Primary school traditions in England that are less common in Ireland

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I’ve noticed a lot of differences between primary schools in rep of Ireland and primary schools in England lately that I thought were quite interesting,so far we don’t have;
-residentials
-school fetes
-Easter bonnets
-harvest festival
-SATS

what else do you have in England that we don’t?

Just thinking of things we have.. you can say whether you have them or not

Nativity plays
Leavers Discos/"proms"
PTA fundraising events (discos, movie nights etc)
Weekly Award assemblied

In Ireland, our 6th class are currently on their residential trip to the Gaeltacht for an overnight trip.
Also we do have an annual fete, and so do the local schools. All have different names, there's the summer festival, Christmas bazaar and one has a harvest festival.

Having lived in UK and Ireland, main difference I can see is lack of facilities in Ireland, no cafeteria, eating ar desk, many Irish schools don't have a sports hall, Irish school buildings are often ancient.
The obviously the religious sacrements, overt religious statues placed around the school. None of that have I seen in UK.

Nativity plays- my DCs school do a play of some sort (not always nativity though) but only every 2 years
Leavers Discos/"proms"- No
PTA fundraising events (discos, movie nights etc)- yes we have bingo nights, valentines disco and Halloween disco, bake sales etc
Weekly Award assemblied- No not weekly.

Summer school dresses for primary school girls. (The gingham style ones)

That’s great your go to the Gaeltacht, I don’t know any schools that do that here!! And we are near one!!
My DCs school does have a sports hall though.
It also has a parent car park which doesn’t seem to be very common for schools in general to be fair.

No we don’t have these, they are so cute ☺️

I’m in Northern Ireland and my kids did residentials, PTA, school fetes and some sort od food bank/harvest thing. They had assemblies and a leavers thing (not a prom). It was a Protestant primary school.

Also there was a sports hall and gingham dresses in summer (and shorts for the boys!).

Applying for school months before you even start, and there being a possibility of not getting the nearest school/school where siblings already are?

Is this in Ireland or England?

I think Catholic schools in UK often have statues around the place esp the older ones.
And religious observance is standard

England. School applicationa can be extremely stressful. I hope Ireland is less stressful!

What about dancing round the Maypole ?
And country dancing generally.
That certainly used to be done in English junior schools.
Maybe there's not time now with all the fronted adverbials etc..😥.
I don't think they have the Maypole in Ireland?

For me it was yes I just put DDs name down at my local school and that was that. But I think in bigger towns and cities it can be harder.

Never ever danced around a maypole no 😅
Irish dancing yes

Our Irish school has fetes every year…they don’t call them that but it’s the same thing.

They also make Easter bonnets some years.

They have formal assessments in school too where the children’s score is matched against standard results to give a percentile marking. All primary schools do this, in 2nd, 4th and 6th class at least.

Mine didn’t have residentials until secondary school.

No dancing around maypoles for sure.

I longed to do that as a child 😁

Whole school assemblies?
At the Irish primary school I went to, children referred to the teacher as "teacher" not Miss/Mr X. I haven't seen that in England.

It’s Miss/Mr where I am in Ireland.

I know they have the drumcondra but it’s not treated like he SATs at all.

Ok?

Definitely Miss/Mr here

And at DS’s Educate Together, it was ‘Paula’ or ‘Daithí’ from the janitor to the Head.😀

DS has been to primary school in England and Ireland. I think the main difference is that there’s a lot less anxiety about ‘good schools’ and no equivalent of OFSTED, in the sense of a body whose reports parents take terribly seriously. Most kids go to the local primary or one close to their parents’ work if that’s easier.

I think parents in Ireland worry less about education. There’s a general sense that the vast majority of schools offer a good education.

What is the difference? I don’t have experience of SATs.

Irish schools just use the Drumcondra tests as a diagnostic tool and the children very rarely know when they’re going to be sitting them, for the SATS, the children are prepped in intensively beforehand, their results are heavily linked with performance and the School league tables, and it’s all very much-publicised in general.

SATS are regarded as a measure of the school’s effectiveness as well as assessing individual children. Generally considered a much bigger deal. I thought the Year 2 SATS were ridiculous, if I’m honest. DS had left his English school before the later set.