Private School in South Dublin

Duman

Hey everyone.

My sister and her husband moved to Dublin a couple years ago. They have a 3 year-old, who they want to enroll to a private school. They asked me to find one for them.

They want to make sure it is a school with a good reputation, in a safe neighborhood. They are not interested in any form of religious teaching(and this is important). They seem to lean on a school with a more "Irish" curriculum, but I think they could be convinced to go for an international/expat school aswell, should we find a good one. They will also consider moving to a house in the same neighborhood as the school, if they can(though that doesn't sound very likely, given the current state of affairs).

That being said, we just dont know anything about state schools. Are the classes over-crowded? is there compulsory religious teaching? will the quality of students differ a lot compared to private schools? I'm from a different country and asking in honest curiosity. We are not completely against sending the child to a state school.

I'd love to hear any input you can provide me with, as well as the links to the similar threads. I've checked many threads both here and on reddit, but might've missed some of the good ones.

M_Murphy57

Duman wrote: »

Hey everyone.

My sister and her husband moved to Dublin a couple years ago. They have a 3 year-old, who they want to enroll to a private school. They asked me to find one for them.

They want to make sure it is a school with a good reputation, in a safe neighborhood. They are not interested in any form of religious teaching(and this is important). They seem to lean on a school with a more "Irish" curriculum, but I think they could be convinced to go for an international/expat school aswell, should we find a good one. They will also consider moving to a house in the same neighborhood as the school, if they can(though that doesn't sound very likely, given the current state of affairs).

That being said, we just dont know anything about state schools. Are the classes over-crowded? is there compulsory religious teaching? will the quality of students differ a lot compared to private schools? I'm from a different country and asking in honest curiosity. We are not completely against sending the child to a state school.

I'd love to hear any input you can provide me with, as well as the links to the similar threads. I've checked many threads both here and on reddit, but might've missed some of the good ones.

Lots of private schools in Dublin, very few that are not religious though.

Off the top of my head St Killians German school is private. Its multi denominational though so not no religion.

If they are willing to look at public schools (and they definitely should, private schools in Ireland offer almost no advantages compared to public) then Educate Together fits their bill. The one in Ranelagh people offer kidneys to try to get their kids into. Dalkey School project similar idea.

Lots more in nice (and not so nice) parts of Dublin.

If you narrowed the area down it's probably help more. If they already live in Dublin presumably they know often you cant just send your kid to any school. Most have catchment areas and other criteria?

Overcrowding is not an issue as Ireland operate reasonable max class sizes. Getting into a school in an area you dont live in will definitely be an issue .

Duman

M_Murphy57 wrote: »

Lots of private schools in Dublin, very few that are not religious though.

Off the top of my head St Killians German school is private. Its multi denominational though so not no religion.

If they are willing to look at public schools (and they definitely should)l, private schools in Ireland offer almost no advantages ) then Educate Together fits their bill. The one in Ranelagh people offer kidneys to try to get their kids into. Dalkey School project similar idea.

Lots more in nice (and not so nice) parts of Dublin.

If you narrowed the area down it's probably help more. If they already live in Dublin presumably they know often you cant just send your kid to any school. Most have catchment areas and other criteria?

The only thing they are certain of, is that they want to live in South, or South East Dublin. Most likely the areas such as Dundrum, Ranelagh, Booterstown, and so on. They know very little about Dublin and the education system in Ireland. They picked Ireland simply because the other option was the UK :P They are very busy for reasons unknown to me, so they asked me to do all the research. I'll definitely look into the projects you named, thanks a lot.

Geuze

Duman wrote: »

Hey everyone.
My sister and her husband moved to Dublin a couple years ago. They have a 3 year-old, who they want to enroll to a private school. They asked me to find one for them.

Note that 99% of primary schools in Ireland are private, as in they are not owned by the State.

You may be referring to "fee-paying" schools.

Primary schools are typically owned by churches, e.g. Protestant, Jewish, Catholic, Muslim, etc.

There are some multi-denominational primary schools. (Educate Together??)

I don't think there are any non-denominational primary schools.

M_Murphy57

Duman wrote: »

The only thing they are certain of, is that they want to live in South, or South East Dublin. Most likely the areas such as Dundrum, Ranelagh, Booterstown, and so on. They know very little about Dublin and the education system in Ireland. They picked Ireland simply because the other option was the UK :P They are very busy for reasons unknown to me, so they asked me to do all the research. I'll definitely look into the projects you named, thanks a lot.

What age and sex are the kids? Lots of private single sex schools (all religious based though) but also lots of oversubscribed schools (so if their kids are looking for a spot this year they are probably out of luck)

Majority of schools are religious too as poster above said.

Protestant schools like St Andrew's in BlackRock or public ones like Educate Together in nice areas like Ranelagh are their best bet.

They need to figure out themselves where they want to live though. Unfortunately Dublin isnt like, say, the US where you move somewhere and automatically get into a local school via a schools district system.

If the kids arent christened catholic also that could prohibit them from having a good chance in many areas. It's a terrible set up and the nicer the area the harder it is.

Darc19

Most semi private schools will have a religious ethos but would not be religious in the way schools used to be and are quite secular.

St Andrews (booterstown) and Wesley (ballinteer/dundrum) are Presbyterian & Methodist respectively. (Boys and girls)
CUS in leeson street has a very good reputation and is Marist (the most secular of orders) (boys but have girls too in pre primary which feeds into loreto on the green

Gonzaga are Jesuit and again not overly religious

St Mary's, at Michael's and BlackRock are run by spiritans and would be the more religious ethos of them all.

St Killian's as mentioned might be a good option.

You also have international schools in leopardstown and Synge street

Here are some options
https://www.expatarrivals.com/europe/ireland/dublin/international-schools-dublin

shesty

Are they living in Dublin already?I am not clear on that?

gameoverdude

Children do not have to be a specific religion to attend religious schools and in fact don't have to do religion classes. No harm, in my opinion, learning about stuff(it is school). I maybe biased, but CUS has a good prep school.
I'm not religious by the way and my son refused to make his confirmation. He's happy out.

Moonbeam

single sex or mixed?

coffeepls

My niece goes to the primary school of St Andrews in Booterstown. There’s no emphasis on any one religion, I don’t think there’s religion as a subject. This is her second primary school, her first was a catholic national school.
Obviously I can’t speak for other private schools, but I got to say I really like the way this school operates. They were one of the few schools that had zoom classes from 9 to 3 during the lockdown.
My sister chose to send her to this school because it means she is automatically going to follow onto the senior school there, which would be difficult to get a place in otherwise. Also that it’s mixed, and the kids have the opportunity to do subjects such as Spanish in primary school.
The main con I think is possibly the fees. The primary school is over 8K per annum.

M_Murphy57

coffeepls wrote: »

My niece goes to the primary school of St Andrews in Booterstown. There’s no emphasis on any one religion, I don’t think there’s religion as a subject. This is her second primary school, her first was a catholic national school.
Obviously I can’t speak for other private schools, but I got to say I really like the way this school operates. They were one of the few schools that had zoom classes from 9 to 3 during the lockdown.
My sister chose to send her to this school because it means she is automatically going to follow onto the senior school there, which would be difficult to get a place in otherwise. Also that it’s mixed, and the kids have the opportunity to do subjects such as Spanish in primary school.
The main con I think is possibly the fees. The primary school is over 8K per annum.

It's a protestant school and religion is on the curriculum as it is in *every* primary school in Ireland (sadly).

Agree it's a great choice though for all the other reasons mentioned.