Photo: David P Howard · CC BY-SA 2.0DEIS support is less common around Mallow: 18% of schools, below Co. Cork’s towns and Irish towns
In the comparison, Mallow comes below both Co. Cork’s towns (40%) and Irish towns (35%). Families in Mallow have 8 primary schools and 3 secondary schools within 3 km, teaching 4,357 pupils. These schools are described rather than graded, because Ireland publishes no school results 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 Mallow’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: St Mary's Secondary School (749) and Patrician Academy (568). Every school ↓
One school growing fast
Of the schools here, Davis College has grown fastest, from 822 in 2019/20 to 1,033. Getting a place ↓
From the Department of Education’s school lists: facts, not judgements of how well a school teaches.
The 11 schools in and around Mallow
Every school in Mallow or within 3 km of its outline, each linked to its own page. Without school-level results from Ireland, the cards show no letters.
Where the 11 schools in and around Mallow 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 Mallow’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 Mallow
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
1 of Mallow’s 11 schools teach every subject through Irish: Gael Scoil Thomais Daibhis.
Who Mallow’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 Mallow | Co. Cork | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 34% | 18% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 9% | 8% | 6% |
| Girls | 49% | 49% | 49% |
| Post-primary pupils at single-sex schools | 56% | 33% | 29% |
| Post-primary pupils at fee-paying schools | 0% | 7% | 6% |
Around Mallow, 34% 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 post-primary pupils at single-sex schools, at 56% against 29%. Davis College, with 1,033 pupils, is the largest school here in DEIS.
Each of the 11 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Davis CollegePost-primary · ETB | 1,033 | 41% | ✓ | |
| St Mary's Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 749 | 100% | ||
| Patrician AcademyPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 568 | 0% | ||
| Scoil GhobnatanPrimary | 470 | 47% | ✓ | |
| Gael Scoil Thomais DaibhisPrimary | 412 | 50% | ✓ | |
| Convent Girls Senior National SchoolPrimary | 246 | 92% | ||
| S.N. Naomh Padraig Boys Senior SchoolPrimary | 212 | 0% | ||
| Mallow Community National SchoolPrimary | 202 | 37% | ||
| S.N. IosagainPrimary | 133 | 53% | ||
| S.N. RathainPrimary | 125 | 54% | ||
| S.N. Dhrom AthainPrimary | 207 | 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 Mallow’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
9 of Mallow’s 11 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Cloyne (8), Cork ETB (2) and CEIST (1). 2 of the 11 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 Mallow’s schools
Patrons own the schools and set their ethos; boards of management run them day to day.
3 patrons run the 11 schools around Mallow; the largest, Bishop of Cloyne, has 8 of them and 54% of the pupils. The local Education and Training Board runs 2.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of CloynePatrician Academy, Scoil Ghobnatan, Gael Scoil Thomais Daibhis, Convent Girls Senior, S.N. Naomh Padraig Boys Senior School, S.N. Dhrom Athain, S.N. Iosagain, S.N. Rathain | Catholic | 8 | 2,373 |
| Cork ETBDavis College, Mallow Community | Multi-denominational | 2 | 1,235 |
| CEISTSt Mary's | Catholic | 1 | 749 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Mallow
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, 4 of the 11 grew by 5% or more and 5 shrank as much, while Ireland’s pupil numbers moved +5%.
All 11 schools
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 Mallow’s schools
The Department of Education’s Inspectorate: every school’s reports linked, none rated
Inspectors visit every kind of school. Whole-school evaluations look at teaching and learning, leadership and management; subject inspections look at one subject; follow-through inspections check whether earlier advice was taken. Each report is published 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 11 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Davis CollegePost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Mary's Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Patrician AcademyPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil GhobnatanPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Gael Scoil Thomais DaibhisPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Convent Girls Senior National SchoolPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. Naomh Padraig Boys Senior SchoolPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Mallow Community National SchoolPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. IosagainPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. RathainPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. Dhrom AthainPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Mallow
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
3 post-primary schools are within 10 km of Mallow: 2 voluntary secondary schools and one ETB school. 2 teach girls and boys apart: 1 girls’ and 1 boys’ schools. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patrician AcademyVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Boys | – | 568 | 0.6 km |
| St Mary's Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 749 | 0.7 km |
| Davis CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 1,033 | 1.1 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Mallow
No special school is in or near Mallow. 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.
Mallow beside the 82 other Irish towns of 9,400 to 18,200 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Templeogue | 18,076 | 118 | 40,646 | 8 | 34% | 0.5 km |
| … | ||||||
| Mahon | 13,892 | 63 | 18,590 | 8 | 30% | 0.4 km |
| Knocklyon | 13,854 | 75 | 27,868 | 6 | 23% | 0.3 km |
| Deansrath | 13,743 | 64 | 26,713 | 6 | 34% | 0.3 km |
| Whitehall | 13,675 | 132 | 37,232 | 12 | 61% | 0.2 km |
| Mallow | 13,456 | 11 | 4,357 | 1 | 18% | 0.6 km |
| Arklow | 13,399 | 9 | 3,343 | 2 | 33% | 0.3 km |
| Ongar | 13,390 | 42 | 22,425 | 3 | 21% | 0.3 km |
| Sallynoggin | 13,245 | 51 | 15,036 | 2 | 24% | 0.6 km |
| Castlebar | 13,054 | 12 | 4,272 | 1 | 17% | 0.3 km |
| … | ||||||
| Trim | 9,563 | 7 | 3,065 | 1 | 14% | 0.5 km |
Of the other 82 towns, 65 have more pupils at the schools around them than Mallow. Every one of them has an all-Irish school within 3 km.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Mallow
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 Mallow had 4,292 pupils in 2015/16 and 4,357 in 2025/26. Mallow Community National School grew most: +50% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Mallow
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 Mallow
For each nearby town, its schools in or within 3 km of its outline, with straight-line distances.
Since 2019/20 the pupils around Mallow changed by +3%; among its neighbours, Buttevant’s grew most (+25%) and Kanturk’s least (+14%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Mallow 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 Mallow
How many schools are there in Mallow?
In Mallow or within 3 km of it: 8 primary schools and 3 secondary schools, with 4,357 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Mallow that teach through Irish?
Yes, 1: Gael Scoil Thomais Daibhis teach every subject through Irish.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Mallow?
No: all 3 secondary schools here are free.
What is the best school in Mallow?
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 Mallow?
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).