend to naturally be able to learn subsequent languages in comparison to monolingual speakers. Gaelscoil Mhachan also teaches German. I'm not sure about the one in Douglas, but, from my experience, third languages seem to be taught more in Gaelscoileanna than in national schools. I don't have any statistics at hand, and I'd hope the vast majority of schools today would encourage a third language, but it seems to happen more often in a Gaelscoil.

A friend of mine went to Gaelscoil Mhachan and it seems to have stood to him, in languages among other things.

The other very handy thing is the likes of Douglas Gael Scoil is the fact that if you do have boys and girls in the same family they can all go to the same school.

pwurple

kub wrote: »

The other very handy thing is the likes of Douglas Gael Scoil is the fact that if you do have boys and girls in the same family they can all go to the same school.

I was completely put off gaelscoil in general by some comments in the last place I lived (not cork). Several people told me I HAD to send my children there, as it was the only school in the area where you could be sure the "foreigners" wouldn't be attending. That made me more concerned about the bunch of racist gob****es who would be attending!

SusieBlue

The gaelscoil in Douglas is great, as is the one in ballyphehane. Both are new
buildings with great facilities and resources. A gaelscoil gives a great foundation for the language - I went to one and I was completely fluent by the age of 9.

It would give more secondary options and even if you were to send him to an English speaking secondary, he'd have a great foundation and grasp of the language for the junior and leaving cert which is a great advantage.

kub

WhiteRoses wrote: »

The gaelscoil in Douglas is great, as is the one in ballyphehane. Both are new
buildings with great facilities and resources. A gaelscoil gives a great foundation for the language - I went to one and I was completely fluent by the age of 9.

It would give more secondary options and even if you were to send him to an English speaking secondary, he'd have a great foundation and grasp of the language for the junior and leaving cert which is a great advantage.

Is it true that when children finish in Gaelscoils that they have Leaving Cert standard Irish?

SusieBlue

kub wrote: »

Is it true that when children finish in Gaelscoils that they have Leaving Cert standard Irish?

In my own experience, our spoken Irish would have been on par with leaving cert but the written/grammatical side would have been a lower level.

As a point on reference, by the time I was in 5th class I was no longer even translating what the teacher was saying into English in my head, I was thinking in Irish too, so my answers came out fluidly when asked anything and I never needed to stop and think how to say something or how to word something. Written standard wouldn't have been as high but I bet it'd have been a lot better than my English primary school attending peers.

Gaelscoils aren't as intense as they are made out to be at all, they gently introduce the language to the kids. They learn by the teacher speaking to them in Irish and they respond in English until they figure out how to say it in Irish. My niece is in senior infants and I've seen her teacher chat away to her as gaeilge, with my niece responding in English with a few random words thrown in here and there. It's such a natural way of learning a language as opposed to the tiresome text book way English schools teach it.

For my own kids I wouldn't go past a gaelscoil. They give kids these days a great advantage.

Paz-CCFC

pwurple wrote: »

I was completely put off gaelscoil in general by some comments in the last place I lived (not cork). Several people told me I HAD to send my children there, as it was the only school in the area where you could be sure the "foreigners" wouldn't be attending. That made me more concerned about the bunch of racist gob****es who would be attending!

To be fair, there are bigots across all walks of life, but they're generally in the small minority. They won't be the ones attending the Gaelscoil, anyway, and their kids don't necessarily pick up their prejudices.

It's probably a fallacy, anyway, because the amount of non-Irish attending Gaelscoileanna are rising. It seems to me that non-English speaking parents, whose children were born in Ireland, are fairly keen to have their children know the language. Ireland is their home just as much as their native country.

kub wrote: »

Is it true that when children finish in Gaelscoils that they have Leaving Cert standard Irish?

As WhiteRoses said, probably spoken, but not written. Long compositions, poetry, prose etc. are all things that they'd be behind in, but they'd pick that up with more ease if they have a strong foundation in the language.

You'd want to be giving them more opportunities in the langauge, too, though. A Gaelscoil is a good start, but speaking it a bit at home, taking them to the Gaeltacht to expose them to a more natural Irish, TG4 etc. are all things that can really give kids (and adults) a higher standard.