Photo: Eric Jones · CC BY-SA 2.0Fewer of the schools around Kingscourt are in DEIS than around Co. Cavan’s towns or Irish towns: 0%
That puts Kingscourt below both Co. Cavan’s towns (24%) and Irish towns (35%). Its one secondary school within 3 km, Coláiste Dún an Rí, has 663 pupils. With no school results published in Ireland, and the Education Act 1998 restricting comparisons of them, these schools are described, not graded or ranked.
Schools in the town or within 3 km of its outline, Department of Education lists for 2025/26; the Ireland figures cover all schools listed.
What stands out about Kingscourt’s schools
More pupils every year
Pupil numbers at the schools here have grown faster than across Ireland (+5% since 2019/20), so classes and new places are a question worth asking. Pupils over time ↓
One school growing fast
The fastest-growing school here is Coláiste Dún an Rí: 404 pupils in 2019/20, 663 now. Getting a place ↓
Drawn from the Department of Education’s lists; none of it judges how well a school teaches.
Pupil numbers around Kingscourt
Pupils every September at the schools in or within 3 km of the town, each counted at today’s site.
The schools in and around Kingscourt had 652 pupils in 2015/16 and 1,252 in 2025/26. Coláiste Dún an Rí grew most: +64% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Kingscourt
Department of Education enrolments at 30 September each year, 2015/16 to 2025/26 (preliminary), for every school placed in the area today; schools that have since closed or merged count where they stood.
The 5 schools in and around Kingscourt
Here are the schools in Kingscourt or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. Ireland publishes no results school by school, so these cards carry no letters or results.
Where the 5 schools in and around Kingscourt are
Each school where the official list places it, shaded by who runs it and sized by pupils; squares are secondary schools, triangles special schools. The dashed shape is Kingscourt’s outline; schools within 3 km of it count.
Places from the Department of Education’s school lists (its own coordinates for all but a handful); map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Teaching through Irish in and around Kingscourt
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
None of the 5 schools in and around Kingscourt teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Kingscourt’s schools serve
The pupils at the area’s schools by share, beside Co. Cavan’s and Ireland’s, 2025/26
Each bar is the area’s share; the tick marks Ireland’s.
DEIS by stage: pupils at DEIS schools
| Share of pupils | Around Kingscourt | Co. Cavan | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 0% | 25% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 1% | 6% |
| Girls | 50% | 49% | 49% |
Around Kingscourt, 0% of pupils attend a school in DEIS; across Ireland it is 27%, and 25% in Co. Cavan. Set beside Ireland, pupils at all-Irish schools stand out most: 0% against 6%.
Each of the 5 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coláiste Dún an RíPost-primary · ETB | 663 | 50% | ||
| St Josephs N.S.Primary | 377 | 46% | ||
| Cabra Central N.S.Primary | 57 | 58% | ||
| S.N. Lathrach 2Primary | 129 | 58% | ||
| Carrickleck N.S.Primary | 26 | 46% |
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary): enrolments by sex and the DEIS list. Shares are of pupils, not of schools; a county’s are the schools listed with its towns.
Who runs Kingscourt’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
3 of Kingscourt’s 5 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Meath (3), Cavan & Monaghan ETB (1) and Bishop of Meath & Kildare COI (1). None of the 5 is in DEIS, the extra support for schools in disadvantaged areas (30% across Ireland).
Department of Education school lists: ethos 2025/26, patron 2024/25 (the 2025/26 lists don’t give it). DEIS list 2025/26.
The 3 patrons of Kingscourt’s schools
The patron owns the school and sets its ethos; a board of management runs it day to day.
Bishop of Meath is patron of 3 of the 5 schools around Kingscourt, which teach 42% of their pupils; 3 patrons run them in all. An Education and Training Board runs one of them.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of MeathSt Josephs, S.N. Lathrach 2, Carrickleck | Catholic | 3 | 532 |
| Cavan & Monaghan ETBColáiste Dún an Rí | Multi-denominational | 1 | 663 |
| Bishop of Meath & Kildare COICabra Central | Church of Ireland | 1 | 57 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Kingscourt
Starting primary school
Children can start primary school once they are four, and must be in school by six. Families apply to each school directly. Every school publishes an admission policy and a yearly admission notice; a school with more applicants than places admits on the criteria in its policy. Since the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018, a Catholic or other majority-faith primary school can’t put baptised children first; a school of a minority faith still can, to keep its ethos.
Moving to secondary school
Children move to post-primary school at about twelve, after sixth class. Again, families apply to each school, usually a year or more ahead, and an oversubscribed school admits on its published criteria, often brothers and sisters and its feeder primary schools.
Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018; each school’s admission policy and notice are on its own website.
Which schools are growing
Between 2019/20 and now, 1 of the 5 grew by 5% or more and 3 shrank as much, while Ireland’s pupil numbers moved +5%.
Department of Education enrolments at 30 September, 2019/20 and 2025/26 (preliminary). No capacity is published, so how full a school is can’t be shown.
Inspection reports for Kingscourt’s schools
The Inspectorate’s published reports for each school, linked, without ratings
Reports come from whole-school evaluations (teaching, learning, leadership and management), subject inspections and follow-through visits that check earlier advice; gov.ie publishes each one with the school’s response.
Reports say what inspectors found and what should improve, without an overall grade, so none appears here; each of the 5 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Coláiste Dún an RíPost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Josephs N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Cabra Central N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. Lathrach 2Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Carrickleck N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Kingscourt
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
Within 10 km of Kingscourt there are 2 post-primary schools: one ETB school and one voluntary secondary school. Of these, one teaches only girls or only boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coláiste Dún an RíETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 663 | 0.8 km |
| St Louis Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 414 | 9.9 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Kingscourt
No special school is in or near Kingscourt. 1 of the 4 primary schools have special classes for children who need more support. Their cards ↑
Special schools and primary schools with special classes as the Department lists them; the National Council for Special Education places pupils in special classes.
Kingscourt beside the 85 other Irish towns of 2,100 to 4,000 people
Towns of a similar size, with the schools in or within 3 km of each; ordered by population, never ranked
| Town | People | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charleville | 3,970 | 6 | 1,334 | 0 | 50% | 0.3 km |
| … | ||||||
| Moate | 3,013 | 4 | 1,410 | 0 | 0% | 0.4 km |
| Togher | 3,007 | 60 | 20,680 | 6 | 45% | 1 km |
| Bailieborough | 2,974 | 5 | 1,420 | 0 | 20% | 0.1 km |
| Ballina | 2,959 | 4 | 1,336 | 0 | 50% | 1.1 km |
| Kingscourt | 2,955 | 5 | 1,252 | 0 | 0% | 0.8 km |
| Muinebeag (Bagenalstown) | 2,945 | 6 | 1,570 | 0 | 50% | 0.5 km |
| Bantry | 2,929 | 4 | 1,227 | 1 | 0% | 0.9 km |
| Ballyjamesduff | 2,917 | 2 | 1,000 | 0 | 50% | 0.6 km |
| Boyle | 2,915 | 4 | 1,103 | 0 | 0% | 0.2 km |
| … | ||||||
| Dunleer | 2,143 | 5 | 1,205 | 0 | 20% | 0.8 km |
Of these 85 other towns, 55 count more pupils at their schools than Kingscourt. Within 3 km, 42 of these 86 towns have a school teaching through Irish.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Schools in the towns around Kingscourt
Schools in or within 3 km of each neighbouring town; distances in a straight line.
| Town | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kingscourt | 5 | 1,252 | 0 | 0% | 0.8 km |
| Carrickmacross 10 km | 6 | 2,352 | 1 | 17% | 0.2 km |
| Bailieborough 11 km | 5 | 1,420 | 0 | 20% | 0.1 km |
| Mullagh 13 km | 2 | 450 | 0 | 0% | 9.3 km |
| Ardee 19 km | 5 | 2,252 | 0 | 60% | 0.8 km |
Carrickmacross has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. Pupils around Kingscourt: +18% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Ardee led (+19%) and Mullagh trailed (−10%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Kingscourt or within 3 km of its outline, as the Department places it: families here use them. Schools further out are on the map of each school’s own page.
- The kinds of school. Primary schools take children from junior infants to sixth class, about ages 4 to 12. Post-primary schools teach the Junior and Leaving Certificate, about ages 12 to 18: voluntary secondary schools (mostly with a religious patron), ETB schools and community colleges run by an Education and Training Board, and community and comprehensive schools. Special schools teach children with particular needs.
- Teaching through Irish. All-Irish: every subject taught through Irish, in the Gaeltacht or, outside it, a Gaelscoil or Gaelcholáiste. Partly in Irish: an Irish stream (some classes entirely through Irish) or some subjects through Irish. Every other school teaches Irish as a subject.
- DEIS. DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) gives schools serving disadvantaged areas more teachers, money and support; the Department decides which schools are in it.
- Ethos and patron. Most Irish schools are owned by a patron, mostly a church; the patron sets the school’s ethos. Multi-denominational schools (Educate Together, many ETB schools) teach children of every faith and none together.
- No grade. Section 53 of the Education Act 1998 lets the Minister refuse to release information that would allow schools’ exam results to be compared, and no results are published school by school. So Ireland’s schools have no letters and its towns no School Grade; nothing on this page ranks them.
- What isn’t here. What the UK and French pages show from results, these can’t: results charts, results against pupils’ backgrounds and towns ranked by their schools (no published results), and how full each school is (no capacity is published). Every post-primary school teaches to the Leaving Certificate, so there is no sixth-form split to show.
- Inspections. The Inspectorate’s reports are linked from each school’s page. They give no overall grade, so none is shown.
- The year. The 2025/26 lists are the Department’s preliminary release; numbers can change a little in the final lists.
Questions about schools in Kingscourt
How many schools are there in Kingscourt?
In Kingscourt or within 3 km of it: 4 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 1,252 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Kingscourt that teach through Irish?
None in Kingscourt or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Kingscourt?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Kingscourt?
We don’t say. Ireland publishes no exam results school by school, and section 53 of the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them; a ranking would rest on guesses. Each school’s page has its own facts and a link to its inspection reports, and visiting the schools you are weighing is still the best guide.
How do I get a place at a school in Kingscourt?
Apply to each school directly: every school publishes an admission policy and a yearly admission notice with its dates. If it has more applicants than places, it admits on the criteria in its policy.
Sources: Department of Education, school lists 2025/26 (preliminary) and enrolments since 2015/16, CC BY 4.0 · one school placed with OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL). Under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).
Contains Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Census 2022, and Tailte Éireann boundaries (CSO Urban Areas, Small Areas, local electoral areas, constituencies), under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).