Primary School Blues

MooMoo100

My oldest son is starting primary school in September. I enrolled him in the primary school that I really wanted him to go to when he was 7 months old, as we are not living in the parish of the school. I sent him to Montessori school in that parish and his younger brother goes to creche there, so that they would both know some people in their class when they eventually start school. I rang the school countless times in the last year to see had he got his place, to be now told that he had not. He will now have to go to our local primary, which was my worst nightmare as we do not live in a nice area, he will know noone, and I am afraid that his intense shyness will be a major problem here. I am devastated, and do not know what to do. We also will have to move our youngest from his creche which he loves as we cannot collect from two different areas. I am not sure what I want from writing this, I'm just venting and wondering if anyone has the same problem as me? Is it possible to move schools later, even if we are still not living in the parish?

Moonbeam

We live beside our school of choice,bought the house within 10 minutes walk of it on purpose. Put her name sown at around 12 months and here we are on a waiting list.
SHe also went to play school there but it is not linked to the school
I am driven mad but I have not given up yet and refuse to until the day after they go back.

pwurple

I'm the same as Moonbeam, moved house for this reason. We rented in the area until we could get something. It's a smaller house than we had, as it's a far more expensive area, but I didn't think we would get into the school otherwise. I don't even know yet if we are into the school, but I've her name down since she was 6 months old.

He will get to know the other children pretty quickly. A lot of them will be in the same boat starting school.

They say it's the parental effort that makes the difference to a childs performance in school. checking their homework, doing their reading with them etc. Involved parenting will make much more difference than the school itself ever will.

freshpopcorn

Just because the area you live in might not be nice. Does not mean the children going to school won't be nice. Your son will make friends in a matter of weeks in the new school. All he needs in encouragement from you and your family. Tell him that he will make new friends when goes tell him that he'll learn loads of new things there as well as play loads of games and have fun.

Suucee

My god this whole thing of having to put their name down at 6 or 12 months etc is madness. In our area you don't need to put name down until the march before they start.
They do go with the whole, sibling, then catchment area thing. We are within a 5 min drive of 6 schools but I have my no 1 and 2 picked. and there are 2 that are a definite no no .

Ms2011

I didn't grow up in the best area & my primary school was slap bang in the middle of it but I still managed to get into secondary school in the top class of that year & left secondary school with an honours Leaving Cert & got into a good college.
Like Pwurple said parental imput is as important (if not more so) as the school. My parents made sure we attended school everyday, homework was always done & checked before we went out to play, parent teacher meetings were always attended etc.
The school my son will attend take enrollments the Feb before the school term starts, I'm always amazed at people putting kid's names down years before the children start school!!

Moonbeam

There is still hope anyway , Schools are back the 28th of August so I am hopeful:)

deelite

I live in a dis-advantaged area ( schools in the area are classed as this) but sent my children to schools outside of where I was living (did the waiting list thing etc), however upon reflection it would appear that the schools where I am living receive the most funding and have much better facilities (computer rooms extra teachers etc.,) also the class sizes are a lot smaller (15 in a class in some cases) and parents are not asked for "money" at the drop of a hat.

It all depends on the child at the end of the day.

millb

MooMoo100 wrote: »

My oldest son is starting primary school in September. I enrolled him in the primary school that I really wanted him to go to when he was 7 months old, as we are not living in the parish of the school. I sent him to Montessori school in that parish and his younger brother goes to creche there, so that they would both know some people in their class when they eventually start school. I rang the school countless times in the last year to see had he got his place, to be now told that he had not. He will now have to go to our local primary, which was my worst nightmare as we do not live in a nice area, he will know noone, and I am afraid that his intense shyness will be a major problem here. I am devastated, and do not know what to do. We also will have to move our youngest from his creche which he loves as we cannot collect from two different areas. I am not sure what I want from writing this, I'm just venting and wondering if anyone has the same problem as me? Is it possible to move schools later, even if we are still not living in the parish?

so did you ever visit the school and get to know somebody there?

tinkerbell

What schools are people referring to that they had to out the child on a waiting list at that young age?! I've looked at some schools in Dublin on the south side and they don't take applications until the year before they are due to start Junior Infants?

iguana

For Educate Together schools it's almost always necessary as the demand usually far exceeds the supply. I applied for the one near me when my son was 5 months and if there are 8 or more siblings of pupils or children of faculty who want to enrol in his year and everyone below him on the pre-enrolment list accepts their offer, he won't get a place. I won't know for nearly 4 years whether or not he can attend. Some schools do have a lottery that you have to apply for the January before they are due to start but that's even worse, imo.

Chattastrophe!

I rang the Educate Together school that I want to sent my kid to (due in January 2014) .... I'm hoping for them to start school in September 2018, apparently they've quite a few applications in for 2018 already! So basically I have to send in my application as soon as we've got the birth cert, and even then we're not guaranteed a place.

It's an excellent school, so I'll hold off until September 2019 if necessary. Crazy having to apply so early though!!

Miss Lockhart

I grew up in a bad area and was sent to a neighbouring parish school. Personally I think it was a big mistake. I felt so out of place and was treated like a second class citizen by many.

Moonbeam

A lot of Gaelscoils also have massive waiting lists.