Moving to Belfast -advice on schools?

starnight_2

warmhands.coldheart wrote: »

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 and quite a bit in places.

But it's all subjective, my friends kid goes to forge and they are both very happy with it. No issues. They're not the only school I've heard of pushing for diagnoses for more money.

Back to schools it would be good if you could visit a few though I know that may not be possible. St itas is in Bt8 and a good wee school.

leftieM

IrishRose12 wrote: »

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.

The non-Catholics at my school get to sit out the religious bits. As do the non-Catholic teachers, although the Catholic atheists tend to toe the party line :cool:.

IrishRose12

leftieM wrote: »

The non-Catholics at my school get to sit out the religious bits. As do the non-Catholic teachers, although the Catholic atheists tend to toe the party line :cool:.

I know some intergrated schools do things like that, however as we are a Catholic school out of the whole school about 5 out of 200 odd are not. Plus we don't have the staff to supervise the 5 children who may not take part in RE. And this is stressed clearly when the parents first come to the school.

But again, if you choose to send your child to a Catholic school you have to go by their teaching. Same as sending them to an integrated school, you need to accept that they have their own ways and rules and you have to follow that also.

To the OP. I think you need to do some research into the schools in that area. What you need to take into BIG consideration is look into possible Amalgamation or closures, you don't want to send your daughter to a new school in September, only to find it may be closing 2-3 years down the line, then you'll be back to square one. :undecided

warmhands.coldheart

leftieM wrote: »

.......although the Catholic atheists tend to toe the party line :cool:.

Most of the school then :rotfl:

warmhands.coldheart

starnight wrote: »

But it's all subjective, my friends kid goes to forge and they are both very happy with it. No issues. They're not the only school I've heard of pushing for diagnoses for more money.....

No doubt, but I think that is very wrong....

steveymp

I think people have picked me up wrongly on the religious issue and others have confirmed that it is basically compulsory in Catholic Schools. I would of sent my sons to a Catholic School if the religious aspect was not forced on them, preparations for 1st communion and confirmations etc. are done through the school in co-operation with the church. I didn't want this for my kids.

The state schools do a more balanced religious program that covers christianity and morals rather than any specific brand, things like Scripture Union etc... are after school activities and completely optional. Oh and they don't do any good as I was a member of SU during primary school and turned out a rabid atheist :rotfl:

saverbuyer

Truth be told I kind of like the whole "fear of God" thing at catholic primary school. I think it could be a big part of the reason why Catholic schools significantly outperform state schools. Oh and I'm a bit of a practising agnostic myself.

starnight_2

warmhands.coldheart wrote: »

No doubt, but I think that is very wrong....

And I agree with you it's very wrong, apologies I didn't mean to imply I thought it was ok.

BatCat

Just to add on feeder schools for Strandtown:
Greenwood, Belmont, Dundela are all good schools and all feed into Strandtown. All of them seem to be oversubscribed (my children go to Dundela and the recent newsletter said they had waiting lists etc).
There is also St Josephs on the U Newtonards road which is P1-7 and though it's catholic is apparently not CATHOLIC.

mezza101

saverbuyer wrote: »

Truth be told I kind of like the whole "fear of God" thing at catholic primary school. I think it could be a big part of the reason why Catholic schools significantly outperform state schools. Oh and I'm a bit of a practising agnostic myself.

like if you dont do your homework you'll get struck by a bolt of lightning :eek: