Standard of English writing in gaelscoil

Not clear if this is primary or secondary level gaelscoil? What age is she? If it's primary and she's 7 or 8, then plenty of time, relax. But reads more like second level if you're that worried about standard of writing, spelling and maths?

Its clearly primary school, but I think I see the point you are making.

The bigger risk at this point is to the childs confidence in being labelled an 'underperforming' child and the pressure that comes with it - sitting down and making them read every single day? Making the child do extra homework over what they have? Age 8? Thats the first thing I'd be addressing.

thats true - and whether its something you label or not - the child is not good at spelling/ writing…..doesnt make them thick, and doesnt make it a bad school.

Have you discussed your worries with your child's teacher?

Nothing that text messaging her little friends won’t be able to cure, IMO.

It sounds like you're looking for a reason to move your child to an English speaking school, and that's okay.

Maybe you'd be happier, or think your child would do better, but it does sound like you are expecting a lot and applying a lot of pressure (on you both).

I remember being told to read with my child every day, and she went to an English speaking school.

Ah come on- you arrive on boards, ask a question and then when you dont like the answer you say you dont know if those people are informed….

Would you be saying that if they had supported your views?

This is the parenting forum. We all have kids. I have a dyslexic child.

Lots of parents move their kids away from gaeilscoileanna for the reasons you describe. In my kids classes, it would have been maybe 3 or 4 kids in each of the classes over the eight years.

I will say this - my daughter has thrived academically since moving to an English speaking secondary school.

However, the gaeilscoil was brilliant for her socially so we were happy to keep her there.

Also, we did find a tutor who specialised in 1/1 dyslexia and was absolutely brilliant, a nun as it happens. She did that once a week in 5th and 6th.

I hear what you are saying.

There is definitely a middle class thing with primary schools, and schools in general. Parents speak the same way Gaeilscoils as about Educate Togethers, and I'm not sure they are any great shakes either. But ultimately its where all the other middle class kids are going. And people talk about what a great school it is, rather than = well thats where all the other middle class kids are going, and thats why I want my kids to go there. When you are trying to get them in, its hard to see through the noise. Especially if there is a waiting list.

There probably a lot of truisms about Gaeilscoileanna - one of them is that they will pick up other languages easily. Thats not apparent to me, so far anyway.

I'll be honest, the biggest plus for me was that its mixed. Most of the local primaries werent. After that, our gaeilscoil is just a really nice school. The Irish, personally, I could take or leave. (Of course you cant say that down there 😅).

The other thing - if you in Dublin then you know teacher retention is a much bigger issue for the gaeilscoils.

I think you have unrealistic expectations. Yes it's good if every child/ person learns to read & write & spell but there is no predetermined age for this. It may have been one age for you but that's no guarantee for anyone else including your own children. Just encourage an interest in reading and the rest will follow in it's own good time.

We had a child with a certain learning issue (in a normal community school). Went in to see the year head, she listened and said they'd see what they could do………. but that it was an educational system, designed to cater for the average child and it was hard to tailor to the individual. The parent is still the primary educator of the child so up to parents to keep an eye on things, support and fill in the gaps.

I’d see that as a major warning about the school. Or perhaps a subtle warning from the school?

i have never had recommendations for extra work in holidays,
the only suggestions we were ever given was about reading and we asked about that. Son didn’t want to read books so we asked about it, teacher suggested graphic novels as a new medium for him. He took to it so much he started writing and drawing his own.

At that age we were still reading bed time stories. I was pretty sure that I was reading independently at that age but I had 4 younger siblings so bed time resources were stretched so I found my own entertainment. My kids were able to read school texts but I don’t think they were reading independently and fluently until later.