Secondary school choices in Dublin South

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.

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

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.

Yes. And doesn't include any assessment of whether college was the right place for all of the pupils. I think its something like 80% of school leavers are now going on to higher education. Some schools with a lower progression to HE rate might actually be taking the time to consider what is best for the student and not just funnelling them to HE, but actually pointing them to apprenticeships (the new ones are a world away from the old craft apprenticeships), further education, or higher education overseas, which isn't captured in the data.

Nonsense, is anything you pay extra for the not so gifted chld some get better support that suits his needs. Also Private schools are not renowned for academics.

sending a child to a private school and grinds are 2 different things.

I know my brother went to a public school and I went to a private school, we would be more academic than me.

the school I went to was very much sport focused. The results weren’t €36,000 better than kids who went to public schools. Sure the ambition, expectations and privilege was higher.

my daughter goes to a public school which outperforms private schools ever year with results.

It's funny how you pretend to be so concerned about obesity and academic results, while you consider making active choices that will reduce obesity and improve academic results as 'ridiculous'.

But hey, don't let your personal biases hold you back there from making really bad decisions.

How are the private schools getting bright children. Are they refusing to take less bright children?

People who value not have obese children, as you seemed to do, will put walking and cycling as a priority.

No one mentioned top priority except you. That's your own little strawman.

Private schools afford better career options overall, not just because of the education, but also because of the social circles the kids will mix in and the connections forged.

Being surrounded by a lot of high achievers can only help to develop a childs education and once the kids reach early adulthood, the relationships formed at private school can really help someone get their foot in the door Career wise.

"Yes, we can get little Johnny a placement at the US multinational in the docklands, he is ex (insert colleged name) and good friends with my Tristan"

I know it shouldnt be like that and we shouldnt have jobs for the boys, but thats how the real world works.

Thats not to say public educated kids cant do well, of course they can.

But the privately educated are certainly starting the race of life a good bit closer to the finish line than everyone else.

Obviously my brother and I went to the wrong private school - nada - just applied for jobs the normal way. I feel cheated.

You couldn't be more wrong on both counts in your opening statements, as my other posts here will confirm - but it's interesting that your only response is a personal attack rather than any rational debate or discussion.

This might be a surprise to you, but many parents see value and merit in their children beyond their academic ability and leaving cert points result. Many parents want to get best education for their children in music, or arts, or sports, or indeed to get the best academic results possible for their less bright children, who (surprisingly enough) are also worthy of getting the best education.

You simply haven't got a clue of how school enrolments work, with published criteria, and parents ready to take legal action if the school messes ups. Maybe if you had gotten better education you could have paid for private education AND gotten a nice bike too. Shame you didn't get the chance to remove some of those chips on your shoulder too.

Still not as funny as the anti obesity person who doesn't want his kids walking or cycling to school.

I come from a family of three. Two older brothers. They went to a local public school. Just because I came along a bit later, and my parents had more money, I went to private school.

My brothers' school was....fine I suppose. It took a lot of kids from our moderately well off suburb, and a lot of kids from a working class suburb. My Dad was on the Board of Management for years, and he said that half their time was taken up adjudicating on what to do with the kids that were borderline about to be expelled.

My brother closest in age to me was very academic. He was always a bit smarter than me and I remember thinking it even back in primary school. He worked hard in school and came second in his class in terms of Leaving Cert results.

I, on the other hand, came maybe in the top half/third of my class when I did my Leaving Cert two years later. Yet, I got considerably more points than he did. Why is that? Well, my brother was in a class where at least half of them had no intentions of going on to third level (no issues with that). A lot of time in the classroom was taken up by trying to get that cohort to pay attention, and to actually do the work.

For me, I was surrounded by kids who wanted to do law, or medicine, or science or engineering. Even the ones who didn't want to go on to conventional university wanted to get in to NCAD, or the Royal Academy of Music, or wanted to start their own businesses. Nearly everyone was aiming high, and it felt like that was just normal. It makes you work harder.

Fast forward to after university. I interviewed at a couple of law firms and got offers to three. The one I eventually went for asked me about my school in my interview. Asked me how I enjoyed it, etc. And I obviously gave a glowing review of the place. A good few months later I heard that that particular partner had sent his two girls to the same school as me. I'm not saying that where I went to school swung me a place, but it felt a little like they were checking out whether I was "one of them". As distasteful as that is.

My brother has done well for himself in the meantime (I still earn considerably more), but I felt sorry that he didn't have that same opportunity to get that extra percentage in interviews, or maybe that connection that would tell him that there was a job going in another company. He doesn't at all have the same network that I do. That's why - even though I disagree with the idea of this two tier system - I am sending my children to the same private school I went to. Because the world isn't fair, and I accept that this is how it works.

I dunno about that. There were a few in the class that definitely did not want to go on to third level. One became an air hostess, another couple went into a childcare and another became a hairdresser. AFAIK they're all stay at home mums now. Which may well have always been their ambition, and that's perfectly fine. I feel a bit weird saying this, because it sounds like I'm from the 1950's or some ultra conservative country, but they all "married well". In that I mean they all married men who are high earners, who come from wealth. Now, that could be a coincidence. It could be as a result of them coming from well off families in the first place and moving in certain circles. Maybe what school you went to makes no difference. But it seems to me that people tend to look for a partner who is similar to themselves, and has similar experiences, and a similar school experience is part of that.

The others that got lesser points all went off to university anyway, did Arts or other courses and then went on to do Masters. I would say, given our small class sizes, overtime paid to teachers to help after class, and the general importance put on good grades by the vast majority of parents, every student got more points than they would have done in your average public school. Whether the name of the school got them any further in life I wouldn't know. I can only speak to my own experience.

This is a key advantage of private school.

Building a network.

Its elitist, but its reality and it opens doors for private students that otherwise do not exist.

Thats it - guy I know was freaked out because his wife didnt want their son playing rugby. He felt this would deny him valuable network. This was a 13 year old.