Secondary Schools in Dublin

jackson77

Hi all, looking for advice on choosing secondary schools to enroll my daughter(2) and son(1) in. I went to boarding school, but want a day school for my children. This being south Dublin, a majority of the schools here are fee paying, and friends of mine have recommended several of them.
At the moment, I'm looking at nearby schools like Terenure, Wesley and the High school, though my partner works in the dun laoghaire area, so thats also a consideration for drop offs, etc. We've both lived in roughly the same area our whole lives, but we dont know much about the local schools.

What I want for my kids is a school with a lot of extra curricular activities available, like sports and other clubs, and that gets involved in or organises a diverse range of activities, as well as having a good academic record.

A big worry I have is the whole mixed or single sex school issue. I have a friend who sent his boys to a mixed school and his daughter to a single sex school, and he thought that was ideal. Not sure I'd like that as opposed to all going to the same school. Any opinions are obviously welcome!

Dardania

Found this article: http://www.schooldays.ie/articles/about-school-league-tables/#sd

and as a kid who attended the the BT Young Scientist competition a few times (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Scientist_and_Technology_Exhibition ) I began spotting trends there about schools which sent students e.g. there was always a very strong showing from paritcular Cork schools etc. Maybe attend the Young Scientist one year, see the schools which send their students, as one metric?

Another way to gauge a school is if it offers Transition Year - I found it very beneficial to my personal development. At the time, not many schools offered it...

RE single sex school - with a daughter I'm still adjusting to the idea that I can't have a gun in suburban Dublin (in my head I'll have a water hose at the front door for any male callers!) - anecdotalally a couple of female friends who attended single sex schools found it unnatural. My opinion is mixed school all the way, backed up with teaching good sense.

Should one really be looking at enrollments at ages 2 & 1? Christ, I must get my little one sorted soon!

Moonbeam

Is there primary school a feeder school for a local secondary?

eviltwin

I went to a single sex girls school. It was dog eat dog. I came out academically well rounded but emotionally drained and I had no idea how to talk to boys. Maybe things are different now. My own daughter just left mixed school this year, I think having boys around was beneficial, she has a good mix of male/female friends and they are not all jumping into bed with each other. Obviously you have to consider other factors but that's just my two cents on gender segregation.

Moonbeam

I went to an all girls boarding school as a result I am completely anti single sex schools so my views maybe biased.

Roselm

I also went to a single sex secondary school and did well academically but like the other posters left being unable to talk to boys as it wasn't natural anymore to interact with them.This was the case even though I had gone to a mixed primary school.
I would choose mixed for my kids.

bp

Mixed all the way in my opinion.

Also regarding drop offs etc you mention your husbands job, school is 10 years away, he may not be working there any more.

lazygal

You'll need to check the enrolment policies and what primary schools are feeder schools first. We've already missed the boat with some schools for our two and three year olds. Then you can't simply rely on extra curricular activities as a decider. All my extra stuff was completely non school related. The school was single sex and very sporty, neither of which suited me but it was the handy local school so I went. My parents then gave all of us the option of changing to a private school for the leaving cert. But you'll definitely need to look at feeder schools and enrolment policies first. Some schools only take certain faith, and prioritize past pupils.