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Child Item

Secondary Schools in the City

neemish

Hi all,
Looking for a bit of info on Schools in the City. How do people rate them these days? Not just in terms of academic results, but a wider approach in helping kids to do well in all areas of their life.

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Moo Moo Land

Secondary schools vary in popularity and 'ratings' quite a lot, especially in Galway. A competent school principal makes all the difference. Here is my current perception;

Salerno: Ranks highly for academic results (i.e. what % go on to college) but the percentage is not really much higher than the other schools. Bullying and snobbishness a huge problem. Facilities and sporting results not the best either.

Endas: Has improved a lot in recent years. Good sporting achievements and facilities. Produces well rounded and happy students.

Taylors: Took a dip in popularity for a few years but is a solid school with good teachers and is becoming popular again. Good at sports.

Jes: Good school with some excellent teachers. Laissez-faire attitude to teaching which can be good for some students but not for others.

Bish: Close to town centre which can be a distraction. Immediate facilities poor but they encourage wide range of sports. A decent school.

Pres/Mercy: I believe they are amalgamating. Some very good and hardworking teachers but reputation for poor achievers.

Coiribe: Irish only. New school in Knockers. Quite a strict school with stern teachers but produces good results. Becoming snobby like Salerno fast (because of the Irish only)

Again though, a new principal can change a school immediately - for good or bad. They have a huge influence.

GalwayGrrrrrl

New principal at St Mary's this year- might improve reputation. Good facilities and sports.

Moo Moo Land

xfactorfan23 wrote: »

New principal at St Mary's this year- might improve reputation. Good facilities and sports.

Oh yeah completely forgot St Marys.

Mrs OBumble

Moo Moo Land wrote: »

Pres/Mercy: I believe they are amalgamating. Some very good and hardworking teachers but reputation for poor achievers.

Have amalgamated, reopened as Our Lady's College this month. Split across two campuses (old Pres and Mercy) until an extension at the Pres site is complete. Some of the senior staff retired with the amalgamation.

Moo Moo Land wrote: »

Coiribe: Irish only. New school in Knockers.

Ahh, old school, but with a new building in Knockers.

The city also has an east side:

Galway Community College. Located at Moneenageisha. In previous years had a not so great reputation, but I believe these problems are now well in the past. That said, it's still probably the best choice for kids with big personalities or who rebel against a more traditional or high-disciplined school (Every city needs one of these.

Merlin College: located in new buildings in Doughiska. Opened in 2014 I think. Multi-faith, co-ed, under patronage of the RETBVEC.. Good ethnic mix in the student body. Hard working staff, have got some awards for stuff already.

And outside the city, but only just:

Claregalway College: even newer than Merlin College, located in temporary premises in an industrial estate - but not at all shabby prefabs. Aiming to be very innovative in how they educate with technology. I don't know much beyond that. Not sure who the patron is.

Calasanctius in Oranmore: Co-ed. patron is the Presentation sisters. Some think very highly of it, I've heard mumblings from others about bullying and low standards. Can't really say whether these are justified or not.

neemish

Thanks all, it's a daunting task to look at what school would best suit a child. I know that visiting and what vibe you get are the best marker but it's good to know what the general consensus is. Athenry and Loughrea are also an option so plenty of research to do yet

GalwayGrrrrrl

Something else to be aware of is that it's hard to get a place in some of the more popular schools if you didn't go to the feeder primary- the Jes and the Bish being examples of this. I've had my kids names on the list for colaiste na corribe since they were babies too.

bobbyss

xfactorfan23 wrote: »

New principal at St Mary's this year- might improve reputation. Good facilities and sports.

What kind of reputation does it have?

ChunkyLover54

What school has the bright purple jumper as part of it's uniform?

I saw a lot of schoolgirls wearing it about town this week.

neemish

ChunkyLover54 wrote: »

What school has the bright purple jumper as part of it's uniform?

I saw a lot of schoolgirls wearing it about town this week.

I think it's Our Lady's College - the Pres/Mercy merger

echolima

neemish wrote: »

Thanks all, it's a daunting task to look at what school would best suit a child. I know that visiting and what vibe you get are the best marker but it's good to know what the general consensus is. Athenry and Loughrea are also an option so plenty of research to do yet

My own take on Athenry:

Presentation: Biggest reputation, generally good academically and sports-wise. Large numbers. Lots of young new staff in the last few years by the sounds of it. Some problems with snobbery, but that could be my own bias :P

Vocational (Clarin College): Fairly average school academically and sports-wise. Generally seen as rougher, but not by much from what I know of it (2 siblings there). Their LCA programme is brilliant for my brother.

Coláise an Eachreidh: Only 10 years old, promising academically, downside they use the tec's sporting facilities and technology rooms. Gaelscoil, so Irish only, but they welcome English primary students. Smaller class sizes in general. I'm totally biased in their favor, loved my 6 years there. If you want any more information I'm happy to oblige

Athenry's three are all decent academically, but suffer with poor facilities, mostly prefab classrooms and generally dated buildings. There's new schools for all, with sites and funding supposedly 'secured' but they've been promising that for years, so we'll see.

McTigs

I went to the Jes myself and loved it...... But I did my leaving 25 years ago so it was probably a very different school then to now. It would still be my choice for my own kids though, that or Endas which I am hearing really great things about. I would want them to go to a co ed and they are the only two( except corribe but we are not a big Irish speaking house)

Eeden

Surely it's worth mentioning whether the schools are mixed or single sex? Can't believe this hasn't been mentioned of any secondary schools so far... To me this would be hugely important!

St Mary's and the Bish are male/boys only; Taylor's Hill and Salerno and the new Our Lady's College are female/girls only. Jes and Enda's and Colaiste na Coiribe are mixed.

youngrun

Eeden wrote: »

Surely it's worth mentioning whether the schools are mixed or single sex? Can't believe this hasn't been mentioned of any secondary schools so far... To me this would be hugely important!

St Mary's and the Bish are male/boys only; Taylor's Hill and Salerno and the new Our Lady's College are female/girls only. Jes and Enda's and Colaiste na Coiribe are mixed.

Dont forget Merlin and Moneen both mixed also

nuac

Was as boarder in St Mary's many years ago.
Back then there were boarders from rural Galway, and parts of Clare and Mayo, plus dayboys from the city, so a good mix
Some on Gaeltacht schols from Galway, Mayo, Muskerry and Kerry Gaeltachtai.
Strong on hurling

talking_walnut

xfactorfan23 wrote: »

Something else to be aware of is that it's hard to get a place in some of the more popular schools if you didn't go to the feeder primary- the Jes and the Bish being examples of this. I've had my kids names on the list for colaiste na corribe since they were babies too.

Jes primary is not a feeder school for the secondary (despite what the parents of kids in the school seem to think). I think they've agreed to allocate a certain number of spaces but it's not that many. That's not to say it's easy to get into. They give priority to kids of past pupils or who's siblings went there. That's probably quite a lot of people at this stage so it can make things difficult.

The secondary school has had a good few issues in the last few years. The principle changed and the new one tried to change it from the laissez-faire atmosphere mentioned above, to a more strict system. It apparently didn't go down to well with parents and students, but they've another new principle now ("young" Jesuit that's a former teacher at the school) so not sure what'll happen.

St. Pats (Bish feeder school) has been struggling for numbers recently so that's probably not a huge issue. The Bish probably prioritise applicants like the Jes though and there's probably a good amount of children or siblings of past-pupils walking around.

These are only really going to issues if your kid is going into first year though. Anything above that and you'll have to contact the school directly to see if they're accepting students in that year. It'll probably be easier as they're not dealing with 100's (1000's?) of applicants.

bobbyss

nuac wrote: »

Was as boarder in St Mary's many years ago.
Back then there were boarders from rural Galway, and parts of Clare and Mayo, plus dayboys from the city, so a good mix
Some on Gaeltacht schols from Galway, Mayo, Muskerry and Kerry Gaeltachtai.
Strong on hurling

Certainly hope it has improved since those dark days.

nuac

bobbyss wrote: »

Certainly hope it has improved since those dark days.

What "dark days"

bobbyss

nuac wrote: »

[/B]

What "dark days"

Oh dear... .

ben.schlomo

bobbyss wrote: »

Oh dear... .

Care to elaborate instead of just casting aspersions.

bobbyss

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Care to elaborate instead of just casting aspersions.

No.

biko

In that case stop posting in this thread.

PLL

Do you have to apply for Taylors asap? (like Salerno and Colaiste Na Corribe)

Also, any idea of the where the majority from each primary go for secondary?

biko

Old thread lock.

Please start a fresh thread with your questions and circumstances.