Donabate Community College ranking in Co.Dublin

[Mr. Stupid]

The first time I visited Donabate in 1997, there wasn't even a SuperValu.

Yes I think I remember you were wearing dungarees.

[Bill_Lumbergh]

dccclassof2014 has mentioned that the stats are clearly wrong (and I'd suggest you contact schooldays to update them : http://www.schooldays.ie/articles/Sourc ... Statistics).

Any discussion on how 'terrible' the school is is a complete waste of time until correct stats are published.

Schooldays.ie itself says the data might be wrong;

Information on numbers sitting the Leaving Cert and College Places were provided by the Examinations Commission and the assorted governing bodies of the 3rd Level institutions. The colleges advise that the schools' data is provided for administrative purposes and that they cannot stand over the accuracy of the information if used for any other purposes.

And their numbers for the school cannot be right;
http://www.schooldays.ie/sch/donabate-c ... rogression

[AlanD]

Nobody said the school was terrible. The results are not the school. Are you trying to aggravate the situation for some reason?

As pointed out, even if the results are out by a factor of 2, they are still poor.

[madavagh]

If anyone manages managed to get a response from the principal, the Board of Management or the Parents Council can they please post it here.

Thanks,
A very concerned parent.

[Ken]

Nobody said the school was terrible. The results are not the school. Are you trying to aggravate the situation for some reason?

As pointed out, even if the results are out by a factor of 2, they are still poor.

There were some posters who criticised the school or at least alluded to the school being at fault. We can't jump to conclusions as the data appears to be unreliable.

[Ken]

If anyone manages managed to get a response from the principal, the Board of Management or the Parents Council can they please post it here.

Thanks,
A very concerned parent.

I would suggest that anyone with a child currently in the school, contacts them directly. I'm not sure you'll get an answer here.

My son will start next September. If he was in the school at the moment, I'd certainly be asking them to comment on the figures.

[james]

It is only naturally when we are all from Donabate and have children in the school that we cant believe the figure of 37%.However, as others have pointed out even if they are out by 5% or 10% they are still hard to accept. It is hard to understand how Malahide is three times higher than Donabate.

[Ann O]

DCC have put this on their website :-

http://www.donabatecc.ie/recent-publications/

[madavagh]

Not a million miles from the national figures: http://www2.cao.ie/app_scoring/points_stats/lc14pts.pdf. Although it would be nice to see a reversal of the figures for 200-300 points and 400-500 points - to be more in line with the national figures.

[Anon]

Okay. This is ridiculous. Those stats are wrong. It cancels out anyone studying outside the ROI, anyone doing PLCs and I know for a fact that at least 4 students went to Trinity, which they decided not to mention.
And there's really no point in blaming the teachers. I'm a 6th year student in the school now and I know for a fact that the teachers are really not to blame for a lack of students going to college.
The Leaving Cert results from 2014 were great! Most of the students did amazingly so the results are not to blame for people not going to college.
Saying that the teachers are bad because they're young and have less experience is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. They're all fully qualified so they know exactly what they're doing and in my opinion, young teachers are a lot better than older ones because they did they're exams not long before us, so they know what to expect whereas older teachers did completely different exams and are barely familiar with today's exams, and young teachers actually communicate with students and can make a class so much more enjoyable, making the subject a lot simpler to learn.
Anyway, there is only so much teachers can do. Students are completely responsible for their own results. It's the students that chose to study or not. The teachers aren't going to be knocking at your door every evening making sure you've got your head in the books. That's your own job.

A lot of students that didn't go to college from the school have full time jobs now and don't need to go on to third level education and others are just taking a year off to have a break or create a decent portfolio for art colleges etc.
Even if the statistics were right, it's not okay to blame the school and it's teachers. They have nothing to do with it so please at least get your facts right before running your mouths.

[Bill_Lumbergh]

Okay. This is ridiculous. Those stats are wrong. It cancels out anyone studying outside the ROI, anyone doing PLCs and I know for a fact that at least 4 students went to Trinity, which they decided not to mention.
And there's really no point in blaming the teachers. I'm a 6th year student in the school now and I know for a fact that the teachers are really not to blame for a lack of students going to college.
The Leaving Cert results from 2014 were great! Most of the students did amazingly so the results are not to blame for people not going to college.
Saying that the teachers are bad because they're young and have less experience is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. They're all fully qualified so they know exactly what they're doing and in my opinion, young teachers are a lot better than older ones because they did they're exams not long before us, so they know what to expect whereas older teachers did completely different exams and are barely familiar with today's exams, and young teachers actually communicate with students and can make a class so much more enjoyable, making the subject a lot simpler to learn.
Anyway, there is only so much teachers can do. Students are completely responsible for their own results. It's the students that chose to study or not. The teachers aren't going to be knocking at your door every evening making sure you've got your head in the books. That's your own job.

A lot of students that didn't go to college from the school have full time jobs now and don't need to go on to third level education and others are just taking a year off to have a break or create a decent portfolio for art colleges etc.
Even if the statistics were right, it's not okay to blame the school and it's teachers. They have nothing to do with it so please at least get your facts right before running your mouths.

Hear, hear.

[AlanD]

Even if the statistics were right, it's not okay to blame the school and it's teachers. They have nothing to do with it so please at least get your facts right before running your mouths.

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear? So parents should keep their mouths tightly shut when the highest readership national paper publishes statistics on their children's school and assume a) it's a mistake with numbers out by 100-150% or b) it's all their kids' faults?

By the way, aren't forum admins supposed to be unbiased and in favour of open discussion. You should resign your post mate.

[Ken]

Hear, hear? So parents should keep their mouths tightly shut when the highest readership national paper publishes statistics on their children's school and assume a) it's a mistake with numbers out by 100-150% or b) it's all their kids' faults?

By the way, aren't forum admins supposed to be unbiased and in favour of open discussion. You should resign your post mate.

Forum admins are as much entitled to an opinion as anyone else. Their opinion carries no more weight than any other forum member.

The school have stated that the figures are incorrect and are taking action to have them corrected. Until we see the corrected figures, there's not much to be said.

[Anon]

Well the highest readership national paper is wrong. Don't believe everything you read. And that school is a great one! Compared to so many others, we've achieved so much more! The amount of awards and opportunities people have got because of things they've done with the school and things that they've learned is pretty incredible. A group of students (in 2nd year, I think) were invited to Texas because of a project they did, a huge number of students enter the BT Young Scientist every year, we've had 5 people get into the Institute of Education from one year group alone. The school has an amazing name and some of the best teachers we could ask for so yes, you can assume it's your kid's fault if they get bad grades. The teachers do so much to help us achieve the best possible grades that we can, they take time out of their own lives to stay back after school to give extra classes to anyone who needs it and will sit with any student and make sure they are 100% clear on whatever topic we're studying and give us all the notes we need.
I've been in the school for the past 6 years so please do not try to tell me that you know what the teachers are like better than I do. If your child is getting bad results then I suggest grinds or a little more time studying.

[Derek]

Okay. This is ridiculous. Those stats are wrong. It cancels out anyone studying outside the ROI, anyone doing PLCs and I know for a fact that at least 4 students went to Trinity, which they decided not to mention.
And there's really no point in blaming the teachers. I'm a 6th year student in the school now and I know for a fact that the teachers are really not to blame for a lack of students going to college.
The Leaving Cert results from 2014 were great! Most of the students did amazingly so the results are not to blame for people not going to college.
Saying that the teachers are bad because they're young and have less experience is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. They're all fully qualified so they know exactly what they're doing and in my opinion, young teachers are a lot better than older ones because they did they're exams not long before us, so they know what to expect whereas older teachers did completely different exams and are barely familiar with today's exams, and young teachers actually communicate with students and can make a class so much more enjoyable, making the subject a lot simpler to learn.
Anyway, there is only so much teachers can do. Students are completely responsible for their own results. It's the students that chose to study or not. The teachers aren't going to be knocking at your door every evening making sure you've got your head in the books. That's your own job.

A lot of students that didn't go to college from the school have full time jobs now and don't need to go on to third level education and others are just taking a year off to have a break or create a decent portfolio for art colleges etc.
Even if the statistics were right, it's not okay to blame the school and it's teachers. They have nothing to do with it so please at least get your facts right before running your mouths.

I think the school is a good one and I think those recent figures did them a great disservice, and what's more, those who published them were unwise to do so even with a disclaimer as to their accuracy.

Having said that, there are events there that have not sat comfortably with quite a few of us. The loss of the original head and her sucessor a short time thereafter is concern. Likewise, the performance of one or two teachers is also leading to some head-scratching. One of my children there performed quite well in a particular first year subject, and now is struggling in the same subject in second year along with the rest of the class. Only the teacher has changed and even mild mannered students are quite vocal about this teachers performance. Of course these things can happen anywhere and in any school, but the truth is that the school is far better than those figures suggested, but also, it is not without its problems either.

[holdmycalls]

Anon, your school would not be here if it weren't for the actions of some of us "running off our mouths" for a decade. We are absolutely entitled to comment on its quality, here or elsewhere, particularly when the source of our concern is a national newspaper and the principal (by her own words) can provide no corrected statistics.

[james]

I think everyone in Donabate has aright to comment on the Schools performance, good or bad. The 2014 group did so well in the Junior, I remember the results in the school, according to the Indo 37% went to College, according to the School 50% of the students got less than 300 points in their Leaving Cert. Why are these figures so poor for a School that has everything and from a class that did so well in their Junior?

[micropoodle]

47% of students getting below 300 points compared to the national average of 38% to me indicates poor performance. It's not even close to te national average.

Yes we are entitled to our opinion and as someone who campaigned for a secondary school for donabate I make no apologies for giving my opinion.

I stated earlier that I assumed it was a misprint and that does indeed seem to be the case with regards college places, but it will be interesting to see if the correct figures bring college attendance up from 37% to even 50%.

I don't see why an area like Donabate shouldn't be achieving in excess of 75%.

Again I look forward to the accurate results being posted. However still in my unqualified opinion I feel the overall results seem poor. Let me stand corrected though, I'm open to my mind being changed

[madavagh]

It is very disappointing that Leaving Cert results are below the national average. While they are not as bad as the college place results led us to believe they are still quite poor and a cause for concern for both parents and students alike.

I wouldn't expect the corrected college place results to differ significantly from that published.

I am hoping that the poor results are in some way influenced by it being the first year of leaving cert results in the school and am hoping that things will improve next year.

[Martello Tower]

From what I can see the results seem to be average when compared to the national points figures, and given that this was the first year to do the leaving cert that is not too bad. The question I have is why only 1 student (3%) went to the DIT according to the table? This seems to be where the gap lies between our village school and other schools. According to the table only 3% who went to 3rd level from Donabate went to DIT,s compared to nearly 30% from Rush and 20% Malahide. I would have expected, given the points profile of the school, bunched in the average as outlined on the school web page, that a lot of students should have been guided to apply for DIT places. Did this not happen? It is positive that the school has responded on their web page, and not buried their head in the sand.

[davemac]

We have only two set of results to go on : 37% by the National newspaper and 47% by the Principal who are below 300 points. Both set of figures are similar and very close. They are a terrible reflection, therefore the best we can do is move on and hope next year figures are better.

[Bawner]

We have only two set of results to go on : 37% by the National newspaper and 47% by the Principal who are below 300 points. Both set of figures are similar and very close. They are a terrible reflection, therefore the best we can do is move on and hope next year figures are better.

Not sure the school can take all the blame on this. I'm pretty sure that the groups hanging round the village at night are not there for an open study forum. Education doesn't stop at the school gate and parents need to wake up to the fact that teachers can only do so much. You can't be too surprised if Johnny or Jenny are out every evening until all hours and then don't get 500+ points in the LC.

It is all to easy for well intentioned students to get distracted and I just hope that those who want to do well can stay focused and get their rewards.

[Micky]

Talking about performance, people really should consider the following.

If it were a class of 92 students, then each and every pupil that were allocated differently accounts for 1.09%

47% of students getting below 300 points compared to the national average of 38% to me indicates poor performance. It's not even close to te national average.

For the leaving cert figures to have been on par with national figures would only have taken 9 pupils, that's not a very big sample to be proclaiming a failure of the education system in Donabate.

Similarly, for every one person who deferred for a year or left Ireland would change the figures by 1%, given that people on here have stated that

I know that 4 of my fellow students are now attending Trinity not 0 as was quoted in the Irish Times Listing.

then the 37% quickly becomes 41%

Sum up: It doesn't take much to give wild swings in performance figures

[Paulo]

A few major questions to ask are as follows
-Are the students receiving guidance in school for the college course or career they intend to pursue?
-Do they understand all elements of the CAO and how to correctly fill out the paperwork?
-Are the parents aware of how the CAO works?
-Have all parents sat down with their son/daughter and discussed possible career options?
-Have the students attended open days for the various colleges and universities?

As a teacher and a parent these are major motivating factors for students and I wonder how many of the above boxes were ticked?

[blowin1]

A few major questions to ask are as follows
-Are the students receiving guidance in school for the college course or career they intend to pursue?
-Do they understand all elements of the CAO and how to correctly fill out the paperwork?
-Are the parents aware of how the CAO works?
-Have all parents sat down with their son/daughter and discussed possible career options?
-Have the students attended open days for the various colleges and universities?

As a teacher and a parent these are major motivating factors for students and I wonder how many of the above boxes were ticked?

We have a child in 6th year....so will answer our experience

1. Yes, although their Career Guidance teacher is new to the school, our child & pals think she is doing a good job.

2. Yes, the 6th Years have had a number of classes explaining how the CAO system works.

3. Yes, the school held an information evening for parents on the CAO, plus we were given a very good talk by a Guidance teacher from NUI Maynooth. I was very surprised though at the low turnout of parents.

4. Yes, we have.

5. Yes, all 6th Years went, or at least those that wanted to go, to the Higher Options day that was held in the RDS, plus I know a good few went to UCD's open day last month & Trinity's last Saturday.