Secondary school Portlaoise

Mslogan

Hi , can anyone recommend a secondary school in portlaoise for my daughter. I've put her name down for both portlaoise college and scoil christ ri but have only moved to the area and dont know anything about the schools. Any help would be much appreciated.

jecca1

We are in the same position of trying to chose a school and we dont know any of them. We went to the open night of Chriost Ri last night.
There were reports in the local newspaper that the guards were called to the school yesterday morning for someone pulling a knife on a student and teacher but the principal never gave any indication of how it is being dealt with or easing any fears.
Not sure what to think about it.

Mslogan

Hi jecca1, we were at that open night too . I was surprised that nothing was said about the incident and how it was handled .

rathevan

Hi,

We are also in this position for my son. I went to the Portlaoise College open night and I was very impressed and went to the CBS where the principal didnt seem to have a lot of interest. We are leaning towards the College at this stage as my son much preferred this school on the opening night and I have heard great things about the teaching staff.

mrs.doubt.fire

I never went to secondary school in Portlaoise as I was sent to boarding school in Offaly (many many moons ago lol) but as I had a business in Portlaoise town I noticed the secondary schools were not very good at putting manners on their students during school times (lunch break) and none of them were bothered if they came back after lunch, long story short...I sent my boys to Heywood Community College in Ballinakill. It use to be a boys only boarding school but many years ago it changed over to a day school for boys and girls. A bus collects the kids from the Macra Hall (opposite Vet Care clinic) every morning, it's a private bus from Ballyroan, always on time, driver always mannerly and it's a very safe bus, reasonable rates, discount if 2 or more kids from the same family travelling on the bus, I'd highly recommend it. You can pay weekly or monthly in advance. BUT you must be there on time to be collected as the driver has other locations to collect on the way, drop off at the same location after school.

However...new secondary schools have opened in Portlaoise since my kids finished school, I cant comment on those as like I said...my kids have since finished secondary school and did'nt go to the new schools in Portlaoise.

satguy

My son went to the boys school beside Scoil Christ Ri, and it's a new and modern well run school. (parking is bad)

He now goes to Portlaoise College as he is now on a PLC course, another well run school. (parking not bad)

You are lucky to have two good schools on your doorstep, so I would just pick to one that's handy for you.
And while there will always be the odd nut job student the town is better than most, and with a batch of very new, very big, and very well run schools.

The Princess Bride

Portlaoise College has a good reputation, certainly exam results look impressive every August which is important at the end of the day.

Mslogan

Thanks everyone , we have decided to go to portlaoise college. That's my daughter's favourite after seeing both schools . Thanks again for all your help