Private schools in Dublin

"anybody who can't take another person as they come at face value and prejudges them (positively or negatively) purely on where they grew up or went to school etc. is obviously an idiot."

I don't disagree with your point but agreeing or disagreeing is not entirely relevant. I'm merely recounting experience. And yes, as previously mentioned I can't assume it was positive because there's as much stupid prejudice going both ways but to reiterate, I'm merely stating personal experience and I think it would be naive to pretend that people do not make such judgements.
I see I represented my experience as being a basis for my wish to seek a private school which in hindsight was not the link I was actually trying to make and badly explained on my part but was trying to cut down on the rambling of what I was trying to say.
I do believe that along with parental interest and encouragement towards 3rd level etc, peer pressure and expectations picked up in your environment can help and the kind of inclusion and assistance you can get in private schools where classes tend to be smaller etc shouldn't be ignored (The entire leaving certificate year in the school I attended totalled 62) - 3 classes.

Is this of any use to you? [broken link removed]

I would presume most primary schools only do a 5/5.5 hour day. I think the exception to the rule would be John Scotus school in Donnybrook which has a much longer day.

Good luck with your choice. I firmly believe the nearest school to your house is the best school for your child.

Henny Penny said:

Good luck with your choice. I firmly believe the nearest school to your house is the best school for your child.

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I'd strongly agree with Henny Penny. At Junior Infants level, it's all about socialisation rather than formal education. The kids get to know children in the neighbourhood and will go on to visit each other at weekends, after school, for parties. Send them to a more specialised school (eg Lycee) or a school further away and you'll spend all your time ferrying them around. At least if the other kids live nearby the parents can take it in turns!
Also, the classes tend to reduce after Junior Infants. Some kids repeat, others move away.

Kings Hospital is a Secondary School and does not have a primary school attached.

Gaules said:

your heklp and comments has been fantastic, but I still do not have the core of my questions answered....would someone help please?

which ones are available (not unisex please!)
if they have a day long curriculum, or just 4/5 hours a day
what age is the best to get kids in
are they really good? is it worth to get kids into?
roughly price

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Hi Gaules
I live in Castleknock; sent my kids to Gaelscoil in Blanchardstown, as we both love Irish and above all wanted our kids NOT to have any hang ups about their native language and culture, which worked well for us. Both are fluent, and it has been useful to them. We had absolutely no regrets about it-but sent them to English-speaking second level school. All the schools in the Castleknock area are 'national'-either Catholic or Protestant primary schools, or Educate Together, which is described above. Due to population explosion in the area, most schools have 30 in a class, and due to pupil-teacher ratio- this often means MORE than 30, as in your case. Apart from curricular activities, things that happen outside of class hours have to be paid for, and this is everywhere -not jsut in castleknock. There is never enough state grant(money), so most parents get involved at some stage in fund-raising for the school. Most parents pay for extra-curriculatr activities-eg dancing, musical instrument, karate etc-- and many enterprising individuals rent out the local halls to hold these classes, usually after school hours and on Sats. It is not unusual to find kids with two or three after-school activities they are enrolled in, paid by parents.
All primary schools in Castleknock take both boys and girls mixed, and apart from the little kiddies, who finish an hour earlier than the rest, the school usually goes from 9-3pm or so. The schools in Castleknock are actually considered to be excellent and give a great service in this community, so I wonder if you are expecting too much of your child at aged 4/5? or of the school? or of the teacher? or are you just sympathetic with him/her for having 31 kids all day? Only schools designated as 'disadvantaged' --which are usually in disadvantaged areas, get a better pupil-teacher ratio and some have 20 in class--but as my niece teaches in one such, I hear her describe kids with real educational needs, having home probs etc, so they NEED this ratio. What to you, may seem like noise and bedlam could well be great creative work in a class of 31 kids aged 4/5!!!!!
There are no fee-paying private primary schools in Castleknock. sound like your kid is happy and is socialising well, that surely is GREAT!

The last thing I would want to expose my children to would be an environment exclusive to those who can afford to pay high fees, whether through misplaced suspicion in public schooling, simple snobbery or fear.

The majority of kids in our local primary school are from disadvantaged backgrounds. My kids went there and absolutely thrived. We had checked out the school and liked the classrooms, the headmistress and the teachers. We knew our kids were going to be OK academically because they'd started school elsewhere and had done well.

They loved this school (to which they could walk, only a few minutes away) and have since gone on to secondary school (also within walking distance, more diverse in that there are more middle class kids) and are thriving there.

At no stage did we consider private schools as there was simply no reason to pay the fee given the quality of public schools in our area. And we wanted to support our community by attending the schools.

Hi,

Where I can find list of private schools in Ireland? I am looking for private school in county Dublin, Wicklow or Kildare.

All fee-paying and non-fee paying schools (the term 'private' is something of a misnomer) are listed on the Dept of Ed website (www.education.ie) . A more user friendly list is available on www.schooldays.ie

They are all together, how can I know which one is fee-paying ? And which one is primary ...

Crumbs! I thought it was very easy to navigate....

go to www.schooldays.ie
On the left hand side, there is a list of links including

Finding a Primary School
Finding a Secondary School

Clicking on either of these will bring you to another series of links for each location in the country. Click on the one you want (e.g. Wicklow) and a listing for every school comes up with full details. The heading Fees: Yes is probably a sound indication that fees are charged.

Of course you could always send them to the local school and increase your Voluntary contribution to €5,000 per year.....

My children attend a fee-paying Montessori primary school in Celbridge.

I chose it for a number of reasons including (not in any particular preference)

(a) the fact that teaching is done through the Montessori method
(b) the small class sizes (no more than 16 in any classroom form Junior Infants upwards).
(C) my children are not Christian & rightly or wrongly I had concerns about sending them to the local Catholic schools.

So far I am very happy with the school & my children have thrived there. If anyone thought there was any snobbery attached to my decision they should would only have to look at the building they are in (a prefab) which is actually too small but we are hoping they will move in another couple of years.

If anyone would like info on the school please feel free to PM me - I have no connections with the school as such other than a parent of two children attending there.

angelique said:

They are all together, how can I know which one is fee-paying ? And which one is primary ...

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Are you sure that it's wise to have 'fee-paying' as your primary criteria?

Hi, I personally do not think it is worth sending your child to a private fee paying school particulary not at primary school level. Both my primary and secondary school education was private and most of friends agree that they would not send their children to private schools as a lot of the teachers were just not up to scratch. I feel that for secondary schools you should be looking at the results, how many go on to third level etc. Personally I think it is a positive for children to go to a mixed primary school at least as I did not and I think it is a strange idea to educate your child in a segregated manner when they will go on to third level and a working environment with both sexes. Just my personal opinion...

Mount Sackville Primary is called Scoil Mhuire (its not a gaelscoil). Its located within the grounds of the secondary school. Mount Sackville is only a 5 minute drive from Castleknock village, located along the back road to Chapelizod. You can also access the school via the Phoenix Park at the Chapelizod Gate entrance.