DonabatePortrane.net

Fair enough mom, but I'd rather Donabate people supported the local school and made an effort to ensure it's a good school rather than sending our kids elsewhere.

Once people start saying it's better to go elsewhere then momentum takes over the facts, so lets see what facts we can get first.

There's a lot of educated people in Donabate these days commuting in and out of the city, so there's no reason why the classes shouldn't be full of bright motivated kids.

It is is no way a bad school.

Academically, I think they're doing well. LC results more than compare with other local schools. JC results out this day next week but I know from my child, that large proportion of students sat honours papers so that bodes well.

My main issues would be the almost non-existent communication and the lack of sporting teams in the school. My personal belief is that in a attempt to do well in school-league-tables, they've concentrated too much on academia as opposed to the overall experience that I'd like from a Secondary School.

I might have issues with little things but DCC is a good school and I don't see any advantage in sending my 4 children to another public school.

Well put Sydney,

No school is perfect in my experience and I think if they are to err I prefer it to in favour of academic than the other elements of the school experience.

With modern technology communication should be very easy to sort out.

I don't have children in the school, but I have two in the primary school and don't have an issue in sending them to DCC when they finish primary.

I am not originally from Donabate, but my experience of where I grew up was that pupils who didn't start in the local secondary school eventually drifted back to it because of friends and the hassle of commuting.

If we all pull together then we can use our influence to make improvements to DCC rather than taking our kids out of the area.

Vlad the Impaler wrote: There's a lot of educated people in Donabate these days commuting in and out of the city, so there's no reason why the classes shouldn't be full of bright motivated kids.

I take exception to these crass generalisations.

surely the school should err towards academia?

I love sport and our old school had a range of sports, but looking back we would have been better off cutting them down in favour of academic stuff.

If you liked a sport in school, you generally ended up stuck on a team with 50% of people who hated exercise and couldn't be bother, and 30% who couldn't be arsed playing properly as they don't like that particular sport. So you never really got a good game or were challenged. We were lucky to have dedicated teachers who would arrange sports groups outside school hours for kids who showed an interest.

If kids are sporty there are tons of activities in the community to do outside school hours. And for parents saying the kids need more exercise and expect schools to do it, they would be better off letting them walk to school instead of dropping them off. I walked 40 mins to school and it did me no harm. It's crazy seeing people who live in donabate/portrane driving kids to school. Or else doing physical activities with them at the weekend themselves. To say a school is bad for favouring academia over sports makes no sense to me at all?

paddi22 wrote:surely the school should err towards academia?

I thought I was stupid. You know what err means right?

Mr. Stupid wrote:

paddi22 wrote:surely the school should err towards academia?

I thought I was stupid. You know what err means right?

i'm french originally, we did latin in school and i was taught the meaning of that word was 'to wander towards '.

Origin:Middle English (in the sense 'wander, go astray'): from Old French errer, from Latin errare 'to stray'.

so if you had two paths to err right would be to take the path to right that was contentious. i mightn't be translating that properly..

nice of you to point it out though. it's surely an essential part of this debate about the school.

paddi22 wrote:

Mr. Stupid wrote:

paddi22 wrote:surely the school should err towards academia?

I thought I was stupid. You know what err means right?

i'm french originally, we did latin in school and i was taught the meaning of that word was 'to wander towards '.

Origin:Middle English (in the sense 'wander, go astray'): from Old French errer, from Latin errare 'to stray'.

so if you had two paths to err right would be to take the path to right that was contentious. i mightn't be translating that properly..

nice of you to point it out though. it's surely an essential part of this debate about the school.

Ah, vous êtes de France. Avez-vous habitez près de la Tour Eiffel? Je pensais juste que c'était drôle en entendant "err" et "academia" dans la même phrase dans le contexte que vous essayez d'utiliser.

Should i just scan my passport in, would that be easier? Can we get back on track to discussion. If you want a nice french conversation start another thread.

Ah, you're from France. Do you live near the Eiffel Tower? I just thought it was funny hearing "err" and "academia" in the same sentence in the context you are trying to use.
French to English translation.. just in case you was all wondering.
now we can go back to Donabate community college, bring back Mrs Laffoy!!

MarMea63 wrote:Could have done a spell check before putting up todays info, cant seem to spell stationery. Simple to remember, E for envelope, not A.

I saw this and thought of you

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog ... 7s+Blog%29

Are there any parents of children in the Asd unit on here?

If parents spent a bit more time taking interest in there own family, I.e . There children up in the village doing drugs and sexual indiscretions behind Keelings pub, instead of surmising what Mr Creevy is doing.. It would be time better spent!

I take great exception to the previous post, I only wish Mr Creevey or anyone else in County Dublin VEC the best in their travels to faraway destinations. However, I believe that the education of children is very important and I found it incredible that Mr Creevey was allowed to take on a position for one year to promise us everything and anything and then at the end of that year his superiors allowed him a leave of absence . This has nothing got to do with public servants, as this practise does not exist in any service. Please help me what has this disregard for the future of D.C.C. got to do with the practises at the back of Keelings Pub?

I think Alf Garnet is just trolling.

My Neighbour told me that the money we parents collected for the bus for Donabate Secondary School was all spend on a party by management in March. I find this impossible to believe, can anyone establish the true facts here.

I think you're right - it's impossible to believe that money was spent on a party for management.

At the graduation ceremony in June Mr Creevey announced that the parents' council had used some of that money for the inaugural graduation event.

"My Neighbour told me that the money we parents collected for the bus for Donabate Secondary School was all spend on a party by management in March. I find this impossible to believe, can anyone establish the true facts here."

My understanding of the funding raised is as follows:
Previous head teacher, Mrs Laffoy, suggested that having a bus owned by the school would be an asset to the school. When Mr Creevey took over, he looked at the figures and decided that the costs involved in purchasing, maintaining, insuring, etc, the bus would be prohibitive and that it would make more sense to use the funding to hire transport as required.

Having been involved in a major community project myself in this parish, I take these "my neighbour told me" stories with a large pinch of salt. It never ceased to amaze me how stories get twisted and this new story becomes the accepted fact among certain people. It just underlines the old saying, never let the truth get in the way of a good story. Unless My Neighbour is actually a member of the teaching staff or is a member of the parents' council, I think I'd get the story verified before believing it.

I like the version where they spent the school bus money on a party, then the principal sodded off to the Middle East leaving the students without a booklist or a plan for the coming year.

Anybody here who the new vice principal is?

My kids said that new VP is Mr McCormack.

Thanks blowin1

Sunday indo published league tables today based on percentage of students that went on to third level.

Our local school it seems performed poorly if these figures are correct.

It says that 57% went on to third level. This was one of the lowest rates in Co. Dublin (not just north county dublin)

My own thoughts about this in the absence of an explanation from the school is that these are worrying results from my point of view anyway.

Thoughts anyone?

Hi

I don't have anyone in the school but might have in the next couple of years.

The original post says that only 57% went onto third level, surely the question should be 'what percentage could have gone onto third level, not what percentage did' i.e. some or even all of the 43% could have chosen not to go to third level, or do we assume that 100% of pupils wanted wanted to go to third level but failed to get the necessary qualifications.

DH

From last year's results, far more that 57% could have gone to college. Some might have gone on to do PLCs in order to get into a specific area through a different means, others may have gone into trade related training or apprenticeships, some may have taken a year out (I know at least one student that did) and others might just not be interested in college at all. Believe it or not, college is not the be-all and end-all for everyone and this recent obsession with college places puts huge pressure on students to follow a route that might not suit them all. I would love to know the percentage of parents who went to college straight from school. I know many that studied degrees etc many years later in life when they decided exactly what they wanted to do. I never went to college, got a very good job and was very happy there for many years. Also, finance can play a huge part. My eldest will be doing her LC this year. Financing her through college is going to be a huge strain on us. We have two more to go after her, if they all decide on college we'll be living on beans on toast for a while to come