Gael scoil cnoc na re

leana

I'm thinking about primary school options for my kids and have an interest in this school but I don't know alot about it. For now I just have 3 questions:

1. Is it a good school?
2. What are the waiting lists like?
3. Is it church run?

Thanks,

leana

tedshredsonfire

Hi leana,
My daughter now nine has gone there and to answer
1. yes very good not knocking other schools or teachers but find them very informative to us the parents and very involved with the children and parents.
2.Not sure on the waiting lists would need to check directly.
3. the church are involved but not heavily. We didn't have our daughter baptised until just before her communion and the priest at the school is Fr. Pat from the Cathedaral an absoloute gem and who would nearly restore my faith in the Church.

On a seprate point my irish is quite poor as is my wifes but we have both improved slightly since. It has not in my opinion had a negative effect on our daughter with help regarding homework etc. Also my daughter is very regimental about speaking irish outside of school. She is very matter of fact about it and speaks english here and irish there but both fluently. Due to funding the school may not have as good physical facilities as some other national schools but is made up by the teachers and the parents association. Michael o Brien the headmaster is excellent ant the parents association called cairde are very good too.

leana

Thanks so much for your reply, I don't actually know anyone who sends their kids there so it's great to get a first hand report. The local national school is good but I'd love the boys to go to an Irish school. My own Irish would need alot of work but i'd be quite happy to do that. I suppose I'll start by trying to get their names down and see what happens from there.

Tedshreds, do you know if the majority of kids have their communion and confirmation, or do many kids opt out? It was the whole issue of church involvement in schools that got me thinking about alternatives.. Not a whole pile of them in Sligo. Don't worry I'm not trying to drag you into that particular discussion, just interested to know what the story is there.

tedshredsonfire

Hi leana yeah I would say 95% are involved in the whole communion and confirmation etc. and officially religion will be taught in the class too I guess. has not been a major factor for us and as you can see from the above post not exactly devout catholics. I guess the preist visits the school regular enough too but certainly nothin is rammed down your throat.

sligopark

leana wrote: »

I'm thinking about primary school options for my kids and have an interest in this school but I don't know alot about it. For now I just have 3 questions:

1. Is it a good school?
2. What are the waiting lists like?
3. Is it church run?

Thanks,

leana

saw this yestreday and put it by family (whose kids attend and whom they are looking presently to remove to other town schools)

1. No - unless you want your kids to be sheeple.
2. None - just register.
3. No - but RC religion is taught, classroom ingrained but opt out if preferred.

Regarding prior postings, the headmaster does not come blessed with interpersonal skills (this is the general opinion too), cairde is well regarded and works hard, physical facilities are a massive let down as are their policies re playground time, integration and supervision, so check schools closer to you for opinions prior to commiting to the Gael scoil.

tedshredsonfire

You are pbviously entitled to your opinion sligopark but can you expand a bit rather than make sweeping generalisations. My daughter is by no means a sheeple although I am sure you didn't intentionally mean to cause offense. I agree and pointed out the facilities are less than ideal but have not seen any problems re playground time, intregration(?) and supervision.
Incidentaly sending a child to a bi lingual school is the benefit not just Irish if there was a french speaking school she may have gone there. A huge proportion of a childs brain is geared towards language acquisition than gets less as they get older. Like a sponge at that age and a third language should be introduced much earlier.
Leana by all means seek out as many opinions as you can not just mine its a big decision after all. The Gaelscoil usually has an open day prior to registration and you should go to that if you can and get a better idea of it.

Truley

Hi OP if the religious aspect of the school is an issue you could try out the Sligo School Project in town which is an Educate Together school. I went there in the 90's and it was an absolutely fantastic school, can't say what it's like now.

sligopark

tedshredsonfire wrote: »

My daughter is by no means a sheeple although I am sure you didn't intentionally mean to cause offense.

OMG no offence intended - sorry

language skills are massive and although not a factor for me was for the people I mentioned - they have removed their kids from the school in the past

And have spoken to others (irish speakers) who removed their kids too

Truley wrote: »

Hi OP if the religious aspect of the school is an issue you could try out the Sligo School Project in town which is an Educate Together school. I went there in the 90's and it was an absolutely fantastic school, can't say what it's like now.

Other than family I have also heard good reports about the school project but no second language tuition there irish or asian

b69

Truley wrote: »

Hi OP if the religious aspect of the school is an issue you could try out the Sligo School Project in town which is an Educate Together school. I went there in the 90's and it was an absolutely fantastic school, can't say what it's like now.

+1 on Sligo School Project. I finished there in '02 its still a fantastic school. was back there a few months ago to present Mary Cawley with a bunch of flowers on behalf of past students for her retirement and the teachers were still as friendly as i remembered. my sister goes there now and has no problems