Moving back from the UK - schools, then house

Anna75Anna

Hi all,
We are moving back from the UK after Christmas and I’m starting the task of looking for school places (2 secondary, 1 primary) and to buy a house. Ideally we’d like to be +/- 15 mins drive to M50, North Kildare or greater Dublin.

I grew up in Kildare and lived/worked in Dublin but left nearly 20 years ago. I’m making a shortlist of schools and a bit clueless. The ‘top 10 schools in Dublin’ made me wince (three to pay for). Can you suggest some which might suit our slightly fish-out-of-water children? A teacher friend said there are some excellent newer schools dotted around greater Dublin as well as the ones I’d remember. The children haven’t a word of Irish and they’ve played no GAA - not that they can’t integrate and the youngest will have to pick up Irish, but there’ll be schools where they’ll fit more easily than others. I’d love to hear some personal recommendations. Why did you choose the school your children attend?

Thanks

(Hope it’s okay to cross post to Dublin West and Kildare)

qb123

Hi Anna. I think your current request is too broad and generalised for others to be able to offer meaningful advice. Information such as children's gender and age can be quite relevant to school advice, for instance, as quality of mixed/boys/girls schools can vary a bit in the wider Dublin area. How much you have to spend on a house is another key determinant - the recommendations would be different for someone able to afford a €400k house vs a €800k house.

One other consideration which could be very important to your quality of life is your commute. Where will you be working, how would you like to commute and how much time do you want to spend on the road? You'd probably get a nicer house in North Kildare, but if you're commuting to the city centre it could take well over an hour each way by car (and getting worse every year). If you're closer to the city, house might not be as big but a reduced commute allows more time with your family and in your community.

As long as you're not living in a deprived area of Dublin (pretty much the same areas now as they were 20 years ago), you should be alright with schools. Fee paying schools tend to be concentrated in south county Dublin and USP is more facilities and student/teacher ratios rather than better quality of education. Most schools will offer a variety of sports, and soccer and rugby clubs (as well as swimming and other sports) are widely spread throughout the area, so they'll find something if the GAA isn't for them.

Best of luck with the search.

Anna75Anna

Thanks - I’m not going to do much on the house search apart from a browse until I see what’s available schools-wise. I don’t have a daily commute but will work from home and travel once a week back to the UK.

What would help is just some feedback to say ‘We like school X / considered school Y because of ...’ and then I can explore some as an option. Or if there’s a resource online where parents discuss school choices?

We have one 14 (2nd year?), one 12 (for secondary in September in Ireland but already in secondary here) - both boys, and one 9 year old girl (4th class).

Anna75Anna

Anna75Anna wrote: »

Hi all,
We are moving back from the UK after Christmas and I’m starting the task of looking for school places (2 secondary, 1 primary) and to buy a house. Ideally we’d like to be +/- 15 mins drive to M50, North Kildare or greater Dublin.

I grew up in Kildare and lived/worked in Dublin but left nearly 20 years ago. I’m making a shortlist of schools and a bit clueless. The ‘top 10 schools in Dublin’ made me wince (three to pay for). Can you suggest some which might suit our slightly fish-out-of-water children? A teacher friend said there are some excellent newer schools dotted around greater Dublin as well as the ones I’d remember. The children haven’t a word of Irish and they’ve played no GAA - not that they can’t integrate and the youngest will have to pick up Irish, but there’ll be schools where they’ll fit more easily than others. I’d love to hear some personal recommendations. Why did you choose the school your children attend?

Thanks

(Hope it’s okay to cross post to Dublin West and Kildare)

have the kids got a baptism cert? the first shock I encountered when looking for schools was being asked "What religion are you" when applying.

Newpark in Blackrock is nominally a Church of Ireland school, but has children from a fairly mixed background. It is somewhat relaxed when it comes to religion and this may be less of a shock for your older children. It is a very popular school though and therefore the feeder primary schools are always over subscribed, so you will have to live in a catchment area and a lot may now be giving preference to CofI children because of this.

There is also a pretty good aircoach service from the area, which may help with your weekly trips to the airport.

Anna75Anna

Aegir wrote: »

have the kids got a baptism cert? the first shock I encountered when looking for schools was being asked "What religion are you" when applying.

Newpark in Blackrock is nominally a Church of Ireland school, but has children from a fairly mixed background. It is somewhat relaxed when it comes to religion and this may be less of a shock for your older children. It is a very popular school though and therefore the feeder primary schools are always over subscribed, so you will have to live in a catchment area and a lot may now be giving preference to CofI children because of this.

There is also a pretty good aircoach service from the area, which may help with your weekly trips to the airport.

Thanks, that’s helpful, I’ll take a look at Newpark.