Moving to Roscommon

PinkFly

I'm thinking of moving to Roscommon to start a new relaxed life with my 9 year old son, can anybody advise me on what areas are good for schools? Is there any areas I should avoid?

Rasheed

Roscommon town or county?

PinkFly

County, like the look of elphin? Or loughglynn I'm easy really

Rasheed

PinkFly wrote: »

County, like the look of elphin? Or loughglynn I'm easy really

Yeah whatever you think, both are nice. I'd favour the more southern part if I was you but that's just personal!

PinkFly

Have you had any experience of schools in the area? It's extremely hard to find up to date info on Google!

Addle

You won't have much choice of schools, it'll al depend on where you decide to live.

What sort of place are you moving from?
You're looking at v quiet places, possibly a very big change for you. You'll be in the car a lot. Public transport is pretty much non existent.

Would you consider a bigger town in Roscommon? You'd have the best of urban/rural life then, none if the towns being very big.

bijou

Addle wrote: »

You're looking at v quiet places, possibly a very big change for you. You'll be in the car a lot. Public transport is pretty much non existent.

Totally agree with this comment pinkfly. If I was to have my choices again I'd be looking towards the bigger towns like Athlone.

There is a N.S. in Loughglynn, a friends little one goes there (Jnr Infant), she seems to like it. There's also St Attractas N.S. in Ballaghaderreen. If you have a look at www.schooldays.ie, you can get a list of schools in the areas you mention.

As for secondary schools, the nearest secondary schools for Loughglynn would be either St Nathy's in Ballaghaderreen or Castlerea Comunity School (I'm open to correction on this). St Nathy's from what I've heard seems to have a good rep, don't know anyone who goes to Castlerea.

Don't know too much about Elphin I'm afraid, so can't help you there.

Addle

Stay away from the secondary school in Castlerea!!! Though they are changing principal this year so hopefully it will improve.
From what I hear about it, it can't get any worse anyways.

PinkFly

Thanks for all your comments, I'm coming from Drogheda so yes it's going to be a big big change but the house prices are out of my reach here and I'm looking for a complete fresh start,a more simple way of living.

Ronan|Raven

[QUOTE=PinkFly;90657289a more simple way of living.[/QUOTE]

You will certainly get that in Loughglynn!

Ballinlough is just up the road and could be another option if you are looking for a "quiet" area. Some good value in houses around it or at least there seems to be any time I go home to it.

bijou

PinkFly wrote: »

Thanks for all your comments, I'm coming from Drogheda so yes it's going to be a big big change but the house prices are out of my reach here and I'm looking for a complete fresh start,a more simple way of living.

Well.... as far as property's concerned, there's definately bargains to be had out this way

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

PinkFly wrote: »

Thanks for all your comments, I'm coming from Drogheda so yes it's going to be a big big change but the house prices are out of my reach here and I'm looking for a complete fresh start,a more simple way of living.

As has been said already, public transport is more or less non existant. Moving from a large town to somewhere like Loughglynn will be a huge change for you. The north of the county is the most underdeveloped part, bad roads etc. Even Ros town is quite small relative to Drogheda. Definately come down for a few days to get a feel for the place and see what you think.

Addle

I'm from closer to Roscommon town so can't really comment on Loughlynn or Elphin. Elphin is close to Carrick-on-Shannon, so that's something.
Roscommon town is great!!!

How about somewhere like Knockroghery?
I know kids in the national school there. V happy boys. Non stop go go go with sports, gaa and soccer. A very musical heritage there, scor is massive. But no decent supermarket. a coffee shop is opening apparently. Then you could choose between Athlone and Roscommon for secondary schools.

bijou

+1 for Dr Kenneth and Addle. I'm north Roscommon and as I said previous if I had my choices again I'd have gone for Athlone maybe even Knockcroghery.

Dr Kenneth is right though come over for a few days and check it out before committing. Wish you all the best.

RoscommonTom

Just to warn you that theres feck all jobs in ros, you might have to look iN big towns like Sligo castlebar or galway depending on what part of ros you live in

Santa Cruz

Stay in the south. At least you can drink the water. Also there is a better chance of some work in the likes of Athlone, Roscommon town or Ballinasloe

bijou

Have to agree with both RoscommonTom and Santa Cruz - the work situation is pretty dire in the north of the county.

nice_guy80

North of the county has lovely scenery.

Santa Cruz

nice_guy80 wrote: »

North of the county has lovely scenery.

I would say that Roscommon is a county that is badly served by the authorities responsible for tourism development. It has golf courses, racecourse, access to motorways, rail links, River Shannon, access to Knock Airport. It has lovely flat roads for cycling, forest parks etc.
The I.D.A. pumps millions in to attracting foreign investment whereas if a fraction of that was pumped in to developing a good imaginative marketing strategy for Roscommon tourism it would create many sustainable jobs.
Of course local politicians have a lot to answer for too.

nice_guy80

Tourism advertising budget for Galway and Mayo is €2 million.
Roscommon is €100,000 (if even). Or something pathetic like that.

what region is Roscommon even marketed as being in?
in some brochures its in the West, others it's the midlands, others Shannon region.

penelope2012

I agree with the other posters, water is desperate in North Roscommon. Another thing to remember is that if you want to be able to leave Roscommon for the day you should move to Boyle, Castlerea or Roscommon. Avoid Ballaghaderreen as there is only Bus Eireann service to Dublin or Westport. With the other towns you have a train station.

If you are moving to N. Ros would you not consider Mayo? Charlestown is really well served by buses, Dublin, Westport, Galway, Sligo, Derry and the airport is just up the road!!

Good luck with the move!

biko

Please do not use the thread to post "anti recommendations", not everyone may agree with your views on a particular place.
Do post any recommendations you may have instead. I'm sure OP would be interested in hearing those.

witnessmenow

http://www.roscommoncoco.ie/en/Services/Sanitation/Boil_Water_Notice_South_Roscommon_-_Killeglan/Boil_Water_Notice_South_Roscommon_Water_Supply_-_Killeglan.html

Water is not drinkable in large parts of south Roscommon too!

GIMP

Loughglynn, small village, not much in the way of social activities or things to do.

There is/has been some anti social behaviour in the village in past couple of years.

School is small and could be more progressive.

RoscommonTom

nice_guy80 wrote: »

Tourism advertising budget for Galway and Mayo is €2 million.
Roscommon is €100,000 (if even). Or something pathetic like that.

what region is Roscommon even marketed as being in?
in some brochures its in the West, others it's the midlands, others Shannon region.

the problem is that were surrounded by counties with much nicer seenery like mayo galway and Sligo so it's not easy to make fellas come to ros when theres much nicer close by. Some other fella recomended knockrockery which is a food idea with it being close go athlone and ros town and being to the trainline

GIMP

Knockcrockery much better bet, train doesn't stop there but it has good towns nearby, rents are high though if that is the plan and not buy.

nice_guy80

few things you need in a rural village

shop
pub
post office
school
garda station

Knockcroghery barely has a shop now.

X1R

The list is pretty big for county roscommon. Strokestown, tulsk, Tarmonbarry or rooskey are very close to sligo, carrick on Shannon, athlone, mullingar and longford for shopping or entertainment, all have good primary schools (clooncagh, whitehall, kilglass, strokestown has two primary schools, tulsk), strokestown secondary is after having a major revamp or longford has its secondary schools (personally id lean towards strokestown as its not as rough). Then you have knockrockery, Roscommon town, athleague all close enough to athlone. Head further west frenchpark, ballinagar, castlerea, loughglynn. Not from that side of the county but employment is poor everywhere in the county but the first two selections give you a better chance. Good luck with the move

Ahoy Ahoy

God help ye!!!

bilbot79

I know the Ballinlough area well. Used to go once a month to stay in the family home in that area when I was a kid. Don't know about Schools etc but there are some lovely people that come from there. If it's quiet and cheap you're looking for that's a good place. Good proximity to Galway etc as well

RoscommonTom

bilbot79 wrote: »

I know the Ballinlough area well. Used to go once a month to stay in the family home in that area when I was a kid. Don't know about Schools etc but there are some lovely people that come from there. If it's quiet and cheap you're looking for that's a good place. Good proximity to Galway etc as well

Oh christ not ballinglough, sure is there a ship or pub left open in the place, its like a ghost town, must be the worst town in ros

helenmc2

Curraghboy is a lovely quiet village, two shops, PO, national school, pub... and only 7 miles from Athlone town

mike123!

Strokestown is the no1 secondary school in Roscommon.Very good school with a new state of the art 3 million extension. Good facilities and and well ran. Try stay away from living in the town itself tho, the surrounding area is very nice. The only famine museum in Ireland is there and has a mountain, the Shannon and numerous lakes within 5 miles! Apart from that not much else around the town.

Best of luck with the move anyways!

MayoSalmon

Keep driving through Ros and come to Mayo. Easily best county in the Whest:pac::pac:

nice_guy80

mike123! wrote: »

Strokestown is the no1 secondary school in Roscommon.Very good school with a new state of the art 3 million extension. Good facilities and and well ran. Try stay away from living in the town itself tho, the surrounding area is very nice. The only famine museum in Ireland is there and has a mountain, the Shannon and numerous lakes within 5 miles! Apart from that not much else around the town.

Best of luck with the move anyways!

did you just call sliabh bán a mountain?

Addle

mike123! wrote: »

Strokestown is the no1 secondary school in Roscommon.

No. 1 mixed school?
Isn't the Convent in Roscommon town one of the top non fee paying secondary schools in the country? All girls though.

X1R

nice_guy80 wrote: »

did you just call sliabh bán a mountain?

Try walking or running it............its mountainous! !!

yabadabado

Addle wrote: »

No. 1 mixed school?
Isn't the Convent in Roscommon town one of the top non fee paying secondary schools in the country? All girls though.

I could be wrong but haven't seen strokestown on the list but the Convent in Roscommon town usually is in or around the top 100 in the country and always number 1 in County Roscommon.

Addle

yabadabado wrote: »

I could be wrong but haven't seen strokestown on the list but the Convent in Roscommon town usually is in or around the top 100 in the country and always number 1 in County Roscommon.

Top 5 more like.
Sure how many secondary schools are there in Ireland?!
I was very lucky to have gone to school there.

yabadabado

Addle wrote: »

Top 5 more like.
Sure how many secondary schools are there in Ireland?!
I was very lucky to have gone to school there.

Maybe top 5 non paying all girls schools but they have never afaik been that high on the lists
I talking about the Sunday Times yearly lists.

nice_guy80

yabadabado wrote: »

Maybe top 5 non paying all girls schools but they have never afaik been that high on the lists
I talking about the Sunday Times yearly lists.

and what do they know?

yabadabado

nice_guy80 wrote: »

and what do they know?

Compared to who ?

Its the only list of its kind in Ireland and its based on progression rate to college.So until there is a more comprehensive assessment of schools here I cant see what else we can use to judge schools.

So where are people getting the information from that the convent is in Top 5?

nice_guy80

yabadabado wrote: »

Compared to who ?

Its the only list of its kind in Ireland and its based on progression rate to college.So until there is a more comprehensive assessment of schools here I cant see what else we can use to judge schools.

So where are people getting the information from that the convent is in Top 5?

progression to college is not a measure of how good a school is

I mean, far less girls will go into apprenticeships than say, pupils from the Community College or CBS
so it skews the figures

yabadabado

nice_guy80 wrote: »

progression to college is not a measure of how good a school is

I mean, far less girls will go into apprenticeships than say, pupils from the Community College or CBS
so it skews the figures

progression to college shouldn't be the only measure but it is definitely a factor.


How would you measure it across the country ?

BTW where did people get that the convent was top 5 ?any link to a report/article ?

Addle

yabadabado wrote: »

BTW where did people get that the convent was top 5 ?any link to a report/article ?

Just from memory, I can't find an article online, but I remember the piece mentioning sports results as well as progression to third level.

Anyways, it's not important to the thread. The OP has a son.