Thoughts on Gaelscoileanna?

[ceol88]

Dp & I are considering sending our dd to the local Gaelscoil, has anyone on here any experience of a Gaelscoil? What are the major pros & cons? We still have a year to make our decision.

[Mammysin]

Usually there is a Naonrai nearby which can act as a feeder to the GS. Is your GS non denominational or multi? Have you meet with parents/ principal?

[PureColdWind]

My nieces and nephews went to one. None of them or their friends ever used Irish outside of school and once they finished school they never used it again. They did obviously have good Irish while they attended.

I think you get extra marks in state exams for doing them through Irish.

[ceol88]

There is no naoinra nearby mammsin & we are happy with the montessori she is currently in. She has a place as she is near the top of the enrollment list (first come, first served) It's a Catholic school which is fine with us. We havn't met with the principal yet as she is due to attend in 2019. We have friends who have children in the school & they are very happy.

[Radyward]

Dont do it if you dont speak irish at home or want involvement in your daughters education. My dd went to a naoinra and did junior infants in a gaelscoil. A year I regret and a year of loneliness for Dd.we couldnt involve ourselves fully as dont speak it . Homework was much harder and the total immersion model was isolating for her. The other kids told on her if she spoke english. We both work and the day i moved her was fantastic for us all. She is now a brilliant reader and she struggled big time learning through irish and was of poor standard when going into senior infants in the new school. Tg we turne d it around. Think long and hard if you both work and home late because fractions / maths / join the dots hrough irish etc are no joke

[MarDhea]

Fractions in Irish in senior infants?? They shouldn't be doing fractions at all at that age All the curriculum expects them to do in maths by the end of infants is count up to 10 and do some addition/subtraction. Sounds more like a pushy teacher who doesn't believe in child led education isn't letting babies learn at their own pace rather than a Gaelscoil problem tbh.

I have various friends with kids in gaescoileanna where both parents work and the immersion hasn't been a problem because it's very gentle in introducing vocabulary. The schools also know many parents don't speak Irish at home and so don't expected them to help with homework. Their kids (from English-speaking homes) mostly spoke in class in English at first (which of course is allowed - it's just that the teacher answered in Irish!), then a mix of Irish and English as they got older, and just Irish from I think about 2nd class on.

Talk to the school and ask them what they expect in terms of homework help, whether they expect parents to learn Irish if they don't already, and how they handle it when children not have a word of Irish in infants? Schools vary so much you need specific answers.

[lljkk]

gosh I thought the long word in thread was a new popular only-on-MN baby name.

[MarDhea]

With MN Gael, obvs

[MarDhea]

nn not MN!

[saoirse31]

Ds just about to leave irish secondary, have nothing but praise for it and his primary. I'd say two max out of class had parents who spoke Irish at home. No isolation, pressure etc. There was def no fractions in naíonán beag or naíonán mór. No isolation either.

Think the benefits of being bilingual at an early age are well known, but its an individual choice obv.

[mathanxiety]

The DD of a friend goes to one, and loves it. The mother is Irish and her DP is from the UK. They have the 'cúpla focal' at home but nothing more. Obv the DP speaks only English.

An element about the school that is especially important to her and her DP is something they had not anticipated, and that is that people sending their children there have consciously chosen it as opposed to just going to the local school. This lends an air of community and commitment to a certain model of education and leads to great support for the school, and community spirit. The net effect is a very positive environment. They have made great friends.

[ElspethFlashman]

I've never heard anything bad about gaelscoileanna. They learn Irish in regular school anyway, they just learn much more of it. DS went to a montessori which wasn't a Naoinra but had a bilingual ethos and I was amazed how naturally he picked it up. He literally learnt 1-10 in both languages at the same time. But because they learn it in a sing song way, he never mixed them up.

I would have no hesitation if it were the closest school to me.