St. Pat's NS in Wicklow Town

aubz

Hi all,

So here is our situation: we have a 4 year old daughter who will be 5 in August so it's time for her to go into primary school. She goes to a Montessori and she's been the only girl in her class for 2 years now.

We have a 4 month old son too. We live in Wicklow Town and we don't have a car.

St. Patrick's NS school is very close to our house (Maybe a 12 min walk one way). Holy Rosary is doable but quite a track (25-35 mins one way).

We plan on getting a car at some point but it will take time possibly 8 months or more from now and would be great to avoid getting a car for as long as possible from a financial point of view.

Would be great for our daughter to mingle with other girls as she has no female friends.

Holy Rosary has a good reputation and some people that we know have gone there and had a good experience.

I personally don't know much about St. Pat's and a few people in my life have said bad things about it. My neighbours said their son went there they transferred from Dublin and he was in the middle of 6th class and got bullied quite a bit but that would have been 22 years ago. My SIL said her son was hit by a teacher with a stick on his hands. Don't have the other side of the story but my SIL made a complaint to the school and to the police and that teacher is still working there. That was 5+ years ago. Hitting a 7 year old with a stick!!!!

I got good vibes from Holy Rosary; they sat down and talked to us during enrolment while St. Pat's was just online.

Not sure what to think. I mean if it's pissing rain the 12 min walk is going to be great. I also heard that the traffic going to Holy Rosary is a nightmare and it can take 30 mins to drop your kid off so you might as well walk at times.

Any good experiences with St. Pat's? Is it mostly boys or is it a good mix?

Another thing: we were on the waiting list for Holy Rosary and we didn't get into the other school so we put in our application for St. Pat's. We got in immediately so there were spots available after the other surrounding schools were full late in registration. I already told St. Pat's we be going there but then Holy Rosary rang me and said someone cancelled so there is a spot. I have 7 days to accept but I already accepted St. Pat's. Is there a penalty for cancelling after a spot was accepted?

seanf88

Hi Without knowing much about St.Pats, I can confirm that Holy Rosary is a fantastic school. Well so far anyway:).

My daughter started there this year and she could not be happier. I would live closer to St.Pats that Holy Rosary but I wouldn't be put off due to the walk.

The fact that Holy Rosary sat with you for the Enrolment should be a big plus sign in your decision.

Hope this info helps you

2013Lara

I live closer to Rathnew and have my kids in holy rosary. Fab school. Have a child in third class and one in senior infants. I'd take the Holy Rosary space.

BoJack Horseman

Holy Rosary is preferable to St Pats.

To be honest, St Pats is bottom of the pile for Wicklow primary schools.

Working class heroes

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

Holy Rosary is preferable to St Pats.

To be honest, St Pats is bottom of the pile for Wicklow primary schools.

Can you back up that statement with something?
It most certainly is not my experience. I’ve no experience with Holy Rosary but to say St. Pats is “bottom of the pile” is disengenious.
What matrix did you use to rate all the schools in Wicklow?

BoJack Horseman

Working class heroes wrote: »

Can you back up that statement with something?
It most certainly is not my experience. I’ve no experience with Holy Rosary but to say St. Pats is “bottom of the pile” is disengenious.
What matrix did you use to rate all the schools in Wicklow?

It was rough when I was there for 6 years in the 90s
It was rough when my brother was there for 8 years in the 00's.
It was positively feral when my nephew was there in the 20-teens.

Word is that is no better now.

There is no need to pretend to be upset.

Not every school is perfect or identical.

Educate Together, Glebe, Holy Rosary, Gaelscoil, Pats.....

In a list of ANYTHING there will be a top & bottom.

Hardly a controversial statement that.

Working class heroes

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

It was rough when I was there for 6 years in the 90s
It was rough when my brother was there for 8 years in the 00's.
It was positively feral when my nephew was there in the 20-teens.

Word is that is no better now.

There is no need to pretend to be upset.

Not every school is perfect or identical.

Educate Together, Glebe, Holy Rosary, Gaelscoil, Pats.....

In a list of ANYTHING there will be a top & bottom.

Hardly a controversial statement that.

Well your experience is the opposite to mine.
You say not every school is perfect and that’s true. Unless you have first hand experience of all those schools you can hardly state one is better or worse than others now can you?

I’m not upset, pretending or otherwise. It seems you are the one that’s upset so I’ll leave it at that.
Best of luck OP.