Church of Ireland primary schools

Mink

We'll most likely be moving to a town that has several catholic schools and one COI school. We don't follow any religion and so my son is not baptised and he's starting junior infants next sept.

I would have loved an ET but there's none within easy access and I'd like him to be in school with kids in the same area/walking distance.

The COI school I'm looking at is under the patronage of the dept of education and has COI ethos. My question is does anyone have experience of these types of schools either for yourself or your own kids? How religious is it? Would my son be likely to feel excluded?

I'm leaning towards this school as first and foremost it looks good (on paper) but also the catholic schools are under patronage of bishops etc and they do communion and confirmation etc and because my son is not baptised I'd be worried he'd feel excluded. I wasn't even raised Catholic so I'm really clueless on all that stuff.

byhookorbycrook

Are you sure the COI is under the patronages of the DES?That would be most unusual.
Every school is different, so it's impossible to say how "religious" a school is. Many Catholic schools have children of different faiths and none, so he may be one of many. Again, it depends on the school.

Mink

It definitely said on website that it's under patronage of dept of education.

I may just apply to a few and see if I can find out from them how they do it at these schools.

byhookorbycrook

Most unusual, some schools would be under a certain patronage but might also point on their website that they are run under DES guidelines.

Thestones

Church of ireland schools are great but they are hard to get into and if your child isn't baptised this means you will be in one of the bottom categories.

byhookorbycrook

Thestones wrote: »

Church of ireland schools are great but they are hard to get into and if your child isn't baptised this means you will be in one of the bottom categories.

No one type of school is "great" there are good and better schools in every type , COI/RC/Educate Together and Gaelscoileanna.

Not all COI schools are difficult to "get into" , some are actually undersubscribed.

Baptism need not be an entrance criterion, it will vary from place to place.

Thestones

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

No one type of school is "great" there are good and better schools in every type , COI/RC/Educate Together and Gaelscoileanna.

Not all COI schools are difficult to "get into" , some are actually undersubscribed.

Baptism need not be an entrance criterion, it will vary from place to place.

Yes well my opinion is of my own expierience having attended myself and my son now going to a COI school and it wasn't easy to get him a place even with my own background, the area where I live all the COI schools are highly desirable and difficult to get a place. I'm sure other types of schools are also very good but OP specifically asked about COI.

Mink

Thestones wrote: »

Yes well my opinion is of my own expierience having attended myself and my son now going to a COI school and it wasn't easy to get him a place even with my own background, the area where I live all the COI schools are highly desirable and difficult to get a place. I'm sure other types of schools are also very good but OP specifically asked about COI.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm also looking at the gaelscoil as its non-denominational.

I actually went to a church of Ireland secondary (mount temple) but didn't know it was coi until long after I left. There was no religious influence at all, just an RE subject that covered the area generally.

Do they teach coi religion in these schools? Prepare them for confirmation? Prayers? That's more what I would prefer to avoid as we are not religious. I don't have any problem with this practise at all, would just prefer to opt out but not in a way that would exclude him. Don't know if that makes sense.

The coi school I'm looking at is fairly small - ie junior and senior infants together, 1st and 2nd class together etc. Doesn't seem to have an over subscription issue.

huskerdu

You cant make a sweeping generalisation about CoI schools.

You need to arrange to visit the particular school and ask them what their enrollment policy is, if you apply now will your child get in, and what is their policy in relation to non CoI pupils during religion class. Schools generally don't have extra teachers to supervise kids who are opting out of religion class so its up to each school to decide what to do.

There is no general policy in all CoI schools and someone elses experience of a completely different school is not going to help you.

byhookorbycrook

There are no non-denom public primary schools in Ireland, there are multi-denoms though. Confirmation in COI is usually when the child is in their teens.