School change for Leaving Cert

Maglight

I'm looking for suggestions for an alternative school in North Dublin or City Centre - for my daughter who will be starting fifth year in September.

Currently she is in a catholic girls school. It's a good school but it's conservative. She is very bright, artistic and alternative. The school are supportive but she is isolated in her class as her outlook on life is very much at odds with most of her peers.

She would do best in a mixed school which puts a strong emphasis on the individual and the arts. Mount Temple was my first choice, but it's totally full with a waiting list.

I'm dreading the Leaving Cert years if she stays where she is. It won't be pretty.

skallywag

Has she expressed unhappiness at her current school due to the isolation that you describe? Has she any real friends in her class etc? Or is your concern more that the current curriculum choices available to her are not adequate?

Maglight

She is unhappy in the school and feels isolated and out of step with her class. The curriculum choices are fine, it's the social side that's problematic.

echo beach

Its the tough choice. She could find the same in another school and sometimes there is a case for 'the devil you know'.
Part of life is learning how to adapt to situations you aren't comfortable in. Could she use the summer to find friends and groups outside of school to satisfy her social needs? That way school could be a place she goes to with the aim of passing the exams she needs to do what she really wants. She will still have evenings and weekends for her real interests.