I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone with recent experience of Sutton Park, Sandford Park, St Andrew’s College, Wesley or Mount Temple secondary schools in Dublin - especially around pastoral care, friendships and learning support rather than just academics and facilities.
I have boy/girl twins going into secondary school, and they have quite different needs.
We currently live on the northside of Dublin. Sutton Park and Mount Temple would be fairly straightforward to reach, St Andrew’s is accessible by DART, and Sandford Park would involve the DART and then the school transport. I think in all honestly Wesley is probably out due to transport. We may move southside in the next few years, but we honestly do not know yet, so I am trying not to make the decision based only on where we live now.
We are Church of Ireland and are looking for a mixed school.
My son is academic, sociable, sporty and a good all-rounder. He tends to look confident from the outside, but he is actually quite sensitive, can take criticism to heart and needs to feel that he belongs before his confidence really comes through. He would benefit from a broad range of subjects, activities and friendship groups, but also from teachers who notice him and encourage him rather than allowing him to drift.
My daughter has profound dyslexia and is very shy and anxious in new situations. She is capable, but she needs a genuinely warm environment where teachers know her, notice if she is struggling and provide strong but discreet learning support. She is not someone who will easily push herself into a friendship group, so the social side matters a lot too.
They are coming from a very small primary school on the northside, with just one class per year. It has been incredibly warm and friendly, and the children have been very well known there. In many ways, I am trying to find a secondary school that can follow on from that sense of warmth and belonging, while also giving them a wider social and academic world.
They would both prefer to stay together in the same coeducational school.
My impressions so far are:
Sutton Park felt warm, organised and manageable, and probably offers the easiest transition. There may also be some children they know through northside activities. My concern is that choosing it may tie us quite firmly to the northside when we are not yet sure that is where we want to build the next stage of family life. I also wonder whether it might be a little small and whether there is enough breadth as they get older.
Sandford Park really appealed to me. I loved the building, atmosphere, leadership, music and debating side of the school. It felt thoughtful, calm and well run. My concerns are that we know nobody going there, the journey is more complicated, and I am not sure how easy it is for friendships to continue outside school if pupils come from a wide area.
St Andrew’s makes a lot of practical sense. It works by DART from where we are now, would suit us if we later moved southside, and we have a few indirect connections through teachers and families. It also seems to offer a huge range of subjects, sport and activities. However, it felt large and slightly chaotic when we visited, and I worry about cliques and whether a shy child arriving without friends would be properly noticed.
Mount Temple is the easiest geographically, and I know many local families are happy with it. My concern is that it may be a little too relaxed or hands-off for my two. I worry that my daughter could get lost in a larger setting, while my son could float along quite happily without being pushed or encouraged to reach his potential. I am open to hearing different experiences, though.
We also visited Wesley College, and it seemed to have almost everything we are looking for from sport to academics and subject choice and strucutre, but I think it would be too difficult for us to manage transport-wise.
I’d really appreciate hearing what these schools are actually like day to day rather than just what appears in the prospectus.
In particular:
- What type of child tends to thrive in each school?
- How strong is the dyslexia and learning-support provision in practice?
- Would a quiet child arriving without an established group be actively helped to settle?
- Would a capable but sensitive child be noticed and encouraged, or could they easily coast?
- Are form or tutor groups stable?
- Is the social culture generally inclusive, or are there strong cliques?
- Where do pupils tend to live, and is it easy for friendships to continue outside school?
- How manageable are the DART, bus or school-transport journeys in reality?
- Do music, sport, debating and other activities help children mix, or do they mainly reinforce existing groups?
- Are there any subject-choice limitations or other things you only discovered after joining?
- Knowing what you know now, would you make the same choice again?
I know every child and every year group is different, and I am not looking for anyone to criticise individual teachers or pupils. I am just trying to get a genuine feel for the atmosphere, the social side, the learning support and the sort of child who tends to settle well.
Thanks in advance. I know no school is perfect, but hearing people’s real experiences would really help us work out where both children might feel happy, supported and able to find their tribe.