Villiers School, Limerick

LadyTBolt

Considering Villiers amongst others for my daughters second level education. I am keen to send her to a Gaelscoil but if that doesn't work out I was thinking of Villiers.
Has anybody gone there / sent their children there and is it a good school to consider, would you recommend it?

Insect Overlord

LadyTBolt wrote: »

Considering Villiers amongst others for my daughters second level education. I am keen to send her to a Gaelscoil but if that doesn't work out I was thinking of Villiers.
Has anybody gone there / sent their children there and is it a good school to consider, would you recommend it?

I've was always led to believe that Villiers put very little emphasis on Gaeilge in their time-table, so just from that point of view you'd be almost contradicting yourself.

That said, I've a cousin who just did the Leaving Cert there. I should be able to find out more from her about it for you.

LadyTBolt

Insect Overlord wrote: »

I've was always led to believe that Villiers put very little emphasis on Gaeilge in their time-table, so just from that point of view you'd be almost contradicting yourself.

That said, I've a cousin who just did the Leaving Cert there. I should be able to find out more from her about it for you.

Hi IO - Thanks! I look forward to hearing of your cousins' experience.

I don't think I'm contradicting myself.
If my daughter does not get a Gaelscoil as her first choice she has no other option but to go to an English speaking school.
I understand all english speaking schools must teach the same JC & LC curriculum for Gaeilge?

Insect Overlord

LadyTBolt wrote: »

I don't think I'm contradicting myself.
If my daughter does not get a Gaelscoil as her first choice she has no other option but to go to an English speaking school.
I understand all english speaking schools must teach the same JC & LC curriculum for Gaeilge?

You're right about the curriculum being the same everywhere, certainly. A new curriculum is coming in at both JC and LC level too, so things will be changing in how the language is taught everywhere. I'm sure your daughter would be taught the same subject material in any school.

The differences would be in how much time is afforded to Irish per week in the time-table, whether or not classes are streamed and the whole-school attitude towards the language. It's a subject I feel strongly about, so apologies if I'm putting too much emphasis on Irish!

banjobongo

I cant comment on how good the school is, but as far as Im aware, its a private school, so you have to pay a lot of money in fees every year, I presume you are already aware of this, but just in case you aae not, Im just pointing it out...

LadyTBolt

Thanks for that!
I never really considered the amount of time afforded to the subject each day and how this may vary in each school. I always thought the language had to be taught the same at all English speaking schools.
It is certainly a question I will be asking and I will compare against others also, so thank you for pointing that out to me.

My daughter presently is a primary Gael Scoil student and it would be a huge disappointment to me if she doesn't continue her education as Gaelige at secondary level.
I always naively thought that she has a good chance of getting a place if I lobbied via her headmaster and got him to put in a good word for her but at the same time I should not be naive and I need to look at alternatives, just in case.

Villiers just recently sprang to mind and it's not s school I know a lot about so I am interested to find out more.

Thanks again for the insight

LadyTBolt

banjobongo wrote: »

I cant comment on how good the school is, but as far as Im aware, its a private school, so you have to pay a lot of money in fees every year, I presume you are already aware of this, but just in case you aae not, Im just pointing it out...

Thanks Banjobongo.
I looked into this over the past few days and I have been informed of the costs.

fryup

it had a reputation of being a posh proddy school.......but nowadays kids of all social and religious backgrounds go there

Rookster

For people who think they are posh!!!!!

Poxyshamrock

Try for Laurel Hill Coláiste! Bonus LC points for doing the exam through Irish!

Builderfromhell

Both my kids go there and I could not recommend it enough for a good all round education.
In the past it had a reputation for being an exclusive, protestant school but the absence of established religious activities attracted me there. The pupils comprise all races and segments of society.
The Catholic church run most of the other secondary school and pupils will be expected to go to mass etc.

Before deciding where to send your kids you might consider;
1. Transport. You may find it difficult to drop kids off and then get into town along the busy NC rd.
2. Cost. While it does cost a lot you do not have voluntary contributions and endless bills for this and that.
3. Sport. Hockey seems to be the school sport. Not much by way of GAA or soccer.

smcgiff

My daughter goes to Laurel Hill GC and this has to be your number one choice to have any chance of getting into it.

There's also another co-ed GC near the corbally road - that's where we hope to send our son. Again, you'd want to put this first to have a chance of getting in there.

Re Villiers - looks like a nice school, but despite being fee paying it was down a way in the list of schools in the secondary league tables for LC results.

I know teachers hate league tables for various reasons, but if you're paying for a school you'd expect to get top notch results. For example, I think LH GC (non fee paying, but "voluntary" payment of €350 per year, which is not so bad) was the number 3 school in the country a year or two ago, beating most fee paying schools.

Might be slightly controversial to say this, but I think LH GC could be considered more of a 6 year grind school. For example, afaik, they don't do pass level for subjects.

There's also Laurel Hill English school which is very good.

thesimpsons

Location should be a big factor in your decision if you are not on the North side of town as the NCR gets quite congested a school time. What are your requirements for extracurricular activities. Laurel Hill Colaiste does have extremely high standards and apart from LC maths, it teaches all subjects to higher level and lower (pass) level students have to work around this. Hockey is the major sport in both Laurel Hills with GAA sports creeping in in last few years. Laurel Hill colaiste also have its renowned choirs and orchestras which might (or might not) be of interest to you. Laurel Hill colaiste is consistantly in the top 7 of schools league tables while the new gaelcholaiste has not yet had leaving cert students so doesn't feature on the tables. Villiers gives a very good range of subjects im my opinion whereas Laurel Hill Colaiste and English school are both very traditional in subject choice. All the Limerick secondary schools will be having open days in Sept/Oct and you should probably check these out and get ideas for yourself. Either ring the schools or look in the local newspapers for dates of the open days. The one thing about Limerick school system for secondary is that if you don't have a school as your number 1, your chances of getting in to your 2nd choice school is extremely difficult.

naughtysmurf

Agree with the last part of thesimpsons post

Be very carefull with your school choices when selecting them on the form you will be provided with by your childs current primary school or you could end up with a school you don't want

Skuxx

LadyTBolt wrote: »

Considering Villiers amongst others for my daughters second level education. I am keen to send her to a Gaelscoil but if that doesn't work out I was thinking of Villiers.
Has anybody gone there / sent their children there and is it a good school to consider, would you recommend it?

Hi LadyTBolt, I went to Villiers myself, only finished there 2 years ago. Fire any questions my way I'd be happy to answer them for you!!

dave 27

Im a past pupil of the place myself..finished up a few years back so not sure how it is now but socially its a really cool place, consider myself very lucky as iv made so many good friends from there and still keep in contact..if u have any questions about the place just ask!

Orizio

Builderfromhell wrote: »

The Catholic church run most of the other secondary school and pupils will be expected to go to mass etc.

I assume this is a over-exaggeration.

Insect Overlord

Orizio wrote: »

I assume this is a over-exaggeration.

My experience would be that schools do two "official" school masses each year, which every student would be expected to attend. Usually at the start of the year and at Christmas/end of school year. That'll vary from place to place as well though.

Orizio

Insect Overlord wrote: »

My experience would be that schools do two "official" school masses each year, which every student would be expected to attend. Usually at the start of the year and at Christmas/end of school year. That'll vary from place to place as well though.

Really? I went to Midleton CBS for four years and don't remember anything of the sort. In fact there was no religion full stop.

Anyway, I'm going off topic, apologies.

SarahBeep!

Insect Overlord wrote: »

My experience would be that schools do two "official" school masses each year, which every student would be expected to attend. Usually at the start of the year and at Christmas/end of school year. That'll vary from place to place as well though.

And if your parents are sound, there will be an emergency orthodontist appointment in or around the time of the mass.


But if Irish isn't a key factor I think you should send your child wherever that think they will be happiest. It's so hard of he/she is the only one out of their group of friends going to a school. IA went to a school which has developed a less than glowing reputation and I came out with pretty good leaving cert points. I know people who went to Tutorial and didn't even get into college. I really don't think league tables matter, it's all about taching your child the value of learning.

dad123

Try Colaiste Chiarain. It's got a great reputation.

Naryclaire

Can't say enough about Colaiste in terms of grades. Made some fantastic friends there too, that I still have to this day. BUT there's a huge L4 element, she might come out speaking Irish but she may also have little sh1thead friends you've to play 'keep up with the joneses' with til she's old enough to understand not everyone's daddy can afford to pay them or every A they get in their christmas exams or throw them a huge 18th. Though I was there at the height of the boom, this may have eased off a bit.Also many of the old guard have retired in the past yr or two, and the school changed trustees too from the nuns to a laygroup so there's a definite change coming in the school which has yet to be seen. Still where I'd send my girls though, definitely.

Mr. K

I went to Villiers, finished in 2005.

I thought it was a great school from a social perspective, there was a wider variety of people there than most of the other Limerick schools and there was a real effort made to create a Villiers community spirit. There are loads of extracirricular activities too, Transition Year was brilliant.

It was well managed and they really did seem to care about the students, I saw very little bullying there. Staff still acknowledge me when they see me.

There were a few poor teachers there in my day, but as far as I know the faculty's quite different now. I do know that a couple of the excellent teachers are still there.

ninty9er

Stupid a question as it may seem, have you asked your daughter what she wants from school?

That would significantly influence my decision in a number of years time.

Roadend

If you had the drive you'd succeed in a hedge school.

realdanbreen

Roadend wrote: »

If you had the drive you'd succeed in a hedge school.

Hear,hear.
There's a lot of cop out rubbish nowadays about facilities,quality of teachers etc.
As long as they have the ability,apply themselves a fair bit they will be grand.
Also its no big deal if they go off the rails a bit now and then.

thesimpsons

seeing pupils from across a range of schools with yesterdays LC results I came across the high points and the low point pupils in all the schools. Its all a combination of personal ambition, parental involvement and the school - even the grind schools don't guarantee accademic success.

my daughter got her results yesterday, she did extremely well but she probably would have gotten the same results in other schools too. She choose her own secondary school back 6 yrs ago, a school which we had never considered for her, and she has had so much FUN there over the years. She now has a very good accademic education but also has great friends and all the other things that are important in life too.

Also, something that alot of parents don't realise is that even though Laurel Hill Colaiste is an irish school, there are always some girls every year who will sit some of their LC papers in english. I know of some who sat this years history, geography, music, ag science, maths through english. Some of this will be because if you need a grind, you won't get it in irish, and also it is still hard to get some text books in irish. You don't come out of the gaelcholaistes fluent in Irish - you can come out with a very good accademic irish but its not the same. We got some paperwork from the Dept of Education recently all in Irish and the same girl who came out yesterday with great points could only work out a gist of what the paperwork was saying.

Mr. K

thesimpsons wrote: »

even the grind schools don't guarantee accademic success.

And they're expensive, overly-pressurised environments. They might suit some, but they certainly aren't great for a well-rounded education.

thesimpsons wrote: »

You don't come out of the gaelcholaistes fluent in Irish - you can come out with a very good accademic irish but its not the same.

Seems a bit pointless, doesn't it? Academic Irish isn't going to keep the language alive, fluency will!

SarahBeep!

Mr. K wrote: »

thesimpsons wrote: »

even the grind schools don't guarantee accademic success.

And they're expensive, overly-pressurised environments. They might suit some, but they certainly aren't great for a well-rounded education.

And because they're smothered in school when they get to college they often don't sucked because they can't take control of their own learning.

Skintwin

If you do decidsde against a GC for your daghter, I definitely recommend you take a look into Laurel Hill Secondary. I finished there last year and I have only good things to say about it, especially since the new principal, mr. Creegan took over.
Back in the days on Cantillon everyone was allowed run amok, there was no real discipline except from the vice principal. Now, there are assemblies every morning, and while they're more strict, there don't seem to be as many rules, or they've relaxed on the more ridiculous (like the fact that the top button had to be closed at all times).
I have nothing but good things to say about the teachers. I struggled in one or two subjects coming up to the leaving cert due to being out sick for a month and a half, and when I went back to school I was offered after school and lunchtime help from teachers who had never even taught me! Most teachers will even stay up all night correcting essays to make sure you have them back quickly and can move onto the next one.
In the line of extra curricular activities, there's choir, orchestra, the TG4 film competitions (got to the final three when i did it and won the year after) camogie, hockey, tennis, there are girls who represent Laurel Hill in equestrian competitions, athletics, basketball, gaelic football and Quizzes. One girl in my year even went to the Science and Maths Olympiad in Taiwan a few years ago.
As far as the leaving cert results go, there was one girl in my year who got 590, a good few 585's, 580's, 570's and so on. With all of the extra help after being sick, I still managed to walk out with a 460! Not to mention the amazing friends that I'll keep for the rest of my days...they know too much about me...

Mr. K

SarahBeep! wrote: »

And because they're smothered in school when they get to college they often don't sucked because they can't take control of their own learning.

Exactly. Obviously some can adapt, but I'm sure it's a jarring change. Those places are ridiculous, I wonder if they've struggled since money got tight?