schools

catch me if you can

Hi,
Looking for some advise on primary schools in Ennis. Im not from Clare so I dont really know what the best schools are. My daughters 2 so i need to put her name down for some.
any advice appreciated.

Clareman

I don't have kids, but I have a niece (6) and nephew (4) that both go to the Ennis National School and they really like it, I haven't heard my brother or his wife say a single bad thing about the school.

Other schools in the town would be the Holy Family (beside The Old Ground) and Cloughleigh (Golf Links Road). I believe you have to be from around Cloughleigh to get enrolled there, the other 2 is open to all I believe.

maiden

My 2 sons went to the Ennis National and loved it, I have my daughter enrolled in both EN and the Holy Family!

There are 4 main primary schools in Ennis:

Ennis National
Holy Family
Cloughleigh
CBS/Rice College

Also there is an Educate Together and also a Gaelscoil.

On the outskirts and much smaller class sizes would be Barefield and Knockaneen.

So you could look at what side of town you are living, do u prefer the bigger schools or smaller ones! Uniform, no uniform etc!! And of course they have a ethos too!

Clareman

Oops, forgot about the CBS (Flannan's man me ) and the Gaelscoil

maiden

Im a Flannans girl too!!!! I think i was in the first or second group of girls in Flannans, repeat leaving only at the tme!!

Clareman

The men go to Flannan's, the boys go to the brothers

I did my leaving in 95, we would have been students at the same time maiden

maiden

Ha ha no Clareman, I was repeating in Flannans in 91, Im an auld one!!!

babygirlz

maiden wrote: »

Ha ha no Clareman, I was repeating in Flannans in 91, Im an auld one!!!

Make's 2 of us, I did mine in 92

My 6 y/o goes to CBS and loves it, it's a good school. I can't speak for any of the others but there is a really good parents association there and there is alot of fundraising done for the school by the garden fete, cake sales, xmas cards, school calender etc.

You can only put the child's name down now 1 year before they intend to start school, the whole name on the top of the list business is gone. We applied to all the school's in town just in case she didn't get a place in the CBS.

angelfire9

babygirlz wrote: »

Make's 2 of us, I did mine in 92

My 6 y/o goes to CBS and loves it, it's a good school. I can't speak for any of the others but there is a really good parents association there and there is alot of fundraising done for the school by the garden fete, cake sales, xmas cards, school calender etc.

You can only put the child's name down now 1 year before they intend to start school, the whole name on the top of the list business is gone. We applied to all the school's in town just in case she didn't get a place in the CBS.

Likewise my eldest goes to the CBS and loves it, it has a good reputation for education but also sports these days
I went to the Holy Family myself and in my day there was an emphasis on sewing & needlework etc I'm sure that's changed now though

Don't know anything about Ennis NS or Cloughleigh sorry
There is also the Gaelscoil on the gort road (I think) and Educate together (beside Cois na hAbhna)

Lady Chatterton

+1 Ennis CBS

Depending on where you are living in Ennis, Clarecastle NS could be a good option, I have heard very positive reports about it. Barefield NS also has a great reputation too.

Battleflag

Went to the Gaelscoil myself, hear it can be fairly hard to get into it these days though (how times have changed). Great foundation for Irish in secondary school, they will breeze through it with just the basics. Great teachers and alot of emphasis on Irish culture which is a great thing as its dying out very quickly.

LuckyGent88

The NASH all the way especially if this new school ever gets built. they have been talking about a new one since i was in 4th class.

In fairness, all the primary schools in ennis and the surrounding areas have all got good facilities.

willow tree

Battleflag wrote: »

Went to the Gaelscoil myself, hear it can be fairly hard to get into it these days though (how times have changed). Great foundation for Irish in secondary school, they will breeze through it with just the basics. Great teachers and alot of emphasis on Irish culture which is a great thing as its dying out very quickly.

sorry to gatecrash but my local school is tulla which ive heard great things about but i was thinking of the gaelscoil for my daughter as i struggled with irish and id love it to be easier for her. would i need to do a course now to help her with her homework? also do they do much religion? (i had been thinking of educate together as i like the idea of multi denominational (sp))... its a big decision, i mainly want her to be happy in school, i think the rest falls into place if they are happy bunnies...

babygirlz

willow tree wrote: »

sorry to gatecrash but my local school is tulla which ive heard great things about but i was thinking of the gaelscoil for my daughter as i struggled with irish and id love it to be easier for her. would i need to do a course now to help her with her homework? also do they do much religion? (i had been thinking of educate together as i like the idea of multi denominational (sp))... its a big decision, i mainly want her to be happy in school, i think the rest falls into place if they are happy bunnies...

This is off topic


Hi Willowtree, my local school is Tulla too and my daughter goes to CBS. I find it hard to get her involved in activities outside school as she doesn't know any of the kids around, just something to keep in mind.

Also the dropping into Ennis can be a pita on your days off work ( I work in town)

willow tree

thanks babygirlz (and sorry to take you off topic, i maybe should have started a seperate thread).. anyways, i'll definitely think about that.. i'll probably just book her into lots of schools and i'll know better closer to the time...:)

babygirlz

willow tree wrote: »

thanks babygirlz (and sorry to take you off topic, i maybe should have started a seperate thread

No, I wasn't aiming that at you, it was a little warning from me that I was about to go OT

soccymonster

Went to the Holy Family myself. As did my 2 other sisters (one just graduating *tear tear*).
And I really did love my experience there. Has a cafeteria, computerised touch screen boards, classy computers, big classrooms and all that. and they have all the extra curricular activities like hurling, football, quiz team (was a member of it myself back in the day :P...which was like 5 years ago...), choir, band, soccer, all that craic if ya get me.

And it's right beside Dunnes too. Not too shabby.

But ya, I'm just a tad biased. Depends on where you're living of course as well

Shapey Fiend

I'm in the unique position of having attended 3 of them. I'm 28 so my experience may not be that relevant anymore. Nash was pretty rough, doesn't seem to be anymore though. Women teachers were good but men teaching in the older years were abysmal, my older brother learnt feck all the last 3 years he was there cos the teachers didn't do a tap. Hence my ma decided I'd switch school go somewhere else.

Knockaneen had the best atmosphere of any of the schools very friendly place. We had a concert at the end of the week and students used get up do some sort of performance. We did plenty of art, sports and music. Core subjects were done really well too I had great Irish after two years there.

Barefield was as close to a grind school as you'd get. Went there for 6th class and I had 3 hours of homework every night and you'd be quizzed on it all day. Learnt tons but it was a less than pleasant experience. I ended up joining the trad band, the choir and anything else I could to get out of the class for 45 minutes a day. Ended up getting to quite like playing trad in the end which was cool cos I'd never have practiced that much if left to my own devices.