Worried I made wrong choice of secondary school for my daughter

pritbop

Looking for some advice and if I'm honest to share with someone as I'm afraid to say this out loud. Basically we had a tough decision to make last Oct re choosing a secondary school for our daughter. It was between an English speaking school near to us (all girls, good academic record but has reports of having a toxic atmosphere) v one about 5 miles away (Gaelcholaiste, vg community spirit amongst teachers and students, lots of activities etc). The English speaking school did not have an open night last year so that made it a very hard choice to make! Anyway we went with the G'Cholaiste (eventhough we, as parents are not great at Irish), due to the other benefits and our daughter had gone to a feeder gaelscoil. This year the English school had an open night. I went on the QT. I was curious but didn't want my daughter to go as it could potentially cause confusion. Anyway I was very impressed with it. It had far more activities than I thought, the facilities were excellent and there were lots of people we know from the area. Anyway that is me. My daughter on the other hand seems to be happy in the G'Cholaiste but I know she has some niggles about the English school as well, particularly when she hears friends talking (1/2 & 1/2 went from her school to the 2 schools I'm talking about) or when we are taking a while to get to school in the morning (she doesnt say it directly but i just have a feeling). She had a bit of a meltdown just before the summer saying that she had changed her mind and wanted the English school (she had gotten v friendly with 2 girls who are going there which we felt influenced her).I looked into it and as we had turned down the place we would've had to join the waiting list. Rather than saying that we said to her that the G'Cholaiste was a better school and she agreed straight away which made me think she had been under a bit of pressure from the 2 new friends. Anyway she has said herself since she started over a month ago that she is happy in her school, has a nice group of friends from her old school, likes the teachers etc but for some reason I can't stop thinking that we've made a mistake! Socially she might be better off in the English school as many around us go there. Also I'm a bit fearful of her doing 6 years of subjects in Irish, will it always be OK! Obviously I looked into all this before but it was a very one-sided set of information I had at the time without the open night in the English school! I'm quite stressed out about it...should I check if there were some no-shows at the English school, and check with my daughter if there is...is it a bad idea to move one month in....should I give her a year in the G'Cholaiste snd then see....say nothing in case it causes her stress....I would appreciate any advice if you've had a situation like this. Thank you!!!!!

CuriousCucumber

So she's happy with the current setup, and you're thinking of moving her?

Seems unnecessary

Goldengirl

I agree .

Your daughter is happy with her new school and you have said that the friends are divided 50/50 I think . Sounds like they are both good schools . If she has already attended primary gaelschoil she will not find the secondary any harder , it's just a continuum .

Why are you still worrying so ? Just leave it .

Saying more or moving her now will just unsettle her.

pritbop

Thanks so much. You're right. If things change then at least we have a good alternative. Appreciate your reply.

Exiled1

Don't pass your worries onto your daughter. She has enough to cope with in a new school, even though she likes it very much. She also needs to do her own growing up without parental angst overshadowing her.

If she has settled into secondary school at this stage, you have nothing to worry about.

Treppen

To be honest I try and stress to any parents the importance of having friends outside of school who don't necessarily go to the school.

If she has friends in both camps that's brilliant. Friends in other schools might be painting a better picture, as much as kids hate school , when it comes to bragging they've no problems bigging up their own school. Get her to focus on what she likes about her current school.