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NI schools......looking for people's experiences

3 replies

beechie12 · 04/11/2017 19:41

I live near Belfast and myself and DH are hoping to bring up our 3 children with both a British and Irish identity if possible. We were brought up one catholic one protestant but generally share a basic Christian faith and attend church/chapel a few times per year. My eldest is in p3 in a controlled school and happy there but coming up to applying for preschool for my next DC I am leaning towards an integrated school as while DS'S school is excellent it has more of a British culture and I would like the childen to be exposed to some Irish culture too ie. St patricks day, GAA etc. I find this hard to do with DS as he naturally wants to do what his school friends are doing. We moved house in p1 and couldn't get into an integrated then and am wondering is it worth splitting them up or should I just continue with them all in the controlled school. Was wondering what others experiences are. Logistically it should work ok at diff schools as DS loves breakfast club and throughout their school lives they will have diff finishings times ie 2pm and 3pm. But on the other hand it would be nice for them to have that shared experience. Thanks in advance.....

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Mumguiltisabitch · 04/11/2017 19:49

Is there a chance the integrated school would have a place coming up for your older DS? My instinct would be to keep them at the same school for shared experiences etc, but all the better if it could be in the integrated. In saying that your DSs could still do GAA and the like, but I appreciate they won't know so many on the local team. Are any of your neighbours GAA members?

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Mumguiltisabitch · 04/11/2017 19:54

Ps if you repost in Craicnet you might get a few more experiences.

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beechie12 · 04/11/2017 19:58

Thanks mumsguiltisabitch. Craic net? How have I not heard of this sounds great. Must go hunt it out. DS is so shy he wouldn't go along by himself but yes one of our wee neighbours is joining a club soon and that possibly could help. Integrated v oversubscribed. Wish they had more schools /spaces. So no place for eldest unless someone leaves this year.