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Secondary school choices in Dublin South

24

Comments

  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 27,088 CMod ✭✭✭✭spurious


    Certainly in South County Dublin, you are not going to run into many 'bad' schools. The involvement of parents and the home attitude to education is what in my experience makes the difference.

    I taught in schools that people who bother to ask where to send their children would not have sent their child in a million years, but still we had some extremely high achieving students and recipients of the All Ireland Scholarships and the like. The difference between those children and the others in their class? The home. People may not believe it, but there are schools where in the entirety of a child's second level career, nobody EVER shows up for parent teacher meetings, shows, sports etc..

    I note that the OP's daughter has an interest in Art. Often there are schools where due to an individual Art teacher many children get into Art colleges. That might merit a bit more research.

    If it was my child, I would be looking at things like the school's anti-bullying policy and how they deal with bullying. If they say it is not a problem in their school, scratch them off your list. After that, check the languages they offer, subject choices etc., in particular the Art provisions since she has a leaning in that direction.

    Personally I prefer schools that allow and encourage a broad range of abilities to enrol, just because I think it is good for children to realise not everybody is like them in terms of opportunities and abilities, but that's by the by really.

    I agree with all of Ulysses 1874's post. Living close to a network of friends is very important, so look for location of school in terms of where you might be living, proximity to a primary school (or maybe one connected with the secondary) and available places.

    **edit Since 3rd year is an exam year, most schools like a child to be with them for two years to prepare and also to give the child a chance to settle in before State exams.



  • Registered Users Posts: 27,983 ✭✭✭✭AndrewJRenko


    Do you know where you're going to be living? You should really be thinking about a school within walking or cycling distance to avoid adding yet another school commute to Dublin's already crazy traffic levels.



  • Registered Users Posts: 32 connorsmith


    thanks your kind guys, I would like to make a decision of school first, then rent a house accrding the loaction of the school. Right now I do not have a Irish address cause I have not arrived in Ireland. Good thing is that these schools do not refuse me as I do not have a Irish address.



  • Registered Users Posts: 32 connorsmith


    I think I get what you mean, U is a higher part of 3 .Thanks.



  • Registered Users Posts: 32 connorsmith


    Only thing I know my workplace is Sandyford.

    Post edited by connorsmith on


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  • Registered Users Posts: 32 connorsmith


    thanks for your reply, do you know what schools in the South are good at ART?


    If they say bullying is not a problem in their school, scratch them off your list.


    why do schools say it is not a problem in their school, scratch them off my list?


    Do you mean all schools have bullying, if they say no bullying, all is a lie?


    My daughter has been in 5 schools since primary school in different countries, lucky for her, never gets any trouble in bullying, all her classmates were good with her and she is a quiet polite girl, never made the trouble for anyone.


    Instead, my son sometimes fights in school. 


    I think indeed there is a big difference between the girls and the boys.



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 27,088 CMod ✭✭✭✭spurious


    Yes, all schools have bullying (as do all workplaces to an extent). The difference is how they handle it. If they say they have no bullying they are not watching.

    Some schools appear to be always dealing with bullying incidents, but in my opinion that is good as it shows they are stamping it out whenever it happens. A culture of reporting it develops among the students and gradually it lessens, but it does not go away and can easily re-emerge if a close eye is not kept.

    Bullying among girls can be almost invisible, excluding from groups, 'the silent treatment' etc., all the more reason for a school with a close eye on things.

    I really don't know about the schools and Art. Perhaps check the college entries for the past few years for high numbers to NCAD or IADT. Or ask to speak to the Art teacher - they will be very quick to tell you how many students got into Art college. Of course an element of talent is involved but a good Art teacher will give good guidance in terms of portfolio preparation and techniques.



  • Registered Users Posts: 32 connorsmith


    but I can not find Loreto College Foxrock's leaving certificates results, I found St Joseph of Cluny and Mount Anville s leaving certificates results are very good, a little of their students even can get full score, Rathdown 's leaving certificates results is lower than these two.


    Leaving Certificate Results Mount Anville 2019

    This success was evident in all subject areas where participation rates at Higher Level were at 100% in 15 of the 19 subjects taken in Mount Anville.

    The average points score nationwide was 335 points. In Mount Anville the average score was 510 points.

    Three students achieved the perfect score of 625 points.

    12 % scored 600-625 points

    24% scored 550-600 points

    30% scored 500-550

    9% scored 450 – 500 points

    14% scored 400-450 points

    8% scored 350 – 400 points

    3% scored 300 – 350 points

    80% of the students sat Higher Level Maths – compared to a national average of 33% in all schools or 41% in Girls’ single sex schools. All candidates were successful.


    Leaving Certificate Results St Joseph of Cluny 2021

    Congratulations to Emma Nolan achieving 625 points and 7 H1s in her Leaving Certificate results today. We would also like to congratulate Sinead Kelly and Kate Regan for achieving 625 points.

    We are delighted to show the breakdown percentages of results from this years Leaving Certificate which are as follows:

    • 22.45% achieved over 600points
    • 46.94% achieved between 500-600points
    • 20.41% achieved between 400-500 points
    • 4.08% achieved between 300-400 points

    Leaving Certificate 2020 St Joseph of Cluny

    Success

    Congratulations to our three students who each received 625 points.

    Cara who will study Law and Political Science in Trinity College, Alison who will study Commerce in UCD and Louise who will study Law with Social Justice in UCD. Congratulations Leaving Certificate students of 2020

    14.2% over 600 points

    42.5 % over 500 points

    Leaving Certificate Results Rathdown 2021

     1 in 4 achieved over 600 points

     Almost half scored over 550 points

     Two thirds scored over 500 points



  • Registered Users Posts: 32 connorsmith


    I am very surprised that so many students can get full marks. They did very good.



  • Registered Users Posts: 27,983 ✭✭✭✭AndrewJRenko


    You probably mean 'Sandyford', which is on the outskirts of south Dublin. The Luas tram line goes right through Sandyford, very close to many of the major employers there, so you might want to look for a school that is close to the Luas also. Wesley College is within walking distance of the Luas, Alexandra College is right beside a Luas stop.

    If you mean Sandford Road, not Sandyford, there would be some different options.



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  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 27,088 CMod ✭✭✭✭spurious


    If you don't enrol children with learning difficulties it becomes less surprising. I think it might be more useful for you to look at the breakdown of where the students went, looking for NCAD and IADT. I think it is the Irish Times that publishes them annually.



  • Registered Users Posts: 32 connorsmith


    Yes, there are schools in France that do this too, and even dissuade some students who can not get the high test scores.



  • Registered Users Posts: 32 connorsmith




  • Registered Users Posts: 23,179 ✭✭✭✭ted1


    If you are in Sandyford you could consider the international school.


    https://www.nordangliaeducation.com/schools/dublin/international



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Sunrise_Sunset


    I'm jumping in on this, also interested in South Dublin secondary schools. Would any posters have any input on St. Gerard's in Bray (outskirts of South Dublin)?



  • Registered Users Posts: 32 connorsmith




  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Sunrise_Sunset


    I don't, I live a few kilometres away, further south into Co. Wicklow, about 11km from Bray. Sorry for hijacking your post, but some posters had good input on other schools, and was hoping they might have some information on this school too. The other South Dublin schools mentions would be a bit too far for us to travel to.



  • Registered Users Posts: 32 connorsmith


    it is okay, I am happy to discuss with you here. I applied St. Gerard too as I have boy and girl, but it seem no space. In the new age, mixed school is more popular to the parent as all mixed schools said no space.



  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]



    If you'll be working in Sandyford that probably opens up a lot of the southside of Dublin in terms of options for where to live (and consequently where to send kids to school).

    Subject to availability (and budget) you could live in any number of places along the Luas green line (tram line), which is a great means for commuting in and out of Sandyford. There are lots of other places you could live on the southside, but living near the green line would let you commute quickly and avoiding Dublin traffic, which is often a nightmare. If you can get the Luas to work and your kids are within walking distance of school it'll make a big contribution to your quality of life in Dublin, IMO.

    St Raphaela's (Catholic girls secondary) is not far from Sandyford or from its Luas stops - there's a non-faith mixed primary school near there as well (Goatstown-Stillorgan Educate Together). St Benildus (Catholic boys secondary) is near Kilmacud Luas stop, as is St Olaf's mixed primary school.

    Alexandra College (Church of Ireland girls secondary) is near Milltown Luas stop. Sandford Park school (private non-denominational mixed secondary) is near to Beechwood and Ranelagh Luas stops, and there are some mixed primary schools around including Ranelagh Multi-denominational school. Muckross Park (girls Catholic secondary) is nearby on Marlborough Road.

    Just some thoughts on places where you might be able to combine finding a nice place to live, the kind of schools you might be looking for, and the right kind of commute to work. Best of luck with your search. Sorry about the references to faith in my list, but faith and school ownership are quite mixed up together in Ireland.



  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    But be careful of one thing. I don't know how your source is treating the National College of Art and Design or the Institute of Art and Design Technology. But the schools that are good at sending kids through to those colleges are probably the ones who could best bring on your daughter's art interests. That's where the advice from @spurious about schools and individual Art teachers could be very useful to you.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 32 connorsmith


    yes, if conside the art level, I would like to choose Loreto College Foxrock as this school 'students can get rewards of the Texaco Art Competition every year.But another side, it seems some people do not recommerd this school. And this school is not far from Sandyford.




  • Registered Users Posts: 15 TruCal


    I don't think they are not explicitly recommending Loreto Foxrock, but rather expressing opinions and views about the schools they probably have experience with as their children went to / are going to ...

    I have 2 daughters in Loreto Foxrock, 5th and 2nd yrs, quality of teaching is high, both are very happy & have great groups of friends, lots of foreign students attend school, lots of extra-curriculum activities to chose from... The older daughter will study art & design in NCAD and she gets the full support from the school (she was a honourable mention in Texaco Art Competition among other achievements). One thing to highlight is that the older daughter was also competing on a very high level in one particular sport (she was training 15-20h a week) and school did their utmost to enable her to endure such difficult and packed weekly schedule - I do not think this would be achievable without their support as well. Please bear in mind that this is my own subjective view of the matter, but our experience with the school is excellent.

    (In terms of LC results - perhaps this helps, but as other posters explained, you should take this just as a general guide - https://extras.thetimes.co.uk/web/public/pdfs/4ae37f2231c180216b94a71160d8aaac.pdf )

    Hope this helps :)



  • Registered Users Posts: 32 connorsmith


    thanks for sharing. Your daughter is excellent and my daughter should learn from them. We may meet at this school later.



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,578 ✭✭✭JDD


    Hi connorsmith - where did you opt for in the end? I am interested to know as I also live along the Green Luas line and am pondering schools for my daughters. I went to Alexandra College myself, so I have their names down there, but I also know that there's a feeder bus from my area to Loreto Foxrock, so that's also an option. A couple of friends went to Loreto Foxrock, and although they are lovely I always got the impression that that particular Loreto was quite snobbish. Now, they went there 20 years ago and Alexandra had it's own issues with snobbishness, but I'd be really interested to know what it is like now.



  • Registered Users Posts: 3,957 ✭✭✭Theboinkmaster


    Be very careful of Mount Anville - the school presently and historically has a very bad reputation in Dublin for bullying. I know several parents who have had to remove their daughters.



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,578 ✭✭✭JDD


    That's a pity to hear - two good friends are intending on sending their daughters there. Is it just that the school takes no action when bullying is reported?



  • Registered Users Posts: 3,957 ✭✭✭Theboinkmaster


    yes exactly and it's the culture of the school and always has been. driven by the principal.



  • Registered Users Posts: 2 imtheking


    I would highly recommend Loreto college Stephens green for daughter and CUS Leeson Street around the corner for boys. Our daughter is very arty and loves art in Loreto on the Green. Our son is academic and loves rugby, CUS is great fit. Both schools close to transport links in/out town. Nice mix of kids in both schools from different parts of dublin- Clontarf, sandymount, Malahide etc etc.



  • Registered Users Posts: 777 ✭✭✭dRNk SAnTA


    Just a note to people from overseas who may read this thread in future. Comparing Leaving Cert results between differing years from the period between 2020 and 2023 is very dangerous because during the COVID crisis there was extreme grade inflation due to a change in the way papers were marked. On average, all students in 2021 received higher grades than the equivalent in 2019.

    I would recommend only comparing school results of the same year, and I would personally pay more attention to the results from 2019 and earlier.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 27,983 ✭✭✭✭AndrewJRenko


    You can't compare school results afaik. You can only compare college entry results, which is a different thing altogether.



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