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Ballinteer Community School

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    #32
    lechiennoir
    Closed Accounts Posts: 33 ✭lechiennoir


    Ok, well one of their students still set fire to the place.

    I wouldn't send a dog there, I'd deserve to be locked up for animal cruelty if I did.


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    #33
    Ihatecuddles-old
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,785 ✭✭✭Ihatecuddles-old


    lechiennoir wrote: »
    Ok, well one of their students still set fire to the place.

    I wouldn't send a dog there, I'd deserve to be locked up for animal cruelty if I did.

    Well that's just crazy. It has some amazing teachers, while it was for years a rough place, the new principal has cracked down so much since he's been there. The school is just like any other now. Good students and bad students.

    I'd have no problem sending my child there.


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    #34
    lechiennoir
    Closed Accounts Posts: 33 ✭lechiennoir


    Ihatecuddles wrote: »
    Well that's just crazy. It has some amazing teachers, while it was for years a rough place, the new principal has cracked down so much since he's been there. The school is just like any other now. Good students and bad students.

    I'd have no problem sending my child there.
    Well of course you're biased.

    The school has horrendous results, and that is what is important. It's not just like other schools either, the caliber of the rough students is far, far worse than many/most other schools and most especially in the area.

    If you're happy to send your child there, that's your prerogative, however the facts speak for themselves and if someone wants their kid to do well and have a good chance at getting into a good third level course then they're statistically better off not sending them to BCS.


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    #35
    schemingbohemia
    Registered Users Posts: 5,606 ✭✭✭schemingbohemia


    lechiennoir wrote: »
    Well of course you're biased.

    The school has horrendous results, and that is what is important. It's not just like other schools either, the caliber of the rough students is far, far worse than many/most other schools and most especially in the area.

    If you're happy to send your child there, that's your prerogative, however the facts speak for themselves and if someone wants their kid to do well and have a good chance at getting into a good third level course then they're statistically better off not sending them to BCS.

    Without dragging this way off topic, the league tables are rubbish as they don't measure ability on entering the school. All they state is that someone went to third-level and even then it's mostly geared towards DCU/Trinity/UCD (in dublin anyway). The tables also don't differentiate between types of third-level courses - medicine vs arts for example (I'm an arts graduate).

    My school Colaiste Eanna had a huge number of pupils going onto engineering and other scientific courses in DIT that wouldn't have counted towards this fixation with "Universities".

    If someone isn't particularly gifted on entering the school and ends up getting a decent leaving cert without going to third level this doesn't count yet the school has improved the student.


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    #36
    WildRosie
    Users Awaiting Email Confirmation Posts: 585 ✭✭✭WildRosie


    lechiennoir wrote: »
    If you're happy to send your child there, that's your prerogative, however the facts speak for themselves and if someone wants their kid to do well and have a good chance at getting into a good third level course then they're statistically better off not sending them to BCS.

    Statistically speaking maybe, but if the child has the ability and inclination to go on to third level they will. Poor progession to third level has a lot to do with what is going on at home, or not going on as the case may be. If there is an expectation of progression to third level at home then "league tables" are less relevant. They also only count the "main universities". What about the ones that still got decent Leaving Cert results but third level just wasn't for them and went into jobs, further education, trades etc. Counting the number of young people sent off to universities isn't the only measure of success for schools, its just the only one we hear about.

    Look for example at CBS Synge Street. It too has a rough repuation and only 22/53 students went onto the "main" colleges in 2012 (15/49 in BCS so its comparable). Yet how many prizes at the Young Scientist Exhibition have their students won over the last decade or so? Good kids with good family support will still do well in schools that may seem less "desirable". Also BCS is a DEIS school which may allow the OP's brother access to the HEAR scheme if he is hoping to continue studying.

    IMO BCS is stuck with a reputation that was deserved a few years ago but less so now. The school has good facilities and it seems changes for the better are happening. The new uniforms they brought in a few years ago are much smarter and while its only small thing it does improve the impression of the school.


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    #37
    RainyDay
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,925 ✭✭✭RainyDay


    WildRosie wrote: »
    Statistically speaking maybe, but if the child has the ability and inclination to go on to third level they will. Poor progession to third level has a lot to do with what is going on at home, or not going on as the case may be.
    The league tables count the ability of the parents to pay for 3rd level, and surprise surprise, the private schools of south Dublin come out on top.


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    #38
    Shane-KornSpace
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,025 ✭✭✭Shane-KornSpace


    lechiennoir wrote: »
    Ballinteer Community School and St Tiernan's are terrible schools and are extremely rough. In fact, BCS is so rough that one of the students burned the previous building down and they had to invest a lot of money in rebuilding what is there now.

    That was 12 years ago.
    I left BCS in 2007.
    With the exception of a few bad apples, I found the school to be quite a good place to go.
    The teachers I had offered alot of time to re-cover anything I didn't understand. Alot of them were very patient.

    Edit.

    Oh and I went on to college to study Computer Science.


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    #39
    homer911
    Registered Users Posts: 5,118 ✭✭✭homer911


    RainyDay wrote: »
    The league tables count the ability of the parents to pay for 3rd level, and surprise surprise, the private schools of south Dublin come out on top.

    Thats a bit of a generalisation..

    Its more likely that if children come from an academic/professional parental background, education in general will be more highly valued and they will have better support structures at home..


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    #40
    Deech086
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4 ✭Deech086


    Some of the comments on here are a joke. BCS does have a bad reputation, but Tiernans is way worse. I went to BCS for 6 years finishing in 2000. I am still freinds with people i went with. ! friend is a guard, another a solicitor and another a computer scientist!
    You get out what you put in. If you want to go there and not learn, you wont. And the local "scum" are nothing but wannabee hardmen that normally drop out/kicked out by 3rd year.

    For a free school its excellent and brand new too.


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    #41
    Bigmambo
    Registered Users Posts: 34 ✭Bigmambo


    lechiennoir wrote: »
    Ok, well one of their students still set fire to the place.

    I wouldn't send a dog there, I'd deserve to be locked up for animal cruelty if I did.


    I was the original poster on this thread. You clearly have no knowledge of the school nowadays with a remark like that. Times change. The school was completely rebuilt and it's facilities are now second to none (rebuilt duing the celtic tiger days).

    I am pleased to say that my son really likes it in BCS. The kids are proud of the facilities, there's a low pupil to teacher ratio and progression to third level is increasing year on year. I think the current principal has had a large part of play in turning the school around. But unfortunately it's difficult to change peoples perceptions or an old reputation which is no longer justified (as shown by the stupidity of the remark above)


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    #42
    Santa Cruz
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,126 ✭✭✭Santa Cruz


    A good Principal in a school is very important and a code of discipline that is enforced. The snobbery on this site against some community schools is appalling. Having checked out BCS on line it certainly has all the facilities of a good school. After that it is up to teachers, parents and pupils to progress the school. If pupils are being drawn from a working class background it will take extra encouragement to get them and their parents to consider progressing to third level rather than leave to join the workforce. Snide remarks about it not being a private school etc. won't help. The lads involved in the manslaughter/assault at the Burlington came from Blackrock College not a community school.


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    #43
    Streetwalker
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,906 ✭✭✭Streetwalker


    Bigmambo wrote: »
    I was the original poster on this thread. You clearly have no knowledge of the school nowadays with a remark like that. Times change. The school was completely rebuilt and it's facilities are now second to none (rebuilt duing the celtic tiger days).

    I am pleased to say that my son really likes it in BCS. The kids are proud of the facilities, there's a low pupil to teacher ratio and progression to third level is increasing year on year. I think the current principal has had a large part of play in turning the school around. But unfortunately it's difficult to change peoples perceptions or an old reputation which is no longer justified (as shown by the stupidity of the remark above)

    Glad to hear it has changed. Went to the school finishing in 1990 and I hadn't a good word to say about it. The rough element set me back years imo and when reported to teachers at the time I was told to man up and get on with it.

    Maybe it's changed for the better but tbh it couldn't get any worse. I suppose it helped they built a fence around it to keep the Hillview mob out


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    #44
    RebelButtMunch
    Registered Users Posts: 2,378 ✭✭✭RebelButtMunch


    The bcs principle is standing at the school gates nearly every morning keeping an eye on the kids coming in. That's someone that give a sh!t.


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    #45
    McCrack
    Registered Users Posts: 2,970 ✭✭✭McCrack


    I attended in the late 90's and had five happy years there. I progressed to third level & then went onto gain a professional qualification. I'm not in any way exceptional & most of my old classmates are now working in various careers & some are self employed.

    There were some great teachers when I was there (admittedly there were a small number of terrible ones too which is inevitable in any school) but overall I'd recommend it. There was a broad range of students of different backgrounds and that's a good thing in my view. Students with the right attitude will do well and that starts in the home.


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    #46
    Gracieh
    Users Awaiting Email Confirmation Posts: 10 ✭Gracieh


    My kid is there at the moment, and I can say we love the school. It's got a mixed bag of kids - hasn't every school - but a great head, and good teachers. The place always seems well organised and the school has good communications with parents at all times. Its supportive, practical and forward thinking with both its pupils and their parents, giving all students concerned a chance to fulfill their own potential, whatever that may be.


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