Primary schools in Athlone

Rasmus

There is a thread on Athlone schools but it's a few years old so I wanted to start a new one.
I'm looking for recommendations on schools in the Athlone area, my preference for a school would be as little religion as possible.
I don't need it for 5 years so I'm also interested in start-ups (although I have already filled out an E.O.I. for the Educate Together).
For various reasons I'm not into Ardnagrath or Tubberclair.
So with all that criteria can anyone offer any suggestions? ! Cheers.

Saint_Mel

Where is the Educate Together school in Athlone?

Rasmus

Saint_Mel wrote: »

Where is the Educate Together school in Athlone?

There isn't one yet.

nice_guy80

just put child into a catholic school, if that is an option. the less driving for a school for you, the better

the amount of religion being done is far less than you think

flazio

What about that school behind Applegreen?

Rasmus

nice_guy80 wrote: »

just put child into a catholic school, if that is an option. the less driving for a school for you, the better

the amount of religion being done is far less than you think

Well I know from experience that that's not the case.

Rasmus

flazio wrote: »

What about that school behind Applegreen?

Yep I'm applying there.

Zubeneschamali

flazio wrote: »

What about that school behind Applegreen?

"Mixed National School" does not mean no religion, it means Church of Ireland, but there aren't enough CoI kids so we'll take people from other backgrounds.

So, not very different from the Catholic schools that take people from other backgrounds.

Saint_Mel

Rasmus wrote: »

There isn't one yet.

Ah I see. Granted everywhere is probably different, but the programme RTE had about an Educate Together school was enough to put me off them.
Looked a bit of a shambles

4ensic15

It would be better to go to the most convenient school. Not much between any of them.

nice_guy80

Rasmus wrote: »

Well I know from experience that that's not the case.

ok.
not the case in the schools I deal with

tubos

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

"Mixed National School" does not mean no religion, it means Church of Ireland, but there aren't enough CoI kids so we'll take people from other backgrounds.

So, not very different from the Catholic schools that take people from other backgrounds.

+1

Cornamaddy was earmarked as one of the first schools down to lose its Catholic Church patronage but not sure what progress was ever made there

Rasmus

tubos wrote: »

+1

Cornamaddy was earmarked as one of the first schools down to lose its Catholic Church patronage but not sure what progress was ever made there

The divestment is being held-up by paperwork apparently.

Zubeneschamali

tubos wrote: »

Cornamaddy was earmarked as one of the first schools down to lose its Catholic Church patronage but not sure what progress was ever made there

And even when it happens. the Primary School curriculum mandates 30 minutes a day of religious instruction. Even Educate Together and interdenominational schools have religion classes.

But they are more general, and less like indoctrination.

up for anything

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

And even when it happens. the Primary School curriculum mandates 30 minutes a day of religious instruction. Even Educate Together and interdenominational schools have religion classes.

But they are more general, and less like indoctrination.

Educate Together schools don't have religion classes! That's half the point of them.

They have this though.

Zubeneschamali

up for anything wrote: »

Educate Together schools don't have religion classes! That's half the point of them.

They have this though.

If you click through, the content is pretty good, although I could use less emphasis on "meditation".

Calling the strand "Moral and Spiritual" and a unit "Cultivating Spiritual Growth" is clearly an attempt to satisfy the Department's requirement for quote "Religious Education" unquote. From the Primary School Curriculum:

Religious education
In seeking to develop the full potential of the individual, the curriculum takes into account the child’s affective, aesthetic, spiritual, moral and religious needs. The spiritual dimension is a fundamental aspect of individual experience, and its religious and cultural expression is an inextricable part of Irish culture and history. Religious education specifically enables the child to develop spiritual and moral values and to come to a knowledge of God.

Lt Dan

up for anything wrote: »

Educate Together schools don't have religion classes! That's half the point of them.

They have this though.

What a load of left wing, pinko liberal ****. A new indoctrination. Brainwashed nonsense about how "everyone is the same and equal". Pish posh

Better off without any religion or spiritual teaching at all. Morals? Over rated and subjective . Bha

Zubeneschamali

Lt Dan wrote: »

Better off without any religion or spiritual teaching at all.

Well, yes, but the Curriculum mandates it, and I'd say this is the most secular version they could get away with.

Rasmus

Educate Together do not have religion classes. The kids are taught about different faiths and during celebrations like Eid, Hannukah, Ramadan, Orthodox Christmas etc they do projects and plays, much like they do in Catholic schools during Catholic feast times.
If there are Catholic kids who want to make their communion, then the Parents Assocation organises someone to come in for extra-curricular classes.

nice_guy80

Rasmus wrote: »

Educate Together do not have religion classes. The kids are taught about different faiths and during celebrations like Eid, Hannukah, Ramadan, Orthodox Christmas etc they do projects and plays, much like they do in Catholic schools during Catholic feast times.
If there are Catholic kids who want to make their communion, then the Parents Assocation organises someone to come in for extra-curricular classes.

the way it should be in every school

Lt Dan

nice_guy80 wrote: »

the way it should be in every school

Say's who? Evidentially most of the parents had NO problem with the communion/confirmation preparations taking place during school hours


"The kids are taught about different faiths and during celebrations like Eid, Hannukah, Ramadan, Orthodox Christmas etc they do projects and plays"

Why would Catholics, who still make up most of the population want or need to be educated in this?

Shouldn't that be all done in extra classes as well ,so?

Rasmus

Do you honestly not want your children to learn about other cultures? It does not enfringe on their Catholic religious education and upbringing.

Lt Dan

Rasmus wrote: »

Do you honestly not want your children to learn about other cultures? It does not enfringe on their Catholic religious education and upbringing.

You understand how laughably contradictory you and Ramus (who pointed out "the way it should be") sounded? -

Learn of other cultures (in this case the religious culture of others) -which is fine - alot of religious classes today do that - but one must not have one's own common "culture" (in many people's cases preparations for RC sacraments) dealt with in class. Some how plays and projects are completely different to preparations for RC sacraments, apparently

These schools won't last outside of Dublin or main urban areas, as most of the students will come from RC backgrounds.

If you are going to exclude Catholic lessons and all that it brings - which is fine - , exclude all of the religious lessons - or cultural lessons , as you call it .

Since the "that is the way it should be attitude" is often based on such lessons taking up valuable academic time, well, enlighten us as to how or why Irish kids need or want to know about Islam ,since the perceived wisdom suggests they don't need to learn about their own faiths (assuming that they are RC) or those of others?


BTW , you tend to learn about other cultures via History and Geography lessons (when taught right)

To answer your question, personally, I'd rather my children learn to read and write, do maths (or math) , learn a few languages and , economics and current affairs, geography and history, with a decent emphasis of physical education - leave religion and all that it is associated with it, at the door.

Anyway, I don't want to be blamed for diverting the actual purpose of the thread, so I will say no more.

Zubeneschamali

Lt Dan wrote: »

Shouldn't that be all done in extra classes as well ,so?

As I just said, yes, but the curriculum mandates a half hour a day of superstition. Educate Together do their best with that, but they cannot just skip it.

nice_guy80

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

As I just said, yes, but the curriculum mandates a half hour a day of superstition. Educate Together do their best with that, but they cannot just skip it.

curriculum does NOT mandate it
there is no official religion curriculum in schools

they just allow the time to be spent on it as per the patronage of the school

Zubeneschamali

nice_guy80 wrote: »

curriculum does NOT mandate it
there is no official religion curriculum in schools

they just allow the time to be spent on it as per the patronage of the school

It is true that the Curriculum does not specify what exactly is to be taught, as it leaves that up to the different church authorities, but it does specify that religious education is part of the curriculum, to be taught for 30 minutes a day.

If educate together used those 30 minutes for French or Maths, as I am sure many ET parents would prefer, they would not be following the departments curriculum.

I linked to the actual Primary School Curriculum earlier. Have a read.

nice_guy80

schools can choose not to teach specific religion classes

that is what Educate Together schools do

Zubeneschamali

nice_guy80 wrote: »

schools can choose not to teach specific religion classes

that is what Educate Together schools do

The curriculum specifies 30 minutes a day of Religious Education. Seriously, I've linked it twice, go and have a look.

Which is why the ET schools teach spirituality and meditation and ethics and celebrate religious festivals from different religions.

ET schools are multi-denominational. They are not secular like American public schools. We have no secular schools in Ireland.

nice_guy80

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

The curriculum specifies 30 minutes a day of Religious Education. Seriously, I've linked it twice, go and have a look.

Which is why the ET schools teach spirituality and meditation and ethics and celebrate religious festivals from different religions.

ET schools are multi-denominational. They are not secular like American public schools. We have no secular schools in Ireland.

there are very few schools who actually use that 30 minutes a day on religion

there are 9 other subjects to fit in