Anyone from the Cork area?

[FraterculaArctica]

Hi there! Facing the prospect of relocating to Cork from the UK - been offered a job. If anyone can answer some of the questions I have re schooling (we have 3 DC aged 6, 4 and 1, definitely do not want Catholic schooling) and where to live, that would be wonderful.

Bump.

Educate Together schools, or multi-denominational gaelscoileanna if your DC are only starting school, are your friend here. Lots are oversubscribed, but you can email/ring around to see where has places in the class(es) you need. You can search for schools by denomination here www.education.ie/en/find-a-school

Someone else might be able to talk about Cork schools in particular.

Or of course there are plenty of CoI schools around also, if that's your thing, including in Cork central and the surrounding towns.

Thanks MarDhea. Yes I was thinking ET schools might be the ones to target. How far in advance can you enquire about spaces, we likely wouldn't move to Ireland till the summer holidays so is there any point finding out about waiting lists now?

DS would be 7 when we moved, so I guess looking for a space in class 2 - is that right? DD is 4, turns 5 in mid August - in Reception in the UK. I can't figure out whether we'd be looking for a place in Senior Infants or Junior Infants?

@FraterculaArctica
Where is the job based?
Mostly children go into Junior Infants here at age 4.5/ 5 - due to the 2 free years of preschool 4 is seen as very young to start school. I’ve had friends move home with DC who would have done a term in YR and then go into preschool here until they felt they were ready to start schooling.

• School days shorter here than the U.K. at that age.
• no school dinners
• school holidays longer
• non Catholic options will depend on where you live (CofI, ET)

Looking at DC age she’d be a perfect age to start Junior Infants.

Thanks, I was wondering first if it would be easier to get a place in senior infants given that the Junior admissions round has closed for 2021. And also if we ever move back to the UK and she had to go back into her normal.cohort, if it would be less difficult for her if she were in the older year in Ireland.

What do kids do about lunch then? Packed lunch? Do schools have wraparound, or do you have to have a childminder or nanny? (DH and I will both be working 4 or 5 days a week).

We don’t have a centralised admissions system here like the U.K. you apply on a school by school basis. Depending on where you live there may be schools with places in the JI classes.

In my experience no school would take a just turned five year old into the SI class. My own DD will be starting JI in 2021 at 5.5 years.

Lunches are packed lunch.
Homework is daily/near daily even little ones
Some schools have before/afterschool clubs
Lots of families use childminder/nanny. No Ofsted here so less strict registration. Lots of neighbours helping out etc.
School Books are purchased every September as is stationery , photocopying,
Irish (language) is a compulsory subject

As JI places already offered it would be good to get her name on some waiting lists.

Finding school places is the single thing that stresses me out most. Where we live would depend on where there are schools with places we like, but presumably no school is going to offer us places unless we have an address!

You've been so helpful already... do you know typical costs for a nanny say 4 days a week in the Cork area? To look after DC3 all day, and DC 1 and 2 before/after school? Would this likely be more cost effective than crèche + a childminder for the older ones, or not?

You can put names down for schools without an address (yet) as far as I recall . Cork is a big county - you're only going to struggle for school places in the urban centres. Certainly smaller rural schools will be biting your hand off for more enrolments.
Honestly - you can ring up a few schools or email and ask them if they have a space for JI 2021.
Also, I know you've ruled out Catholic school but having been a teacher in both Ireland and the UK I found the Catholic side much less pronounced here. It could be worth visiting a school to see if you like it.

Childcare - childminders vary based on area , could range from 40 euro per day to 100 per day. Places closer to the city centre are more expensive. There is a fb group for childminders in Cork .

A Nanny would be your employee with the usual caveat of paying holidays/sick leave etc etc.

Hi, I'm living in North County Cork for the last 18 years and originally from UK.
I've a son age 8 in 2nd class (3rd yr primary equiv) and one in 1st yr ECCE (preschool).
We have our guy enrolled in the new model school, a community national school and we can't believe our luck at having one on our doorstep.
Educate together is very popular around the city and some suburbs but check each ones enrolment policy as some, like our school (and Cork South Lee I believe), only open registrations in the year before they start and are catchment based primarily before going on siblings etc.
Schooling is quite different here but so far I like what I see. There is a definite move to starting kids later than UK though, my first went at 4 yrs 9 months (November born) but my 2nd will be 5.5 (February born). I was sceptical at first but I'm now a convert to a later starting age. Especially for boys.
Just an aside, if the only place you can find is in a Catholic national school maybe reserve judgement until you've had the chance to investigate further what options they have for children of other faiths. Some are more open minded than you would think!

Cuidíu Cork would be an excellent FB group for you to join, it's similar to NCT in UK and has amazing parenting advice local to the area. Cork has a very mixed population with loads of different nationalities represented so many local parents rely on group like Cuidiu for advice, friendship and support.

Not sure on wrap around care costs but be prepared to open your mind to less official and registered minders and rely more on word of mouth and parental gut instinct! It takes a while to get used to but we found excellent childcare where our child was treated like a family member and are still in their lives years later and also a creche where he was equally happy.
Happy to chat more if you want to PM. Cork is lovely, very different to UK but excellent quality of life and we think our kids are staying 'younger' longer than their cousins back in UK.
Good luck!

Hi! You could check out the noticeboards for various localities on Facebook too. It could give you an insight into places around Cork. Search under 'noticeboards Cork'. I'm from Cork City and living in a town south of the city. Good luck!

I'd agree that first class seems right for your eldest and junior infants for your DD. Children are generally aged around 5 starting school. I've known one or two children born in February where parents were unsure whether to send them at 4.5 or 5.5....but my teacher friends all recommended holding them until 5.5. That said, there are children who do start at about 4.5, but that's the absolute youngest in my experience. Your daughter would be the youngest by far in Senior Infants and that wouldn't help her...Junior Infants would be right for her imo.
Where is the job based OP?

Yes. I'd agree that 1st class would be the better place for the 7yo. We faced a similar dilemma when moving back to Ireland from the UK, and are very glad we went with the younger class option.

The Irish curriculum is quite different to the English one (don't know the Welsh and Scottish ones so well, sorry). Even if your DC ends up repeating some stuff in Maths or English that they already covered in the UK school, don't forget they will also be starting to learn Irish, art/music, different history (SESE), ethics (instead of religion if they're in an ET school), etc. that will all be new. There will be plenty to challenge them at the same time as settling into a new school.

Also agree with junior infants for the summer born 5yo... not all schools have closed their admissions for Sept 2021 (some haven't even opened yet around us) so it's worth checking for the admissions notice on the individual school.

Two of my children have birthdays in March and they started school at 5.5 years. It is working well for them.

Thanks all. Job is at UCC, living on the south side of the city would make sense for us I think (DH will have to fly back to the UK at intervals for work) despite it being the wrong side for the commute.

So 1st class would span the 7-8 year? You are right they would have a lot of new things to get used to. My concern is if we return to the UK in 5 years and find theyve missed out a lot (of the Maths curriculum in particular) because of the different starting ages, and need a lot of tutoring to make up the gap.

As far as I can see, schools have now had to move away from a first come first served policy to an admissions policy more like the UK, but operated at the level of individual schools. I think I'll just start emailing and see what I glean from that.

Yes. They are usually 7 or 8 years old in first class.
UCC is great. I had a few good years there as a student.

In September, children in 1st class range in age from about 6.5 to 7.8. By end of the school year in June, the majority have turned 8.

Most people I know use a rule of thumb something like: it's okay to start school at 4 if turning 5 before xmas, but otherwise leave it til the next year... but it always depends on the maturity of child in question. Compared to the rigid age cohorts of the English system, I much prefer the approach here in its focus on the child's readiness, so the peer group in school is much closer developmentally (academically, socially) than if you went by age alone.

Btw the maths curriculum levels out between Ireland and England during primary school, I think by the end of 4th or 5th class. Basically, some topics are introduced later but learned faster in the Irish curriculum. It's all online so you can compare topics in detail if you want.

Remember there will be plenty like me who had DC name down for multiple schools for JI. There will be lots of people at the moment turning down places and freeing up spots. I’ve refused 3 places this week alone for my DD

Also good to aware that there is no EYFS /equivalent for JI. There are some play based aspects but there is a lot of sitting and doing by academic work. (No fronted adverbials 😅).

Some thoughts on UCC & logistics:

• Are you going to drive to/from there? Or use public transport? Or walk? Parking on campus is VERY limited. There are two off-campus locations on the south side (one walkable, the other a shuttle bus). Since you could be doing this a few times a week you'd want to figure this time in your planning

• Totally get your point on the religion/school aspect, but the ethos is not as big an issue as you would think. Our kids went to Catholic ethos Irish language school, and in that school there were many non-Irish non-Catholic parents (they made school choice based on logistics)

• I know of several schools that have limited places. I'd check that out ASAP, and those schools could also maybe point you in direction of aftercare support

Would you be happy to chat by PM @bythebanksof ?

@FraterculaArctica
I've just moved from the UK to West Cork and love it so much. There seems to be quite a few from the Uk around the place. My ds is at secondary (CoI) and I am very happy with the way things are going.. It will be a very good move for you

@FraterculaArctica, yes no problem. Just an FYI that our kids long past primary school age, and I won't discuss UCC specifics.