Photo: Seighean · Public domainAround Fermoy, only 17% of schools are in DEIS, fewer than around Co. Cork’s towns or Irish towns
On this, Fermoy is below both Co. Cork’s towns (40%) and Irish towns (35%). In or within 3 km of Fermoy: 8 primary schools, 3 secondary schools and 1 special school, 3,461 pupils in all. Ireland publishes no school results, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them, so these schools are described here, never 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 Fermoy’s schools
Mostly single-sex at secondary
Most secondary schools here take only boys or only girls; the mixed ones are marked on the cards below. Single-sex: Loreto Secondary School (729) and Coláiste Cholmáin (716). Every school ↓
Facts from the Department of Education’s lists; nothing here judges how well a school teaches.
The 12 schools in and around Fermoy
Here are the schools in Fermoy or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. No letters, no results: Irish schools aren’t ranked one by one.
Where the 12 schools in and around Fermoy 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 Fermoy’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 Fermoy
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
1 of Fermoy’s 12 schools teach every subject through Irish: Gaelscoil de hIde.
Who Fermoy’s schools serve
The pupils at the area’s schools by share, beside Co. Cork’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 Fermoy | Co. Cork | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 29% | 18% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 9% | 8% | 6% |
| Girls | 48% | 49% | 49% |
| Post-primary pupils at single-sex schools | 61% | 33% | 29% |
| Post-primary pupils at fee-paying schools | 0% | 7% | 6% |
The share of pupils at DEIS schools around Fermoy, 29%, is close to Ireland’s 27% (Co. Cork: 18%). Where this area differs most from Ireland is post-primary pupils at single-sex schools, at 61% against 29%. Coláiste an Chraoibhín, with 918 pupils, is the largest school here in DEIS.
Each of the 12 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coláiste an ChraoibhínPost-primary · ETB | 918 | 46% | ✓ | |
| Loreto Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 729 | 100% | ||
| Coláiste CholmáinPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 716 | 0% | ||
| Gaelscoil de hIdePrimary | 328 | 47% | ✓ | |
| Scoil Freastogail MuirePrimary | 236 | 69% | ||
| Bishop Murphy Memorial Boys Senior National SchoolPrimary | 112 | 0% | ||
| Iosef NaofaPrimary | 90 | 48% | ✓ | |
| Fermoy Educate Together NSPrimary | 78 | 46% | ||
| Fermoy Adair N.S.Primary | 21 | 52% | ||
| North Cork Community Special SchoolSpecial | 19 | 16% | ||
| Grange Fermoy N.S.Primary | 134 | 54% | ||
| Scoil Mhuire gan Smál, ClondulanePrimary | 80 | 50% |
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 Fermoy’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
8 of Fermoy’s 12 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Cloyne (7), Cork ETB (1) and Loreto Education Trust (1). 2 of the 12 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.
The 6 patrons of Fermoy’s schools
The patron owns the school and sets its ethos; a board of management runs it day to day.
Bishop of Cloyne is patron of 7 of the 12 schools around Fermoy, which teach 49% of their pupils; 6 patrons run them in all. An Education and Training Board runs one of them. Educate Together runs one.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of CloyneColáiste Cholmáin, Gaelscoil de hIde, Scoil Freastogail Muire, Grange Fermoy, Bishop Murphy Memorial Boys Senior, Iosef Naofa, Scoil Mhuire gan Smál, Clondulane | Catholic | 7 | 1,696 |
| Cork ETBColáiste an Chraoibhín | Multi-denominational | 1 | 918 |
| Loreto Education TrustLoreto | Catholic | 1 | 729 |
| Educate TogetherFermoy Educate Together NS | Multi-denominational | 1 | 78 |
| Bishop of Cork, Cloyne & Ross COIFermoy Adair | Church of Ireland | 1 | 21 |
| patron not listedNorth Cork Community Special School | Multi-denominational | 1 | 19 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Fermoy
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
Since 2019/20, 3 of these 10 schools have grown by 5% or more and 7 have shrunk as much; across Ireland the number of pupils changed by +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 Fermoy’s schools
The Department of Education’s Inspectorate: every school’s reports linked, none rated
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 12 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Coláiste an ChraoibhínPost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Loreto Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Coláiste CholmáinPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Gaelscoil de hIdePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil Freastogail MuirePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Bishop Murphy Memorial Boys Senior National SchoolPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Iosef NaofaPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Fermoy Educate Together NSPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Fermoy Adair N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| North Cork Community Special SchoolSpecial | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Grange Fermoy N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil Mhuire gan Smál, ClondulanePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Fermoy
Post-primary schools within 10 km of the town; children move at about twelve, and families apply to each school
Families in Fermoy have 3 post-primary schools within 10 km: 2 voluntary secondary schools and one ETB school. Of these, 2 are single-sex: 1 for girls and 1 for boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coláiste CholmáinVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Boys | – | 716 | 0.2 km |
| Loreto Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 729 | 0.3 km |
| Coláiste an ChraoibhínETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 918 | 0.4 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Fermoy
North Cork Community Special School is the special school here, with 19 pupils. 5 of the 8 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.
Fermoy beside the 100 other Irish towns of 4,700 to 9,100 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waterford City Centre | 9,031 | 33 | 12,411 | 2 | 39% | 0.5 km |
| … | ||||||
| Westport | 6,872 | 10 | 2,121 | 1 | 20% | 0.6 km |
| Eyre Square | 6,801 | 36 | 12,413 | 5 | 33% | 1.2 km |
| Christchurch | 6,778 | 119 | 29,651 | 8 | 51% | 0.3 km |
| O'Connell Street | 6,749 | 124 | 33,516 | 11 | 52% | 0.5 km |
| Fermoy | 6,720 | 12 | 3,461 | 1 | 17% | 0.2 km |
| Santry | 6,710 | 64 | 20,947 | 7 | 64% | 1.7 km |
| Dunshaughlin | 6,644 | 5 | 2,399 | 1 | 0% | 0.4 km |
| Kells | 6,608 | 6 | 2,154 | 0 | 0% | 0.6 km |
| Ballinasloe | 6,597 | 6 | 2,019 | 1 | 50% | 1.8 km |
| … | ||||||
| Birr | 4,726 | 7 | 1,708 | 1 | 86% | 1.4 km |
Of these 100 other towns, 70 count more pupils at their schools than Fermoy. 88 of the 101 towns have an all-Irish school within 3 km.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Fermoy
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 Fermoy had 2,859 pupils in 2015/16 and 3,461 in 2025/26. Coláiste Cholmáin grew most: +39% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Fermoy
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.
Schools in the towns around Fermoy
For each nearby town, its schools in or within 3 km of its outline, with straight-line distances.
| Town | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fermoy | 12 | 3,461 | 1 | 17% | 0.2 km |
| Kilworth 5.1 km | 2 | 371 | 0 | 0% | 5.1 km |
| Rathcormac 6.9 km | 3 | 715 | 0 | 0% | 6.6 km |
| Mitchelstown 14 km | 5 | 1,646 | 0 | 40% | 0.4 km |
| Watergrasshill 15 km | 1 | 391 | 0 | 0% | 8.8 km |
Of Fermoy’s neighbours, Mitchelstown saw the most growth in pupils since 2019/20 (+12%) and Rathcormac the least (−5%); Fermoy itself: +10%.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Fermoy 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 Fermoy
How many schools are there in Fermoy?
In Fermoy or within 3 km of it: 8 primary schools, 3 secondary schools and 1 special school, with 3,461 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Fermoy that teach through Irish?
Yes, 1: Gaelscoil de hIde teach every subject through Irish.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Fermoy?
No: all 3 secondary schools here are free.
What is the best school in Fermoy?
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 Fermoy?
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).