St. Dympna’s Primary School 491 Robinson Road West, Aspley, Queensland 4034

"Many people are perplexed about the quality of Catholic schools. I attended St. Dympna's and this is my honest opinion. First off, The teachers aren't really that great. They are only useful for saying "hi" and "bye" Second, they don't prepare you for high school in year 6. It was extremely challenging to transition from this school to high school after graduating. I first say this because there isn't much homework. Year 6 students receive the same kind of homework they did in prep, which they had to turn in every week. It may seem absurd, but your child will struggle with completing their assignments when they start high school. According to recommendations from friends, the state school curriculum is significantly tougher than that of this school. They give you plenty of homework in year 6 and prepare you for high school. Finally, there may be good people at this school. There may be rules, such as no swearing, every high school has this problem. Even private colleges. Despite the fact that the school I attend is private, there is still smoking, swearing, and other issues. This is important to note because, by the time your child is in high school, all of the values they have learned will have been disregarded, so there is no need to send them to a catholic primary school. There aren't really any differences if you child to a catholic school."

"i really like this resturant. the food is not the best but the drinks gave me very bad diaharrea for 2 weeks. it was worth it. the customer service is alright. i had one worker come up to me and say i was pretty"

"I love that school I was in prep D, 1B, 2D, 3D, 4D, 5B, 6A I love it and the principal was nice"

"If I ever become a parent I will never send my child here. I had a bad experience myself. The school was supposed to have no tolerance for bullying and encouraged the students to tell a trusted teacher, however, when told, nothing was done to help the situation. Teachers were often rude towards students until the principal walked into the classroom and would shame or threaten the student. Most of them never properly helped students either. I went into high school feeling like I was so far behind my peers. The teachers were often mentally abusive towards students either directly or indirectly. Most of the time, teachers were either fun but did not teach or taught but extremely rude. The students were taught that they had a limit but they also had to be the smartest and it led to unhealthy competition and study habits. In high school I do have competition, however, this is healthy and pushes me to do better and I can get the help I need. This school does not help students then expects them to achieve high marks and stick to those. The students are often rude and around half come from wealthy families who then put down other students and families. the parents are also very toxic and will leave out single parents from social events. For a catholic school, it is excessively focused on religion and forces it onto the students. When I started at this school it was good but as the leadership changed it slowly became worse and worse. There were many days I did not want to go to school because of either the teachers or the students and many times where I begged my mum to move schools."

"This review is specifically intended for families who do not follow Catholic or Christian faith at home who may be considering St Dympna’s for their children. - Please appreciate that we took our child to this school based on mis-information from a few families who we trusted to give us open and honest information. - We would never have put our child through the trauma of taking him to a school that was not a good match if we had known the truth about the limitations that this school has in being able to adapt to children who struggle to accept the Christian faith or dogmatism blindly. WHAT WE OBSERVED - Outdated mentorship principles and a very rigid methodology by which they correct, motivate (sometimes by using shame or threats) the children. - This is very much an old-school approach to teaching and if you have encouraged your children to be curious, open minded or to question beliefs then your family will be unlikely to settle easily in this school. OUR EXPERIENCE - We removed our child from this school and witnessed a remarkable improvement in our child’s attitude towards school and love of learning. STAFF - The reception staff are not warm or welcoming. They seem abrupt, impatient and unnecessarily stern with the children. - Teachers are usually of Catholic demeanour and as a result tend to be more ‘old-school’ and more formal with the children. LIMITATIONS - The Head Principal is a lovely lady and we like her a lot but unfortunately we did not feel aligned with the Deputy Principal’s leadership style. - Unfortunately, whilst the school claims to have tolerance of other people’s views, there is really little flexibility to accommodate for such philosophical indulgences with such strict Catholic education guidelines. - It appears to be too difficult for a Catholic school to manage questioners in their classrooms when the teachers are focussed on speaking about their faith as ‘the truth’. - We witnessed our child, who questioned the Catholic faith to be judged and ostracised by other children who had grown up or accepted the Catholic faith. Suddenly our child seemed to be a ‘problem child’ by the children, teachers and parents. IMPORTANT NOTE - Please be warned - This school has a no repeat policy. Meaning children who prove to be unready for the next year Level will generally be asked to leave the school. - This is a very, very religious school with strong Catholic rituals and daily indoctrination which includes about 30 minutes a day of bible study and prayer. - Children are also expected to walk in hand prayer formation to Chapel. ATMOSPHERE - Stressful, if you come from a background that is more open-minded and that encourages self expression without so many imposed limitation. - This school created immense stress for us and our child. Our child went from loving school to asking every day if he really had to go to school, all within a period of 6 months! PARKING - Extremely limited. Expect to have to park a few streets away and to have to walk to school (in sun and rain) unless you are willing to arrive 30 minutes early. CLEANLINESS - School premises is older and the undercover area could do with a re-fresh but the school grounds were usually well maintained and clean. WOULD I GO THERE AGAIN? - No. Definitely not. We are relieved and pleased that our child is now thriving in another school. NOTE - This review is not intended to offend anyone. - It is an honest reflection to help non-Christian families make a more informed decision. _________________________________________ PLEASE CLICK ‘LIKE’ if you found any part of my review useful or informative. I put a lot of effort into my reviews and it would make it worth while if I felt my time was well spent and made a difference. _________________________________________ For other reviews feel free to click on my Google profile. _________________________________________ THANKS"