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How to pick a school

How to pick a school           reply
09/03/2009 15:06 - Ask Mother Hen (Locality: Dublin North)
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Hi, I have a 2 1/2 yr old who has been in playschool for the last 6 months and who is getting on really well, now I am wondering should I send them to Montessori in Sept when they are just 3 or go another year in playschool? Also when is the right time to put a childs name down for school?



re... : How to pick a school           reply
11/03/2009 12:10 - Ask Mother Hen
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Thankyou very much for your advice/help, I found you very helpful.



re... : How to pick a school           reply
13/03/2009 20:01 - Ask Mother Hen
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I am new to this country but have been enjoying this site as my wife and I have young schoolgoing children. I was fascinated by some of the comments I have read while wondering how to choose a new school. We have experience of a different education system in our home country but are excited about our new adventure in the Irish education system. So far, our experience, through visiting a school in Cork, where our children will start shortly, has been very positive indeed. I picked the school by initially making enquiries through my new place of work, then accessing websites, as well as googling schools in the area. When we knew the school we wanted to approach, I initiated contact by telephone and email. When in Ireland to arrange accommodation etc. I made an appointment to visit the school, meet the principal. the class teacher and so on. This helped me to make my decision.



re... : How to pick a school           reply
12/01/2010 16:02 - Ask Mother Hen
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I am planning to move to Cork shortly. I have a 6 year old daughter and I wanted to try to choose where to live based on where there was a great primary school. Any suggestions as to which locations would be good and what schools are recommended? Private? Public? I am coming from Australia so the system is quite different.



re... : How to pick a school           reply
01/04/2009 19:40 - Ask Mother Hen
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Glad to be of help and I want to welcome you to Ireland. I hope all goes well for you here. Best of Luck!



re... : How to pick a school           reply
14/01/2010 22:13 - Ask Mother Hen
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For a girl, Glasheen (which is near U.C.C., Wilton, the main Hospitals) is very good and also St Catherines on The Model Farm Road is very good. You wouldn´t make a mistake with either of those schools.



re : How to pick a school           reply
11/03/2009 12:06 - Ask Mother Hen
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Hi Tracy, I see you´ve posted in another thread so I´ll answer both here.
I don’t think that it would be a good idea to repeat a year in the same playschool. Your child may become bored if he/she is repeating the same activities in the same environment. Talk to the people who run the school – do they cater for 1st and 2nd year at the playschool? If they don’t, then I think it would be very good to send your child to Montessori as this would be a complete change and would reduce the risk of your child being bored. It will also increase the number of other children he/she has to mix with and set them up very well for primary school. The more your child becomes accustomed to mixing with other children the easier it will be for him/her to settle in at primary.

With regard to when you should put their name down for school – this really depends on the school you want to send your child to. Some schools operate a waiting list over many years, some only accept the names when the child is a certain age and so on. There are often other rules for ‘who gets a place’ which can be based on if you are in the cachement area and so forth. Check out the schools that you would like to send your child to and ask about their admissions policy.

Hope this helps!





re... : How to pick a school           reply
14/01/2010 22:14 - Ask Mother Hen
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Just to explain, they are both in the western suburbs.



re... : How to pick a school           reply
10/02/2010 12:44 - Ask Mother Hen
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Thanks for that. I may check them out when the timing is clear.



re... : How to pick a school           reply
02/04/2009 17:10 - Ask Mother Hen
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Thank you Mother Hen. We are living in Cork and are doing well. This and other sites were helpful in alerting us to a list of schools from which to choose. Our son is attending school in Glasheen and has settled very well. Coming from another country and a different system we were a little apprehensive but need not have been. Keep up the good work. You provide a very good service. I will consult it often.




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