Moving to Belfast -advice on schools?

IrishRose12

Old_Git wrote: »

Is it true Catholics learn to count on their rosary beads and protestants think there are 12 fortnights in July .Ask any protestant when they get there holidays and the answer is the twelfth fortnight .:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::T

Well I can't speak for protestant schools, but I'd be willing to bet no. However I can definitely confirm Catholics don't learn how to count using Rosary Beads.

Just clarifying that for any wanderers into this thread and start believing you

Anyhow, you ask a lot of Catholics (including myself) when we go on holidays and you'll find they say the very same thing. And I go to Spain every year for the 12th fortnight to get away from all the silliness that goes on here.

Going back to schools............. I personally wouldn't send any of my children to a school where they have to move buildings after 3 years to move to another school. No matter how good the school is be it the best school in the world I couldn't care less.

A child finds it hard enough to settle into a new school at 4 years old, after moving from Nursery. Then when they move to a new class each year, it takes them a while to settle. With working with that age group I know and see how settle in. Some take it like a duck to water, others take months to settle. It's a big move, with more children etc.

I say do your research before choosing a new school for your daughter. Go and have a look around the schools, and most importantly take your daughter with you to have a look for herself etc and see how she feels about things.

warmhands.coldheart

starnight wrote: »

You could always consider an integrated primary such as forge off the ormeau road.

saver buyer - traffic on the ormeau road at home time can be quite bad but I take the bus and try to avoid buses between 3 and 5

Sorry but a friend of the family moved her children out of Forge for the reasons I mentioned before regarding integrated schools. They were also advised that one of their child might have learning difficulties when at the school, Have since moved their child out of the school, the kid is fine and thriving at the new school and the family has since found out that apparently schools get additional money if kids are classed as having learning difficulties.. She recons the school may have been having kids who were just a little slower on the uptake than the others as having learning difficulties just so they could get extra money from education board.... Just going on what she has said and have had this clarified by a person well up in one board that this does go on quite a bit in places.

steveymp

warmhands.coldheart wrote: »

As a Protestant married to someone from the "Dark Side" living in South-East Belfast (Tara !!) I personally think you will find the Catholic Schools do "perform" better than the state/controlled schools. I know quite a few teachers in both sectors and in general all support this argument...... I'm afraid the "Protestant Work Ethic" is exactly that, a work ethic, when it comes to Education I'm afraid the Catholics beat us hands down!! 9 of the top 10 schools, based on academic achievement, in Northern Ireland are Catholic Schools...

Hence I concluded when I moved to Belfast, that a Catholic School was the best way forward for my Kids !!

Are you my twin ? :rotfl:

I'm in the same boat in the North West here, but sent my kids to a controlled school which takes from all walks of life but doesn't shove religion or confirmations down your throat. This school was the natural choice for us as it is close to our home and places of work.

Just to confirm what warmhands has said thou my sister is a special needs classroom assistant and had worked in a controlled primary for 4 years, she lost that job due to the child moving on and luckily got a job in a catholic primary school. I know which school she prefers and which one offers a superior education to its pupils and its not the controlled one

My eldest has moved on from primary after doing very well and is now at an integrated grammar thankfully, my youngest is still at the controlled primary and just muddling through

At the end of the day it has to be a family choice about which school but Catholic primary schools do have a better ethos and seem to produce better results than controlled ones. The only thing that put me off was all the religious mumbo jumbo forced on them and their interaction with the church. As a confirmed atheist I couldn't put my offspring through this torture, I prefer them to make up their own minds when they are older.

Good luck in your search for a home and school for your kids, but as with most aspects of life in Norn Iron it is not easy making certain decisions.

warmhands.coldheart

steveymp wrote: »

.... The only thing that put me off was all the religious mumbo jumbo forced on them and their interaction with the church. ......

Not sure if this may just be the school our kids go to but being in Belfast and it's specific location, lets just say it may be a bit more "culturally diverse" than most Catholic Schools and as such doesn't seem to push the church thing too much.... well that's my opinion anyway or maybe I'm just oblivious to it. It still has it's "Christian" values/ethos and has a real good "family" feel to the school but there are quite a few Muslim, Chinese and children from "mixed marriages"at the school (going on what I know and see) and everyone mixes very well.

AO78

I haven't read everyone's replies in depth but would suggest that there are lots of great primary schools in the greater Belfast region and I don't think you need to choose the area you live in based solely on the school. I would do it the other way round. I know of a few great schools in East Belfast; off the top of my head, Stranmillis in South Belfast is supposed to be wonderful, and I am sure there are others, and equally I wouldnt imagine for a second that SE Belfast doesnt have at least one or 2 gems of schools in there as well! I think Loughview is supposed fo be fab too, isnt it?

As far Strandtown is concerned, it is supposedly a fantastic place, and the children that go there from p4 go to 1 of 3 schools before hand - Greenwood, Belmont or Dundela. Know nothing of Dundela but the other 2 are very highly spoken of and hard to get in to. To respond to someone else's point, the reason I would like my daughter to go to 1 of these schools is that I will very likely have to use an after-school club or breakfast club, and I would prefer that to be in a setting where she is with younger children of her own age. I have no problems moving her after 3 years but understand that you might not if your daughter will already be moving mid-school.

AO78

steveymp wrote: »

The only thing that put me off was all the religious mumbo jumbo forced on them and their interaction with the church. As a confirmed atheist I couldn't put my offspring through this torture, I prefer them to make up their own minds when they are older.

I'm equally worried about the protestant schools though... I am hearing all sorts of nonsense about harvest festivals and scripture union!

mrsg26

AO78 wrote: »

I haven't read everyone's replies in depth but would suggest that there are lots of great primary schools in the greater Belfast region and I don't think you need to choose the area you live in based solely on the school. I would do it the other way round. I know of a few great schools in East Belfast; off the top of my head, Stranmillis in South Belfast is supposed to be wonderful, and I am sure there are others, and equally I wouldnt imagine for a second that SE Belfast doesnt have at least one or 2 gems of schools in there as well! I think Loughview is supposed fo be fab too, isnt it?

As far Strandtown is concerned, it is supposedly a fantastic place, and the children that go there from p4 go to 1 of 3 schools before hand - Greenwood, Belmont or Dundela. Know nothing of Dundela but the other 2 are very highly spoken of and hard to get in to. To respond to someone else's point, the reason I would like my daughter to go to 1 of these schools is that I will very likely have to use an after-school club or breakfast club, and I would prefer that to be in a setting where she is with younger children of her own age. I have no problems moving her after 3 years but understand that you might not if your daughter will already be moving mid-school.

Thanks so much for that advice I hadn't even considered the use of breakfast clubs and after school care but it will be something we will no doubt require depending on job hours. It's all such a minefield at present more so because we hope to complete the move by mid July! There is so much to consider. My DH would prefer to live in BT8 and I have been looking at properties there so far nothing catches my eye so the hunt will continue. If anyone has any other advice It would be welcome, my Dh has a very biased opinion so it would be good to hear from others on what are considered good areas etc. thanks

mrsg26

tayforth wrote: »

BT8 is miles from Strandtown, and Stranmillis.

Roughly what areas for those schools as in Glasgow you have to live in the local catchment area to attend primary school.

AO78

Other opinions on this might be good, but I honestly think you will be overthinking this. I dont know BT8 at all but I genuinely have no doubt that there will be good schools there! As for the application process, I dont know how that works for children on trasnfer after p1. Distance from school is a consideration when applying for p1 in the first place here, but it's not the only consideration and you're not guaranteed to get into your closest. A friend lives 0.3 miles from her choice of school and her daughter didnt get in! So it would be madness to try pick a house in order to guarantee entry to a school.

But if you really want to try:



There are 5 education and library boards -

• Belfast Education and Library Board
• North Eastern Education and Library Board
• South Eastern Education and Library Board
• Southern Education and Library Board
• Western Education and Library Board

I reckon you will need BELB and SEELB if you are thinking SE Belfast - if you google BELB primary application and SEELB primary application, you should get links to the primary school admissions booklets for those boards - they list *all* the schools in their area, along with some info on each. Then when you narrow it down to some that you are interested in, you can google their inspection reports etc

IrishRose12

steveymp wrote: »

The only thing that put me off was all the religious mumbo jumbo forced on them and their interaction with the church. As a confirmed atheist I couldn't put my offspring through this torture, I prefer them to make up their own minds when they are older.

As someone who works in a Catholic school, it may be just the school I work in, but I know from other schools in the area also, it is not forced on them. And at the end of the day if they are sent to a Catholic school then I would like to think that they will be taught about that culture. Aswell as that, it is in the Curriculum which states what the children have to be taught each year.

In the school I work in we encourage our children to say their prayers, but they are not forced to. We say our prayers in the morning at registration, we say our prayer before and after meal at lunchtime, and we say our hometime prayer. I would like to think that no matter what school you go to, children are at least taught to show some respect to God or whoever it is they believe in.
We have a mass in the local Church to celebrate our Feast Day, again if parents don't want their children to go, they keep them off school that day, we raise money for Trocaire during Lent, we have a service on Ash Wednesday and the children receive their Ashes and we explain what they mean etc.

There are a few Chinese children in our school, and their parents know what the school does in regards to teaching Religion etc. As it is a Catholic school they will be doing the same as the rest of the children in their class. There has never been a problem so far with that, and when it come to them making their First Confession, First Holy Communion or Confirmation, it is up to the parents then what their children participate in. Just last week at the First confession, the parents of 3 children had them participate in the service, and when it came for the time of the First confession, the Priest was told in advance about these 3 and they were given a special blessing so the children were not left out.

AT the end of the day if you send your child to a Catholic school, expect them to learn about the Catholic faith and to participate in relevant Catholic celebrations. Parents can't complain about it as they chose to send them there and it is in the ethos of the schools.

you make it sound as if all Catholic schools do is talk religion all the time, but you are very wrong. There is half an hour twice a week in our school where we do Religion, when saying prayers it takes less than 2 minutes to say a prayer, and if we have a service it is done instead of assembly time.