Gaelscoil or regular primary school

BoozyBabe

Ok, I'm jumping the gun a lot, as I don't even have a family yet , but this has been on my mind & I'm trying to weigh up advantages against disadvantages, so I'm wondering what your opinions are:-

I'm from rural Ireland, from a small close knit village.
It's you average village with a church, primary school, community centre, shop, pub, & GAA sports facilities. Everyone knows & interacts with everyone else.

The main town is about 8 miles away.
The only Gaelscoil in the region is in the town, 8 miles away.

I would love my children to go to the Gaelscoil, as I'd love them to be fluent in Irish. I remember friends of mine having went to the gaelscoil, & secondary level Irish was such a doddle to them, a guaranteed A in their exams.

Anyhow, the dilemma, besides the hassle to getting them to & from school is this:-

Sport plays a big part in the village. Everyone in the local school plays for the parish team, everyone knows everyone else by being at school with each other every day.
I feel that if I took my children (future) out of the parish, they would be slightly alienated from this.
Also, children at that age make friends with those they go to school with.
I'd be afraid that my children would feel like strangers in their own front garden, watching all their neighbours play together.

I know they'd still know each other, but I dodn't think they could bond in the same way as they could if they were together in school everyday.

So:- Gaelscoil education V local area alienation!

Which would you choose, or from experience do you know things turn out differently, or what?

Thanks.

oranje

BoozyBabe wrote:

I would love my children to go to the Gaelscoil, as I'd love them to be fluent in Irish. I remember friends of mine having went to the gaelscoil, & secondary level Irish was such a doddle to them, a guaranteed A in their exams.

When you describe your situation I would say that removing the children from the village sports scene might be a worse move overall. Your motivation for wanting them to go to a Gaeilscoil seems to be based more on the idea that they will eventually do better in Irish in the Leaving.

Even if it helps them with Irish is that so great if they are going to a school far from home which probably means less opportunities to play with schoolmates. I would always say that a school as close to home as possible is best as long as you local primary school is good.

One more thing, are there issues with numbers in your local primary schools? I know in some areas they lose a teacher if there are not enough pupils to justify this.

BoozyBabe

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, those are exactly the issues going on in my mind.
I'd really love for them to find Irish as good as English though.
But what you've said is exactly how I was thinking about the social issues.

I was just waiting for ye to agree or disagree.

I really would hate for them to feel like an outsider in their own community & I feel like this is what would happen.

Crea

Hi,
I'm enrolling my kids in the local school for the exact reasons that you've stated. It's a good school with small class sizes so I had no hesitation sending them. If you want them to have some fluency in irish you could look into childrens classes in your local Conradh na nGaeilge or equivilant group.
I went to a secondary gaelscoil and had an aversion to all kinds of poetry and so while being a fluent speaker etc I only did OK in the subject so it doesn't automatically stand the the A is a guarantee.:o

foxinsocks

I'll respond to this as a child who went to a different school to all her neighbours. I hated it... I never made friends around where I lived, and my school friends all lived too far away for me to play with them. It made me miserable, a lot. I was even bullied by the kids in my neighbourhood because I went to a posh school and didn't talk like they did.

I'm not saying your future kids would react as badly, or that your current neighbourhood is as rough as mine was of course If you plan on having more than one child, it may not be an issue either. I was an only child, so I had no siblings to play with, or to stick up for each other.

Just something extra to think about.

Fox_in_Socks

BoozyBabe

Those are excellent replies, so thank you all very much.

I think you have made up my mind. They'll be going to the local school. I'll just have to put more of an effort in with the Irish to try & help them with it.

Thanks.
BB

littlebug

Hi,

Like foxinsox I went to school different to my neighbours and it didn't bother me at all at the time. There were three of us though and we did play with our neighbours and cousins at weekends and summer. They were all boys though so I didn't have any girlie friends out of school until I joined a local youth club when I was 15. Of course then the new friends that I made told me that they had previously thought that we were stuck up etc but I was blissfully unaware of it until then. The only problem that I had after that was that I had 2 different sets of friends who didn't mix together at all which caused me some anxiety on nights out!
However there was good reason for me to go to school eslewhere as the local school had a terrible reputation and track record and for a period of about 15 or more years all of the children who went there ended up in the lowest streams in secondary school and faced a big struggle to catch up and very very few went on to third level. Thankfully it has now improved.

Though I too would like my kids to go to a gaelscoil the nearest one is about 15 miles away so that's a no no. It's also unfortunate that my local school here has a good reputation in everything except Irish so we'll just have to work on that one outside of school.

I say if the local school is a good one then go for it. My interest in Irish developed outside of school. Summer trips to the gaeltacht when i was a teenager took care of that and put me ahead of most of my class in Irish back at school. So local school does not necessarily = bad Irish!

Deliverance

Hey BB,
You should really research the schools well. Gaelscoils are gaining a great reputation for good reason and provide a great education for kids beyond the Irish language on principle. In my area I want to send my daughter to a gaelscoil on these grounds, the language thing is a great bonus culturally.

I don't know your area, it sounds fine but don't rule out gaelscoil on the grounds of alienation that is a limitation which is being imposed by conservatism perhaps? Not a good thing really for growing kids, and especially not teenagers, eventually.

Gaelscoil all the way, they apparently provide stimulation, education and culturall enrichment, what's wrong with that? Ok I say go Gaelscoil. It's worth it to see your kids happy in themselves. Good Luck.

dame

Would there not be any sport outside of the local school? Training/fun games on saturday/sunday mornings for u-8's, u-10's etc down at the local pitch?

Also if you're from the area is it likely they'd have cousins to play with? You can always start them off playing with the neighbours before they ever get to school. Having said that, having a school right beside you it does seem a pity to be hauling them off to the next town every day, unless you're convinced they'd benefit more from the school further away.

BoozyBabe

dame wrote:

Would there not be any sport outside of the local school? Training/fun games on saturday/sunday mornings for u-8's, u-10's etc down at the local pitch?

Oh yes, that's how it works. Don't get me wrong. The children would be more than able to join the local teams, but here's where I'm coming from:- more than likely all the other children on the team would go to the same local school. They'd all be friends, wouldn't really know my children, & then you know how children can be. I'd be afriad my child would be ignored & left on their own because no one knows much about them.

Or:- different schools take different holidays. When my children would be at home, all the local children could be at school, & vice versa, so they'd be bored on days off.

Visiting friends would also be a long haul in & out of the main town.

The local school is very good. They'd definitely get a good education there, it's just I'd love them to be fluent in Irish.

but fgoing from what was said above, I'm beginning to think that's not so important as my children fitting in 100% in their local area.

Trotter

I've come across this kind of decision being made a few times before and I'd give this simple advice..

Send the child to school in a place where he/she will be at the maximum level of "life happiness".

It is so underestimated how the primary school years mould the person as a whole in terms of adulthood. If it was me, I'd send the child to wherever the emotional support structure is strongest.. and in this case, thats the local school. He/She will have local friends and a strong sense of community. Far too many children these days spend their lives focussing on the leaving cert.

If I could have my way, children would all love going to school because of the fun, enjoyment, security and contentment they'd get there. Add in a few hugs at home and lots of interest and time spent with the child by the parents and hey presto... you have a happy, well balanced child. .

Its the achievements and development of the whole individual child that is worth prioritising.

Once you have that, the leaving cert will look after itself, trust me on that.

Give the child the happiest primary school memories possible.. its a million times more important and influencial than an A in the leaving.

GretchenWieners

I'm doing my Leaving Cert this year, I wish I went to a Gaelscoil!!
Would make Irish so much easier to be perfectly honest. I don't think they'd be alienated if they still took part in sports in the area to be honest. Sure a lot of people make friends with their neighbours by going to play school too. I know I did and I went to a school away from where I live. Anyway with growing amounts of immigrants etc I know myself that when I have kids I'll send them to a Gaelscoil instead.

*WKD*

I am going to try to get my wee man into the irish school that is in our town, so the situation is a little different. However the reason for me is the cultural influence of having a good irish base for the rest of his life. He is only 6 months so I am really thinking ahead, but you know even to be able to head to Gaeltacht areas and hold your own. I too went to irish school for 2 summers - did nothing for me haha!!

Rozabeez

I went to a Gaelscoil and other than my next door neighbour, I didn't really know anyone from around the place. Most people from the Irish school came from other towns.
Honestly I'd say it's worth it sending them there. However sending them to a local secondary school would probably be best from the social side of it.

BoozyBabe

Oh, I think I'm as confused as I ever was!!!!

There are very good arguments here as to why I shouldn't send future children to the gaelscoil, but there are equally good arguments for it.

I'd imagine I'll end up not sending them, as I don't think the father would be on for it. It's him that's local to the area that we'll be living, not me. It's his old primary that will be the kids school, & they're his neighbours.

I'm an outsider, so it doesn't really bother me (in that I've no emotional ties to the area, school or locals), but I'd imagine he'd like to keep them within the community

Trinity

My son is 6 and hates his Irish school. Well its not the school but the IRish.

He finds it very intimidating that he doesnt know what everyone is saying.

From a distance point of view its a disaster tbh. If i am sick there is no one to get him there. At least if he was local we would have a bit of help.

Múinteoir

What should your kids have to go to the main town to get an all-Irish education? Are you sure there are no other like-minded parents in the local area who'd like to set up a local Gaelscoil? Not as crazy an idea as you might think. Practically all gaelscoileanna in the country are set up by parents who feel the need to have one in their locale. If you build it they will come.....