Confused first-time mammy

catrionanic

Hi all.

So it may seem super early, but I've had so many people tell me to put our son's name down for schools asap so I'm starting to look now - and he's only two months old! We would love to send him to a Gaelscoil and I'm aware they are usually oversubscribed.

However I have no idea where we will be living when he starts school in 2022! We currently live in a tiny two-bed in Ranelagh that has no garden, so will have to move within the next couple of years if we want to have another baby (which we do). In an ideal world, we would love to stay in Dublin 6, but with some of the most expensive house prices in the country, I don't think that's going to be possible.

So what should I do? Do I hedge my bets and pick a selection of 4 or 5 areas we might end up in, and apply to schools there? Or just leave it until we have made the move... and if so, what are the chances of getting him enrolled in a good local gaelscoil if we are only applying when he's already 3 or 4 years old? I don't want to be traipsing across the city to take him to a school in Ranelagh when we live in Drumcondra... but at the same time, I don't want to leave it too late and be unable to get him a place.

Help?

Moonbeam

We moved house when our baby was 12 months and we were far too late for a school place:(
find out the admissions policies of the schools that you are interested in and work from there.
Our local Gaelscoil is 1st come 1st served so you need to put their name down at birth,the next town over only accept applications from the christmas before and prioritise children from irish speaking families,then Naíonra children then local children,The Gaelscoil in the town on the other side of us is also 1st come 1st served so again name down at birth.
Each school sets their own policy,you will need to get his name down for pre school now too.

Congrats on the new baby:)

catrionanic

Moonbeam wrote: »

We moved house when our baby was 12 months and we were far too late for a school place:(
find out the admissions policies of the schools that you are interested in and work from there.
Our local Gaelscoil is 1st come 1st served so you need to put their name down at birth,the next town over only accept applications from the christmas before and prioritise children from irish speaking families,then Naíonra children then local children,The Gaelscoil in the town on the other side of us is also 1st come 1st served so again name down at birth.
Each school sets their own policy,you will need to get his name down for pre school now too.

Congrats on the new baby:)

Oh god, that's made me panic! What did you do when you were too late for a place? I find that totally crazy!!!

clintondaly

catrionanic wrote: »

Hi all.

So it may seem super early, but I've had so many people tell me to put our son's name down for schools asap so I'm starting to look now - and he's only two months old! We would love to send him to a Gaelscoil and I'm aware they are usually oversubscribed.

However I have no idea where we will be living when he starts school in 2022! We currently live in a tiny two-bed in Ranelagh that has no garden, so will have to move within the next couple of years if we want to have another baby (which we do). In an ideal world, we would love to stay in Dublin 6, but with some of the most expensive house prices in the country, I don't think that's going to be possible.

So what should I do? Do I hedge my bets and pick a selection of 4 or 5 areas we might end up in, and apply to schools there? Or just leave it until we have made the move... and if so, what are the chances of getting him enrolled in a good local gaelscoil if we are only applying when he's already 3 or 4 years old? I don't want to be traipsing across the city to take him to a school in Ranelagh when we live in Drumcondra... but at the same time, I don't want to leave it too late and be unable to get him a place.

Help?

To answer your question,yes you probably should

shesty

Dropping in from the parenting page.....
If you think you may end up in an area like Drumcondra or Templogue or somewhere (ie, if you feel you realistically have a chance of affording a place in one of these areas-and you should have a good idea of that now), then yes, you should .You can take a good guess at what areas have oversubscribed schools, and in those areas, put his name on the list.Be aware that when it comes to the crunch (ie in a couple of years when the baby is closer to the age) the schools will require information with your proof of address- I know friends of mine have used parent's addresses etc to get their kids into specific schools that they may not be directly in the catchment area for.

Luckily we're out in North County Dublin and it's not an issue, but I do have many friends who are in areas with oversubscribed schools and the earlier the name gets on the list for many of them, the better.

Ruby31

We were in this situation back in 2006/7. My first child was born in mid 2006. We were renting an apartment, but viewing houses from wicklow to north Dublin. I printed off the list of schools from the education website (can't think of the official name!) and applied to absolutely loads of schools. It's a right pain, but it's worth it. You don't want to end up living in one area and finding all the local schools are over-subscribed and then having to travel to get your child to school. Short term pain, long term gain! Just sit down with the lists and apply. Most can be done online now. Take pic of application form + pic of birth cert and mail to the schools.

lazygal

Do it ASAP. If the school discriminates on religious grounds you may be at the bottom of the list if your child isn't baptised. Most gaelscoils are religious, some are not.
We applied for a school when our daughter was four months old and only got a place in the second round of offers. Many areas of Dublin you might have problems leaving it too long.

afkasurfjunkie

Ruby31 wrote: »

We were in this situation back in 2006/7. My first child was born in mid 2006. We were renting an apartment, but viewing houses from wicklow to north Dublin. I printed off the list of schools from the education website (can't think of the official name!) and applied to absolutely loads of schools. It's a right pain, but it's worth it. You don't want to end up living in one area and finding all the local schools are over-subscribed and then having to travel to get your child to school. Short term pain, long term gain! Just sit down with the lists and apply. Most can be done online now. Take pic of application form + pic of birth cert and mail to the schools.

And did you inform those schools at a later date that you wouldn't be requiring a place?

Moonbeam

catrionanic wrote: »

Oh god, that's made me panic! What did you do when you were too late for a place? I find that totally crazy!!!

Drove 50km a day to another school,it was a really nice school with really nice staff but I was pregnant and had a baby and a 2 year old so i don't remember much and was fierce tired and grumpy!!!

AndrewJRenko

afkasurfjunkie wrote: »

And did you inform those schools at a later date that you wouldn't be requiring a place?

It's a good point. You can't blame parents for submitting multiple applications in the current circumstances. But it can leave other schools in a difficult situation, with places held for pupils who are not going to attend.

We really need a CAO type system to avoid multiple parallel applications.

Millem

Catriona,
Look up each scoil's enrolment policy, that will give you a fair idea. You need to apply asap to schools that have a on a first come first served based. You are in a strong position if January baby goes at 5. Most of the babies starting that year haven't been born yet!!!! But do it asap!!!

Believe it or not we had applied for secondary school before our son was 1!!!! He should get in as will be in feeder school but I wasn't leaving anything to chance as it's walking distance from our house!!!!

catrionanic

Thanks for all the advice, guys. I've started collecting application forms for gaelscoileanna around Dublin.

I've had someone from one of the local schools reply to me, suggesting that my son starts school in 2021 rather than 2022. He has a January birthday, so would be 4 years and 8 months old if he starts in 2021. They seemed to think that he would be a bit too old to start in 2022.
They then followed that comment to tell me that they already have twice as many names on the list for 2021 than their class size can accommodate. So basically there's no chance of getting him in in 2021!

Is 5 years and 8 months really quite late to start school? Myself and my husband both did very well at school, so we are hoping he takes after us. Would be be better starting at 4 years and 8 months? Is it possible to apply for 2021 and then change our minds if he doesnt seem advanced enough? Or would the 2022 places all be gone because his name was on the 2021 list?!

Argh this is so frustrating! Damn Dublin schools and being oversubscribed!

lazygal

Children are going to school older these days with the two year ECCE scheme. I doubt you'll regret sending him later. No rush to get into primary school imo.

Millem

catrionanic wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice, guys. I've started collecting application forms for gaelscoileanna around Dublin.

I've had someone from one of the local schools reply to me, suggesting that my son starts school in 2021 rather than 2022. He has a January birthday, so would be 4 years and 8 months old if he starts in 2021. They seemed to think that he would be a bit too old to start in 2022.
They then followed that comment to tell me that they already have twice as many names on the list for 2021 than their class size can accommodate. So basically there's no chance of getting him in in 2021!

Is 5 years and 8 months really quite late to start school? Myself and my husband both did very well at school, so we are hoping he takes after us. Would be be better starting at 4 years and 8 months? Is it possible to apply for 2021 and then change our minds if he doesnt seem advanced enough? Or would the 2022 places all be gone because his name was on the 2021 list?!

Argh this is so frustrating! Damn Dublin schools and being oversubscribed!

My son is a January too! Before new ECCe I would of sent him at 4 and 7
Months as they start on 1st sept. With new ECCe he will start at 5 years and 7 months. Scoil lorcain in monkstown are letting him keep his date of application in the queue if that makes sense? So is probably 1st English speaker on the list. With our local school it doesn't matter as he is in category 1 regàrdless.

I don't know though about other school enrolment policies.

Big Bag of Chips

And then you need to start considering secondary schools

Ruby31

afkasurfjunkie wrote: »

And did you inform those schools at a later date that you wouldn't be requiring a place?

We moved house, so all post would've gone to our old address. I don't see the problem? The schools would've sent letters asking if we were still interested in a place for our child and there is a paragraph in those letters stating that if there is no response within a certain time-frame, then the child's name is removed from the Pre-enrolment list. If I had received actual offers, I would most certainly inform the school if I wasn't taking the place. My younger child received a few offers last month and I emailed the schools the same day I got the offer for our first choice school to ask them to remove my child from sept junior infants list.

heldel00

I work in a border county, 8 teacher school. Not massive but not what you'd consider small either.
We have some future children enrolled that are still in nappies and then we have others who will be ready for school in Sept but their parents haven't even applied yet!