Best Catholic Schools in North Shore??

[wolfysmith]

Hi There,
Has anyone any experience with Catholic school's in North shore??
Many Thanks
Sally

[Moomette]

No personal experience, but DH along with his siblings went to St Josephs for primary back in the day and a few of his nephews and nieces have also done so since then and continued onto Rosmini and Carmel. From what I've understood all are very good schools, though my nephew ended up changing from Rosmini as found it too academically orientated for him, whereas my niece loved Carmel for the exact same reason, so I guess it all depends on what your kids are into.

Are you looking for primaries or colleges, and are there any specific things you were wondering about, as I'll be happy to help if I can.

[wolfysmith]

No personal experience, but DH along with his siblings went to St Josephs for primary back in the day and a few of his nephews and nieces have also done so since then and continued onto Rosmini and Carmel. From what I've understood all are very good schools, though my nephew ended up changing from Rosmini as found it too academically orientated for him, whereas my niece loved Carmel for the exact same reason, so I guess it all depends on what your kids are into.

Are you looking for primaries or colleges, and are there any specific things you were wondering about, as I'll be happy to help if I can.

Hi there,
Thank you for your reply .We are looking for primary schools i have 5 and an 8 year old, they are at a Catholic school in the UK. Our main consideration is a school that caters for the whole child so not just academic. Also which has the least amount of children? Any info would be very much appreciated.
Thanks Sal

[Moomette]

I think all of the primaries are supposed to be good and well-rounded, and the academic bit that I mentioned is more about the colleges. All of DH's family really liked St Josephs (the youngest to have gone is now 14) and that's probably our top option for when DD starts school too though time will tell as she's only 19 months at the moment. For what it's worth, it does look like a really nice school from walking past it most days and not too big either with about 380 pupils.

Hopefully others will have more first hand experiences of the different options, but in the meanwhile you may find this recent thread of interest to you: http://www.enz.org/forum/showthread....light=catholic

[wolfysmith]

Thank you thats really useful. Oh my, so much to think about!!! Where to begin??
Thanks

[JandM]

Where to begin??

Maybe by looking at the schools' own websites. And if there's anything they don't cover, by contacting them to ask questions.

[MrsB]

Yep we have experience of St Johns in Mairangi Bay which our son has attended since Term 3 in 2007 and will be leaving at the end of this year. St Johns is hard to get into as the roll is basically permanently 'closed' as they are always over subscribed, most movement on the roll is generated by people moving in/out of the area/country. However it is possible to strike lucky as we did when we applied as a slot was becoming available in the right year group at the right time. St Johns is pretty small in comparison to the primaries I knew of in London, it has just over 300 pupils with 2 classes at each year level. The school is very community orientated and parent help is actively encouraged, in fact I have ended up as a Teacher Aide as the school thanks to word getting around that I was looking for part time work (back in 2008). We are grateful every day that our son has attend St Johns as they were VERY quick to recognise that he had learning difficulties and he has been incredibly well supported (as have we) throughout his time at the school.

For other Catholic schools on the shore have a look at: http://www.nzceo.org.nz/pages/school..._auckland.html
The Primary schools on the Shore are: St Josephs, St Leo's, St Mary's, Stella Maris

Most of the pupils at St Johns end up moving onto Rosmini College (boys) and Carmel College (girls) which take them from Intermediate age/yr (11yrs, Yr 7) through to leaving school age.

Any other questions let me know.
Mrs. B.

[MrsB]

I think all of the primaries are supposed to be good and well-rounded, and the academic bit that I mentioned is more about the colleges. All of DH's family really liked St Josephs (the youngest to have gone is now 14) and that's probably our top option for when DD starts school too though time will tell as she's only 19 months at the moment. For what it's worth, it does look like a really nice school from walking past it most days and not too big either with about 380 pupils.

Hopefully others will have more first hand experiences of the different options, but in the meanwhile you may find this recent thread of interest to you: http://www.enz.org/forum/showthread....light=catholic

Hi Moomette,

You've probably done it already but just in case you might want to get your DD on the list for St Joseph's now despite her young age. I know both St Joseph's and St John's are often over subscribed and certainly at St John's people have been known to put their children on the list as soon as they are born.

I don't wish to scare you but better to be save than sorry as sometimes its all to easy to assume you'll get your child into the school you want and then when the time comes (all too quickly) you discover you've missed the boat.

Cheers,
Mrs B.

[Moomette]

Hi Moomette,

You've probably done it already but just in case you might want to get your DD on the list for St Joseph's now despite her young age. I know both St Joseph's and St John's are often over subscribed and certainly at St John's people have been known to put their children on the list as soon as they are born.

I don't wish to scare you but better to be save than sorry as sometimes its all to easy to assume you'll get your child into the school you want and then when the time comes (all too quickly) you discover you've missed the boat.

Cheers,
Mrs B.

Thanks so much for your insight MrsB. We haven't got her on any list yet as it hadn't even occurred to us as she is is still so young, plus has sort of got family-ties to St Josephs through DH and his family as well as having been baptised there, so we always assumed it would be easy enough closer to the time. But I think I will give them a call on Monday now to be on the safe side, so thanks for the heads up.

[wolfysmith]

Some great advise thank you