Affordable school

juanify

I am relocating to Ireland with my family (wife and 2 kids). I'd like to know options of affordable schools in Dublin. My kids are 2 and 4yrs old.

Any recommendation would be appreciated.

Fian

Children start School in Ireland at 5 years old generally. almost every school is free, though almost every school requests a voluntary contribution of €1k or so to enable extra spending beyond the government allocation. Teachers salaries, in public and private (fee paying) schools, are paid by the Government.

Most schools are catholic, though of course non-catholic children can opt out of religious instruction. There are also a smaller, but increasing, number of non-denominational schools, a small number of protestant (so still christian) schools and a very small/tiny number of schools with another religious ethos. I expect there is little prospect of your obtaining a place in anything other than one of the first three.

There is not a wild variation in quality at national school level, almost everyone sends their children to a local school near where they live, unless they are anxious to send them to a school that operates in Gaelic or are very determined to send them to a non-religious school.

There are more private (fee paying) secondary schools (so 13-19 years old). You will have plenty of time to get to know the score with those and where you want to place them. The predominant religion in the private schools tends to be rugby union.

custom_build

I think you made a typo there with the voluntary contribution. The average in Ireland is less than €150.

Kintarō Hattori

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121827481#Comment_121827481

They might be a southsider. Here in north county Dublin it's €50 😀

Big Bag of Chips

€50 for primary

€75 for secondary. Usually capped at €150 per family.

byhookorbycrook

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121827105#Comment_121827105

Just to clarify, there are only a few non-denominational schools in Ireland. There are schools which are multi-denominational like some Gaelscoil (Irish language medium schools) and Educate Together schools.