Photo: Clint Mann · CC BY-SA 2.0Few schools around Macroom teach through Irish: 0%, below Co. Cork’s towns and Irish towns
For Macroom, that is below both Co. Cork’s towns (9%) and Irish towns (8%). 3 primary schools and 3 secondary schools are in or within 3 km of Macroom. Nothing here grades or ranks these schools: Ireland publishes no results school by school, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them.
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 Macroom’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 ↓
From the Department of Education’s school lists: facts, not judgements of how well a school teaches.
Pupil numbers around Macroom
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 Macroom had 1,543 pupils in 2015/16 and 1,897 in 2025/26. McEgan College grew most: +60% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Macroom
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.
Where the 6 schools in and around Macroom 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 Macroom’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 Macroom
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
None of the 6 schools in and around Macroom teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Macroom’s schools serve
How the area’s pupils divide, against 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 Macroom | Co. Cork | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 15% | 18% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 8% | 6% |
| Girls | 63% | 49% | 49% |
| Post-primary pupils at single-sex schools | 38% | 33% | 29% |
| Post-primary pupils at fee-paying schools | 0% | 7% | 6% |
Around Macroom, 15% of pupils attend a school in DEIS; across Ireland it is 27%, and 18% in Co. Cork. Where this area differs most from Ireland is girls, at 63% against 49%. McEgan College, with 289 pupils, is the largest school here in DEIS.
Each of the 6 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| De La Salle CollegePost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 409 | – | ||
| McEgan CollegePost-primary · ETB | 289 | 49% | ✓ | |
| St Mary'S Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 431 | 100% | ||
| Macroom Boys Senior National SchoolPrimary | 186 | 2% | ||
| Macroom Convent N.S.Primary | 306 | 79% | ||
| Clondrohid N.S.Primary | 276 | 44% |
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 Macroom’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
5 of Macroom’s 6 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Cloyne (4), Cork ETB (1) and CEIST (1). 1 of the 6 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 3 patrons of Macroom’s schools
The patron owns the school and sets its ethos; a board of management runs it day to day.
Of the 6 schools around Macroom, 4 have Bishop of Cloyne as patron, teaching 62% of the pupils; 3 patrons in all. One is an ETB school.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of CloyneDe La Salle College, Macroom Convent, Clondrohid, Macroom Boys Senior | Catholic | 4 | 1,177 |
| CEISTSt Mary'S | Catholic | 1 | 431 |
| Cork ETBMcEgan College | Multi-denominational | 1 | 289 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Macroom
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, 4 of these 6 schools have grown by 5% or more and 1 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.
The 6 schools in and around Macroom
Each school in or within 3 km of Macroom links to a page of its own. These schools carry no letter or result: Ireland doesn’t release them school by school.
Inspection reports for Macroom’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 6 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| De La Salle CollegePost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| McEgan CollegePost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Mary'S Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Macroom Boys Senior National SchoolPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Macroom Convent N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Clondrohid 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 Macroom
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
Families in Macroom have 3 post-primary schools within 10 km: 2 voluntary secondary schools and one ETB school. Of these, one teaches only girls or only boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| De La Salle CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 409 | 0.1 km |
| McEgan CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 289 | 0.4 km |
| St Mary'S Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 431 | 0.7 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Macroom
No special school is in or near Macroom. 2 of the 3 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.
Macroom beside the 91 other Irish towns of 2,900 to 5,500 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ardee | 5,478 | 5 | 2,252 | 0 | 60% | 0.8 km |
| … | ||||||
| Prospect and Newtown Pery | 4,122 | 46 | 15,489 | 5 | 48% | 0.7 km |
| Montenotte | 4,113 | 70 | 20,121 | 8 | 49% | 0.5 km |
| Rathbane | 4,111 | 52 | 19,628 | 7 | 33% | 1.5 km |
| Grange | 4,109 | 32 | 12,776 | 3 | 41% | 1.3 km |
| Macroom | 4,096 | 6 | 1,897 | 0 | 17% | 0.1 km |
| Newcastle | 4,032 | 31 | 11,321 | 5 | 29% | 0.9 km |
| Charleville | 3,970 | 6 | 1,334 | 0 | 50% | 0.3 km |
| Castleblayney | 3,926 | 9 | 2,076 | 1 | 44% | 0.5 km |
| Claremorris | 3,857 | 3 | 1,120 | 0 | 0% | 0.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Skibbereen | 2,903 | 5 | 1,562 | 1 | 0% | 0.8 km |
More pupils attend the schools around 58 of the other 91 towns than around Macroom. 60 of the 92 towns have an all-Irish school within 3 km.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Schools in the towns around Macroom
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Macroom | 6 | 1,897 | 0 | 17% | 0.1 km |
| Millstreet 18 km | 4 | 703 | 0 | 0% | 0.9 km |
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Macroom 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 Macroom
How many schools are there in Macroom?
In Macroom or within 3 km of it: 3 primary schools and 3 secondary schools, with 1,897 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Macroom that teach through Irish?
None in Macroom 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 Macroom?
No: all 3 secondary schools here are free.
What is the best school in Macroom?
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 Macroom?
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).