Moving to Belfast

[Vvvzzzxxx]

My husband has had a job offer in Belfast and we have two children aged 9 and 12 educated in England. I am looking for advice for nice family areas to live in with good schools. One parent is Catholic and one parent is Church of England - will that be a problem? The children are just brought up Christian. I understand my 12 year old may need to take a test for Year 8 of a grammar school. My 9 year old seems more tricky as DD is currently in year 5 with a July 4th birthday but I understand the cut of date in NI is July 1st so she would go into the year below. Does anyone have any experience in asking for a child to be put in the year above if that is how they have been educated in England? Thank you.

I don't think you can ask for your child to be moved 'up' a year which is how it would be seen. You should look at more mixed areas if you are a mixed couple (that probably goes without saying e.g. avoid Falls, Braniel, Turf Lodge, Taughmonagh etc) Your 12 yo will have to take the GL assessment if you want him/ her into a grammar school. There are a couple integrated secondary schools in Belfast - Malone College and Lagan College. The latter would be preferable

Lagan College looks great and isn't that far from the Titanic Quarter where my husband has lived before and we liked. I wonder if you knew if there were any good primary schools in that area for my younger child? Thank you

Lagan College is nowhere near Titanic Quarter! I wouldn't recommend living in Titanic Quarter as there's nothing there. I live in SE Belfast and it's very mixed. Pretty much all schools in that area are "integrated" whether they're officially so or not. The integrated primary school in my area is Forge. My son goes to Rosetta which is technically "controlled" (ie Protestant) but I'm Catholic and his dad is Angelican. It doesn't really matter in this area. It doesn't really matter as much in most areas as people outside NI think it does.

Also your religions won't be a problem - no-one cares. My husband is English, and there are tons of mixed families and families from England and many other countries etc here.

To elaborate on area advice - Titanic Quarter is not a family area. There is nothing to do there after 5pm. South Belfast is probably your best bet - lots of bars, restaurants, playgrounds, green spaces, and lots of East Belfast is grand too.

Is your 12 year old at Secondary school in England. They start at 11 in Ni in y8

@Vvvzzzxxx Just repeating what others have said - not near the Titanic quarter. St Ita's (primary) is near Lagan College and is meant to be good. It's Catholic, though, not OFFICIALLY integrated

I went to school in Belfast and a friend moved from England and was an August birthday so had been the year above in England. She went into the correct year for NI which essentially involved repeating a year, but ultimately it was a big advantage.

If we lived in Hollywood would we be able to go to St Ita's and Lagan if the schools had places?

I'm not sure if Holywood would be in the catchment area for either. You'd have to check. It's a bit of a distance - about 8 miles - from Holwood to St Ita's

Holywood has excellent local schools - there is Holywood primary and there is Sullivan Upper School which has a prep and grammar school.

It's also a lovely spot to live in.

Lockview Primary School is the closest to Lagan College and is also integrated

Hi, so St Ita's is probably one of the best primary schools in NI but it is a fairly tight, heavily populated catchment area and you would have no chance from Holywood. You would need to live within a mile or so - Four Winds/Cairnshill/Upper Saintfield Rd. There is no requirement to prove you are Catholic and some non catholic children do attend. If your 9 year old is due to turn 10 on July 4th then he/she would enter P6 in September 2020 (second last year of primary school). This is the year for preparing for the transfer process (taken in Nov p7). St Itas children generally move to Aquinas grammar or Our Lady & St Pat's, Knock. Some girls move on to Assumption in Ballynahinch- all too performing grammars. Non grammar options include Lagan and St Joseph's college although there's a wide choice. It is important that you understand the implications for your younger child who will not be eligible to apply for either Aquinas or Knock if the older sibling chose a different school - so it may be worth considering both of those schools for your 12 year old (who will be year 9/10 by September I expect?)

Latest NI gcse league table if you're interested (just the top section as sent to me by someone else)