Another moving to Galway thread

phillyguy

We're exploring the possibility of moving to Galway from the US for work in Med Tech in the next couple of months.  The job locations are on the east side of the river and so I'm looking for advice on where to live over there having read lots of posts about making sure you live on the same side as you work.  We have 2 girls aged 9 and 11 and so I've been looking closely at schools - most secondary schools seem to be in the west so any thoughts on which schools are best on the east side?  Education in the US is secular (zero religion) but i see that most schools in galway are catholic...  there are lots of posts on this but most are from 5 or 6 years ago.  is anything changing?  Claregalway never seems to get a mention on other "where to live" threads - but has a new multi denominational school.  anyone know how its performing? Also as the school systems are different I'm super confused as to which class in which school my 11 year old would be going into.   Sorry for the length of question - this moving lark is complicated...  Thanks!

Bredabe

phillyguy wrote: »

We're exploring the possibility of moving to Galway from the US for work in Med Tech in the next couple of months.  The job locations are on the east side of the river and so I'm looking for advice on where to live over there having read lots of posts about making sure you live on the same side as you work.  We have 2 girls aged 9 and 11 and so I've been looking closely at schools - most secondary schools seem to be in the west so any thoughts on which schools are best on the east side?  Education in the US is secular (zero religion) but i see that most schools in galway are catholic...  there are lots of posts on this but most are from 5 or 6 years ago.  is anything changing?  Claregalway never seems to get a mention on other "where to live" threads - but has a new multi denominational school.  anyone know how its performing? Also as the school systems are different I'm super confused as to which class in which school my 11 year old would be going into.   Sorry for the length of question - this moving lark is complicated...  Thanks!

Not a complete response, but a few answers for you. Most schools in Galway are Catholic although some non catholic's can be admitted in some circumstances, the educate together schools have all kinds of children, so religion would be sensitively handled one way or the other. In most schools your 11-year-old would be in their last year of junior(primary) school or depending on the school/register dates may be in their first year of secondary school. In my experience multi-denominational schools (tho I don't have any experience of them in Galway) tend to perform better than other schools.

Mrs OBumble

Both Claregalway and Merlin Woods secondary schools are multi-denominational.
Merlin Woods is getting headlines for all the right reasons (lots of kids winning awards, doing cool stuff etc).
Claregalway has really focussed on applying technology to learning in new ways.

Either would be excellent - and both are over-subscribed and turning people away. In Ireland you have to apply for entrance to secondary school well ahead of starting there.

Claregalway probably doesn't get much love in the housing recommendations front because of the traffic. However this has improved since the Gort - Tuam leg of the motorway opened. (I know there are press articles saying it didn't make any difference, but my observations are that it made a huge difference.) There's also an active plan to improve the bus-lane from Claregalway, which will help even more.

We also have a housing shortage. So your first challenge will be finding a house to live in, especially if you want to try renting in any area before buying.

Nettle Soup

Avoid houses that are in the Claregalway flood plain.
I know they have re-routed and dredged the Clare river but it will flood again.

Yes most schools are of Catholic ethos but they are becoming less and less "devout" as the years go by.
They really only care about numbers/ratios now and will accept people from all religions and none.

fergiesfolly

At 11, I imagine your child might benefit from starting in a primary school for her first year here. It will also give you a chance to better access the secondary school that will suit your child's needs.
For what it's worth, my daughter is in Merlin College (the primary school, Merlin Woods is right next door) and loves it. It's a new modern, forward thinking school with a young teaching staff and a multinational school population.
Oranmore, Roscam and Renmore will give you easy access to most of the Med firms in the city and the Merlin's two schools.
School Chathriona in Renmore is also an excellent primary school. It is Catholic but not being RC won't be an issue at all.

xckjoo

To give you some idea of the school system in Ireland, it falls roughly into these age brackets:
5-12yrs: Primary School
12-18yrs: Secondary School

Primary school is pretty straightforward. Junior Infants -> 6th Class. In 6th class they apply for entry into the Secondary School(s) of their choice. Most if not all hold an entrance exam, but acceptance to the school cannot be based on the childs performance in this exam. However, some schools are in high demand and may give preferential acceptance based on things like relatives already being in the school or if they have an associated "feeder" Primary School (i.e. a specially arrangement that ensures children from the Primary automatically get into the Secondary). I don't know what Claregalway and Mervue do but maybe someone else on here does.

In Secondary School you have the Junior and Leaving Cert cycles. 1st, 2nd and 3rd Year are the Junior Cert cycle, at the end of which they sit the Junior Cert Exam which examines them on all the information they learned in the last 3 years. 5th and 6th year are the Leaving Cert cycle, finishing with the Leaving Cert Exam which covers the 2 years of work. Your results in the Leaving Cert are (usually) the basis for your entry into college/university (often used interchangeably here but do mean different things). There's also a 4th year (Transition Year) offered in some schools that lies between 3rd and 5th year. It's an optional year that sits outside the Junior and Leaving Cert cycle where kids get a chance to try different subjects and engage with the community.


Regarding the religion, I wouldn't sweat it too much. "Catholic School" means something much different here than it does in the States. Due to historic reasons, most schools were setup and run by religious orders but are generally run by lay people now. I'd be surprised if they can legally turn you away based on your religion these days.

phillyguy

Thanks for your help everyone.  good information!  Looks like there are limited options east side though - which is both good and bad.  At least I know where to focus my attention!

Mr_A

I would not be so relaxed about the religion situation as previous posters if your intention would be that they opt out. My eldest daughter has gone through the primary system and second is in senior infants. If your kids are non religious issues still arise. The vast majority of people still go with the flow with respect to Catholic sacraments (confirmation may be relevant here for 11 year old). A fair amount of class time is spent on them and indeed on religious stuff in general. A new child in a class where the vast majority are doing confirmation may find this isolating- especially as it's hard being the new kid anyway. Most teachers are great and will work with you to lessen impact and be sensitive, but some can be pretty rubbish in terms of looking after non religious kids. We had cases where our older girl was brought to the church when they were practising for sacraments- which was of course massively boring and more importantly didn't recognise her right to opt out of the whole thing. In most if not all cases where we had issues (thankfully none were massive but we were lucky she was pretty confident in herself) it was about teachers not thinking or being ready rather than anything sinister. For example- we had one teacher at a parents day say "We don't really do religion here, just little bits plus morning, lunch and home time prayers". Our experiences with the second girl indicate things have not improved at all. And this is in a Gael Scoil, which would not be perceived as being particularly religious. It's something to bear in mind at least, sorry if this seems negative but it's an honest account of our experiences.

Don't worry about the religion. When you're in the school they can't do much. The number of non religious kids in classes is growing all the time, thankfully.

Ireland will hopefully be fazing out the religious stuff soon anyway. Maybe not soon enough for you but it's coming.

Good luck with the move.

waterfaerie

With regard to the catholic schools, it depends on why you are asking. If your only concern is getting a place in the school, don't worry about it. Schools are not legally allowed to exclude non-catholics anymore. Some still try but you shouldn't have that trouble.

However, if you're asking because you're used to secular education and would prefer not to have religious indoctrination in your kids' lives, I would absolutely urge you to choose one of the multi-denominational schools. Some people on here will tell you the catholic schools are "not that religious" and that it's not a problem but I'd be fairly confident that's a case of them being ok with what they're used to. You may find it a shock coming from the secular US school system.

The catholic schools will tell you your kids can "opt out" but the reality of that can vary greatly from school to school and even from teacher to teacher. At best, your kids may be allowed to do something useful during religion class but will still be in the same room. At worst, they may be forced to do some useless busy work during religion class or even sit silently and just not participate. The regular school day will involve prayers and religious songs etc. and there will inevitably be occasional visits to the church. If your 11 year old is in 6th class, the majority of their classmates will be making their confirmation which, depending on the school, may mean daily visits to the church for a month or so and hours of time taken away from proper learning.

The Educate Together primary school in Claregalway is lovely as far as I can tell. I intend to homeschool my daughter but I have her enrolled there just in case (she's still a baby). If I had to send her to school, it's the only one I'd accept. I'm a teacher as well, if that helps.

Educate Together schools also don't have uniforms, which I think is another huge plus but that's obviously down to personal preference. The teaching in them is generally a bit more progressive as well but, again, that's teacher dependent.

As for secondary school, any of the reasonably good ones, catholic or not, are all very oversubscribed. Claregalway secondary school is multi-denominational but it would be very difficult to get into unless you both live in the catchment area and have attended primary school in Claregalway.

Someone else mentioned Merlin Woods. I don't know that area very well but, if you want to go with a multi-denominational school and be within a reasonable commuting area for the medical firms, that area and Claregalway would be your only options so I would suggest contacting both schools and further researching which area you'd prefer to live in.

As for posters suggesting your 11 year old may go into 1st Year of secondary school, I should absolutely hope not! That's way too young. If anything, you should enquire about whether they would be better in 5th or 6th class (last two years of primary). When will they be 12? Similarly, your 9 year old may go into 3rd or 4th class depending on when they will be 10.

xckjoo

Here's a webpage with a bit more info on the practical side of moving to Ireland. I just came across it but it looks like it's the kind of thing you need.

One thing that I don't think was mentioned so far is the Irish language requirement. According to the above page, if you're child is under 11 when they move here, they will have to study it up to Leaving Cert. Children do learn Irish (Gaeilge) in Primary School but the standard is all over the place so Secondary Schools have to assume a zero level in 1st year. There might be some difficulty in that you (presumably) won't speak it, so your child won't be able to get much help at home, but there's plenty of children with Irish parents that are in the same boat .


The only other piece of advice I'll give is to make sure you look to the schools directly for your factual information. It's fine getting your initial advice here to get a lay of the land, but always defer to the schools for actual information on things like enrollments. I had a kid enter Secondary School recently and the amount of false information going around was astounding.

phillyguy

waterfaerie wrote: »

As for posters suggesting your 11 year old may go into 1st Year of secondary school, I should absolutely hope not! That's way too young. If anything, you should enquire about whether they would be better in 5th or 6th class (last two years of primary). When will they be 12? Similarly, your 9 year old may go into 3rd or 4th class depending on when they will be 10.

Thanks WaterFaerie  Shes only just turned 11 in late Dec.  so you are probably right.  Im not sure how the different  curriculums line up so i dont know where she will be ahead and where she'll be behind.  Either way its hard to know which year suits best before we talk to the schools, so that's my next stop.

waterfaerie

I wouldn't worry too much about the curriculum. At primary level it's very light and anything she hasn't learned already should be easy to pick up. Maths may be the only exception as I think it's taught differently here but not so much that it would be a major issue.

It would be more important to match her to the right class based on her age. The social aspect would be huge in such a big move. If she's just turned 11 then I'd say she would be best starting 6th class in September. That means that if you arrive before the end of June, she should go into 5th class for the remainder of this school year. She would be 12 going on 13 then for the first year of secondary school, which would be about right.

I'd be fairly confident the schools would advise the same but, yes, your best bet would be to start talking to them directly.

GalwayGrrrrrl

https://www.google.ie/amp/s/www.irishtimes.com/news/education/download-feeder-schools-2017-1.3316208?mode=amp
This is a list of the secondary schools in Ireland (age 12+). It will give you an idea of which schools have high percentage of students going on to university. It isn’t the only way to judge a school, especially if you have a child with special needs but it’s a starting point when choosing schools. Some secondaries mainly take students from feeder primaries so it’s good to plan ahead.

1perriwinkle

Hi, number 1 question is if you want to live In the city or in the suburbs/a country town? Oranmore/Athenry are good choices for the latter, both being on the Dublin - Galway train line and near the north-south/east-west motorways so pretty good transport/access options.

I live in Athenry, there are 3 secondary school, each with their own merits but lots of choice.
WRT the religious aspect, I would reiterate the cautions of many here, some of the Catholic schools can be very Catholic so if you are averse to that aspect then choose carefully. My own kids went to a multi denominational Gaelscoil here, where they learned about all the religions of the world - no harm IMO as the world is full of religious people, they might as well have some kind of an understanding of what they're all going on about :-)

GalwayGrrrrrl

Just in case you don’t realise - gaelscoils speak Irish all day and all lessons are taught through the Irish language. They are a good choice if starting at age 5 as the language is taught through immersion rather than as a school subject, but would be very hard to cope with for your older children. Some of the primary schools in Galway and the surrounding area are gaelscoils (and a couple of the secondary schools are Irish speaking too).

randomname2005

xfactorfan23 wrote: »

Just in case you don’t realise - gaelscoils speak Irish all day and all lessons are taught through the Irish language. They are a good choice if starting at age 5 as the language is taught through immersion rather than as a school subject, but would be very hard to cope with for your older children. Some of the primary schools in Galway and the surrounding area are gaelscoils (and a couple of the secondary schools are Irish speaking too).

This is an important point. In some cases (I believe this to be the case in Athenry and Loughrea) the only indoctrination free option is the Gaelscoil (although there are English language options in Kilcolgan and Claregalway which are not far away).

<On a different note, stock up on good waterproof clothing before you move over as it can be quite wet in Galway!>

flc37ie6ojwkh8

If you are moving from Dublin you will feel a bit bored there.

randomname2005

Howard Little Vender wrote: »

If you are moving from Dublin you will feel a bit bored there.

Which Dublin? Without knowing if he is currently living in a location called Dublin, never mind whether it is Dublin Texas, Dublin Ohio, Dublin Michigan, Dublin Kentucky or one of the other Dublin's in the US it would be hard to say whether he would find it boring or not (and his username is Philly Guy so maybe he lives in Philadelphia??).

GalwayGrrrrrl

I moved to Galway from London and I’m never bored. If you like music, the arts, countryside, beaches, sports, there is always something interesting to do. Only boring people get bored I find