Photo: Joseph Mischyshyn · CC BY-SA 2.0The schools around Kilkee have grown: pupils +25% since 2019/20, more than around Co. Clare’s towns or Irish towns
On this, Kilkee is above both Co. Clare’s towns (+1%) and Irish towns (+4%). Its schools have 312 pupils, 25% more than in 2019/20. Nothing here grades or ranks these schools: Ireland publishes no results school by school, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them.
Counted from the Department of Education’s 2025/26 lists: every school in the town or within 3 km of it, against every school in Ireland.
What stands out about Kilkee’s schools
Extra support for many schools
Many schools here are in DEIS, which gives schools in disadvantaged areas more teachers, money and help; across Ireland, 30% of schools are. In DEIS: St Joseph's Community College (171) and Scoil Realt na Mara (134). Who runs them ↓
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 ↓
From the Department of Education’s school lists: facts, not judgements of how well a school teaches.
Who runs Kilkee’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
2 of Kilkee’s 3 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Killaloe (2) and Limerick & Clare ETB (1). 2 of the 3 are 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.
Pupil numbers around Kilkee
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 Kilkee had 257 pupils in 2015/16 and 312 in 2025/26. Scoil Realt na Mara grew most: +86% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Kilkee
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 3 schools in and around Kilkee
Here are the schools in Kilkee or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. Ireland publishes no school-by-school results, which is why these cards have no letters.
Where the 3 schools in and around Kilkee 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 Kilkee’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 Kilkee
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
None of the 3 schools in and around Kilkee teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Kilkee’s schools serve
Shares of the pupils at the area’s schools, beside Co. Clare’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 Kilkee | Co. Clare | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 98% | 18% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 3% | 6% |
| Girls | 50% | 50% | 49% |
DEIS schools teach 98% of the pupils around Kilkee, a larger share than Ireland’s 27% (Co. Clare: 18%). The biggest difference from Ireland is in pupils at all-Irish schools: 0% here, 6% there. Of the DEIS schools here, St Joseph's Community College is the biggest: 171 pupils.
Each of the 3 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Joseph's Community CollegePost-primary · ETB | 171 | 51% | ✓ | |
| Scoil Realt na MaraPrimary | 134 | 47% | ✓ | |
| Bansha N.S.Primary | 7 | 71% |
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.
The 2 patrons of Kilkee’s schools
The patron owns the school and sets its ethos; a board of management runs it day to day.
Bishop of Killaloe is patron of 2 of the 3 schools around Kilkee, which teach 45% of their pupils; 2 patrons run them in all. The local Education and Training Board runs one.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of KillaloeScoil Realt na Mara, Bansha | Catholic | 2 | 141 |
| Limerick & Clare ETBSt Joseph's | Inter-denominational | 1 | 171 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Kilkee
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, 2 of the 3 grew by 5% or more and 1 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 Kilkee’s schools
The Inspectorate’s published reports for each school, linked, without ratings
Each school is visited by inspectors from time to time, for a whole-school evaluation of teaching, learning and leadership, for one subject, or to follow up earlier advice, and every report is posted on gov.ie with the school’s response.
The reports describe what inspectors saw and what each school should do next. They give no overall grade, so none is shown here; the 3 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| St Joseph's Community CollegePost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil Realt na MaraPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Bansha 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 Kilkee
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
The only post-primary school within 10 km of Kilkee is St Joseph's Community College, an ETB school. It takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Joseph's Community CollegeETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 171 | 0.8 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Kilkee beside the 136 other Irish towns of 800 to 1,600 people
Each town’s schools in or within 3 km, listed by population: Ireland publishes no results, so none is ranked
| Town | People | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kilbeggan | 1,575 | 2 | 966 | 0 | 0% | 1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Rathkeale | 1,231 | 5 | 971 | 0 | 60% | 0.2 km |
| Ardnacrusha | 1,229 | 5 | 2,332 | 0 | 20% | 3.1 km |
| Adare | 1,224 | 4 | 446 | 0 | 0% | 6.6 km |
| Daingean | 1,223 | 1 | 261 | 0 | 100% | 13 km |
| Kilkee | 1,214 | 3 | 312 | 0 | 67% | 0.8 km |
| Clonee | 1,205 | 25 | 12,320 | 2 | 28% | 1.3 km |
| Urlingford | 1,196 | 2 | 882 | 0 | 100% | 3.1 km |
| Kinlough | 1,196 | 3 | 898 | 0 | 33% | 3.2 km |
| Kentstown | 1,195 | 1 | 214 | 0 | 0% | 8.1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Ballon | 801 | 1 | 239 | 0 | 0% | 7.5 km |
Of these 136 other towns, 97 count more pupils at their schools than Kilkee. Within 3 km, 15 of these 137 towns have a school teaching through Irish.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Schools in the towns around Kilkee
Each town’s schools in or within 3 km of its outline; distances as the crow flies.
| Town | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kilkee | 3 | 312 | 0 | 67% | 0.8 km |
| Kilrush 11 km | 3 | 733 | 1 | 100% | 0.4 km |
| Ballybunion 19 km | 3 | 586 | 0 | 33% | 0.5 km |
Kilrush has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. Pupils around Kilkee: +25% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Ballybunion led (+8%) and Kilrush trailed (−11%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Kilkee 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 Kilkee
How many schools are there in Kilkee?
In Kilkee or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 312 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Kilkee that teach through Irish?
None in Kilkee 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 Kilkee?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Kilkee?
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 Kilkee?
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).