Talk to me about Gealic School

[unlimiteddilutingjuice]

DS starts at the Gealic School in August. At the moment, none of us speak Gealic.
Anyone been in the same situation?
Would you recommend me and DH starting classes now?
What about those Gealic "family activities"? Are they worth doing before DS starts school, to get him used to the idea of immersion teaching?
Or just send him along in August and trust in the teachers?
Would love to hear other people's experiences.

I know a couple of teachers that work at this school very well. It's a good school. You sound like a fish out of water with regards for Gaelic though. My dc are not in Gaelic mainstream but I can vouch for friends Dc who are and both parents and dc we beginner Gaelic speaker as they went along. But being from the Outer Isles (Soup looking at you specifically - can't think of anywhere better to be) it's not uncommon to hear bits and pieces of Gaelic in everyday life even if you don't speak the language you pick up the basics or at least understand them. That's the difference here. Friend learned along with her DC with a bit of help from Gaelic speaking friends. Do you know anyone that speaks it. Definitely try and find a beginner class or course. Ring the school and ask if they have any recommendations. It won't be the first time a non Gaelic speaking family go to Gaelic school. Good luck!

Nothing wrong with wanting your DC to speak one of the languages spoken in Scotland, but let's be honest this is really about your local school not being good enough in your view. Why not do something about that, like getting stuck in and helping to improve it alongside other local parents? Or, just say we don't want our kid going to the rubbish local school so we're opting for Gaelic medium because it has a good reputation.

I have family on an Outer Isle and have a smattering of Gaelic, the kind to make my Granny blush!

Well if you're looking for other reasons to send your child to GME there's an article in today's Herald about the educational gains to be had. Children in GME are ahead in literacy than their English medium peers. Nothing to do with smaller class sizes. SGG has one of the highest intakes in Glasgow and when my own kids were in primary their class sizes were the same as that if other schools in the city and never under 25. In P4 there were 30.

In Wales it's very common for kids from non-welsh speaking families to go to welsh medium schools.
As pp said though they mostly start at pre-school nursery age.
Sure it will be fine though if they're geared up to
Non-gaelic families.

Angels, I don't think that the children are ahead because of their 'privileged backgrounds' or the lack of kids with extra support needs. I think that it's a lot to do with the positive approach that parents take towards committing to the whole package including extra curricular stuff including learning or starting to learn the Language. It has the same problems that other schools have and there are kids in all the year groups that have a variety of extra support needs. Unfortunately there isn't always an extra member of support staff available with Gàidhlig to provide this support. And after all if you're sending your child to GME surely attaining fluency in the language is one of your reasons.

The investment isn't purely money. I think parents who choose Welsh/Gaelic education may be more invested (in terms of interest) than many that just choose their local English medium school to be honest.

Would those be the schools that don't actively promote any but say French? And never through immersion?

As far as I know no one is excluded from GME because they require a free school meal or come from a less privileged background. Perhaps it need more active promotion to include all? But aside from that they are still outperforming for whatever reason. Worth a punt I'd say.

My DC's Welsh medium school is 150 metres from an English medium school. Same catchment area. English school: 38-40% FSM. Welsh school: 8-10% FSM.

That's takeup rate, not eligibility btw.

Nothing to do with riff raff here! (Our school partners with one in another city where there are 27 different home languages spoken specifically to address that. There's quite a lot of cross over.)

It was important to me that DC learned Welsh. I struggled as a teen to learn as a second language. Immersion is a much better way to learn and establishes neural pathways to assist with language acquisition later on. Was a no brainer.

op. admit it. its got nothing to do with being patriotic and everything to do with it being a better school than your local one

you dont need to dress it up, theres probably loads of kids sent there for the very same reason

For DH it definately is about patriotism. He's said right from the beginning: "I wish I'd had the opportunity to learn Gaelic at school and I want my kids to learn it"
This was before he had any idea what the other schools were like.

For me: I allowed myself to be convinced due to other factors- mainly the general standard of education.

I actually agree with Angels about the privileged intake. I have heard the school referred to as "Like private school but for free". Lots of people send their kids there for that reason.

Its kind of the ultimate in sharp elbowed middle class pushiness isn't it? "I would go to the trouble of learning a whole other language to give you a slight educational advantage over other kids"
Theres definatly that aspect to it.

I thought long and hard over that. My politics generally would have me send the kids to the catchment school and mix in with everyone else.

The thing is: we don't really have a "local school" in that sort of way. The non denominational catchment school for Maryhill was closed a few years back. The nearest school would be Kelvingrove. But, because the parents there didn't want our kids mixing with them (they went so far as to draw up a petition) our estate was tacked onto the extreme south end of a catchment for a school in Summerston.

Out of Ds's entire nursery intake, noone is going to that school. Preciesly because its a working class nursery and the parents want to send their kids to "the local school". I have watched the bemusment and anger when they all found out that "the local school" isn't the catchment. Then they all put in placing requests for either Kelvingrove or one of the Catholic schools. I wish them luck with it- because educational justice is not served by our kids taking the long journey along a busy main road to a worse school.

What I'm saying is, I'm not the only one who's made a different choice. Out of a very working class intake- every other parent has done the same as me.

Anyway. I don't know why I'm investing so much energy justifying to a bunch of strangers why my kid deserves to go where he's going. The council made a decision to alocate him a place and whats done is done.

Fair play OP, you've come back and given more of an explanation. I'm assuming you mean Kelvindale not Kelvingrove. And it doesn't surprise me at all that the middle classes there went so far as to petition against kids from your neck of the woods being in the catchment. What a bunch of wankers. GCC are spineless for not standing up to this kind of nonsense.

I suspect that you came on here because when push comes to shove you really did want your DC to go the local school and mix it with the rest of us. And actually you are a bit uncomfortable about the decision to send him to the GMS. But each to there own. Good luck to your DC. I hope that it works out for you. And by the way you don't need to justify that you want your DC to get a good education, just remember everyone's kids do while your sharpening your elbows.

"I suspect that you came on here because when push comes to shove you really did want your DC to go the local school and mix it with the rest of us."

Yes, ideally he would go to school with the kids he knows from nursery and from the neighbourhood and play round their houses after school. That would teach him good civic and community values. But it really isn't possible.

"just remember everyone's kids do while your sharpening your elbows."

Yes. Definately. There is a new primary school for Maryhill planned (too late for DS alas) and I will be doing everything I can through the residents association to make sure our kids get a fair crack at attending. It would be all too easy for the council to treat it as an overspill school for Hillhead and leave us out again. If we can't have that, we can at least be included in the catchment for Kelvindale (yes- i did mean Kelvindale )

"Plenty of working class infiltration"

Well good MaybesAye. Thats a good thing.

I was all ready for hoicking my judgy pants up to my chin there, but your reasons are completely valid. My SIL faced a very similar situation a number of years ago and ended up leaving the area altogether. I have a friend with children in the Gaelic Medium school in Glasgow, and I think it's a really good school. I suspect most judging you would go to similar lengths in the same situation. Don't worry too much about the Gaelic but it would obviously help if you learned it too. Not the easiest of languages to learn though!

"Sorry, that's very embarrassing blush I did say, I couldn't speak it."

Figured it'd be easier if you knew that before you called it that in RL

I'm also going to be nippy and point out that if your DH didn't have the opportunity to learn Gaelic at school - that'll be because he didn't go to school in a gaelic speaking area...so really it's about as patriotic as learning any other language, in traditionally Gaelic speaking areas it was taught.

Not that I have any issue with where you're choosing to send your DS... just being a bit pedantic, lol.

I went to uni and worked in scotland for several years.

As a student i picked up quite a lot of gaelic through daytime tv.. there used to be a fairly mad childrens tv presenter with a beard who was on everything, a bit like a gaelic justin. He was very entertaining, in an omg this guy is barking way. I can chat at length about fireman sam and related subjects...

My dc attend the local Welsh school. We are both English. Dc have coped well but I would find it much easier if they were in an English school. Dd has chosen to attend an English secondary. You need to think about how you can help with reading etc and how you will fit in at the school. Parents information evenings, letters home etc only in Welsh is difficult. Mind you we left that particular school and now go to one where they at least type up bilingual letters. Make sure you get a vibe of being welcome there despite not speaking the language.

OP I'm one of the infiltrators myself. Keeping it real and all that. It's a great school and your reasons are your own.

The school used to run an intensive course for parents in the summer, followed by weekly night classes. It would be worth checking if this is something they still do. You will need to have enough gaelic to help with homework. Great school - enjoy it!