Pupil numbers around Saleen have fallen behind Co. Cork’s towns and Irish towns: −16% since 2019/20
In the comparison, Saleen comes below both Co. Cork’s towns (+1%) and Irish towns (+4%). Pupils: 653, down 16% since 2019/20. Ireland publishes no school results, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them, so these schools are described here, never graded or ranked.
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 Saleen’s schools
Fewer pupils than before
Pupil numbers at the schools here have fallen since 2019/20, against +5% across Ireland. Pupils over time ↓
A wide choice at twelve
Within 10 km of the town there are 8 post-primary schools to choose from, of different kinds; each sets its own admission policy, and many families apply to several. The nearest: Christian Brothers Secondary School (4.6 km), St Mary's High School (4.7 km) and St Colman's Community College (4.9 km). Post-primary choices ↓
Facts from the Department of Education’s lists; nothing here judges how well a school teaches.
Where the 2 schools in and around Saleen 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 Saleen’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.
Pupil numbers around Saleen
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 Saleen had 684 pupils in 2015/16 and 653 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Saleen
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.
Who runs Saleen’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
2 of Saleen’s 2 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. Their patron: Bishop of Cloyne (2). None of the 2 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.
Teaching through Irish in and around Saleen
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
None of the 2 schools in and around Saleen teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Saleen’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.
| Share of pupils | Around Saleen | Co. Cork | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 0% | 18% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 8% | 6% |
| Girls | 50% | 49% | 49% |
0% of the pupils around Saleen are at a DEIS school, fewer than the 27% across Ireland (18% in Co. Cork). The biggest difference from Ireland is in pupils at all-Irish schools: 0% here, 6% there.
Each of the 2 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S N na Scairte LeithePrimary | 378 | 49% | ||
| Cloyne National SchoolPrimary | 275 | 52% |
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.
How children get a place in Saleen
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
0 schools here have grown by 5% or more since 2019/20, 2 have shrunk by as much, out of 2; across Ireland: +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 2 schools in and around Saleen
Here are the schools in Saleen or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. Results by school aren’t published in Ireland, so the cards carry none.
Inspection reports for Saleen’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 2 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| S N na Scairte LeithePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Cloyne National SchoolPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Saleen
Post-primary schools within 10 km of the town; children move at about twelve, and families apply to each school
Within 10 km of Saleen there are 8 post-primary schools: 5 voluntary secondary schools and 3 ETB schools. Of these, 3 are single-sex: 2 for girls and 1 for boys. One of them charges fees. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christian Brothers Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Boys | – | 957 | 4.6 km |
| St Mary's High SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 762 | 4.7 km |
| St Colman's Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 1,171 | 4.9 km |
| Midleton CollegeVoluntary secondary · Church of Ireland | Girls and boys | Fee-paying, Boarding | 498 | 5.5 km |
| St Aloysius CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 765 | 8.1 km |
| Carrignafoy Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 322 | 8.4 km |
| Carrigtwohill Post PrimaryETB · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 912 | 8.5 km |
| Coláiste MuireVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 709 | 8.9 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Saleen
No special school is in or near Saleen. 1 of the 2 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.
Saleen beside the 215 other Irish towns of 400 to 800 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crinkill | 795 | 7 | 1,708 | 1 | 86% | 3.1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Pallaskenry | 610 | 3 | 1,055 | 0 | 0% | 1 km |
| Conna | 609 | 1 | 149 | 0 | 0% | 13 km |
| Clonaslee | 608 | 2 | 363 | 0 | 50% | 1.1 km |
| Ballymurn | 607 | 2 | 207 | 0 | 0% | 6.7 km |
| Saleen | 601 | 2 | 653 | 0 | 0% | 4.6 km |
| Na Dúnaibh | 601 | 2 | 202 | 1 | 100% | 14 km |
| Freshford | 593 | 2 | 244 | 0 | 50% | 10 km |
| Fahan | 589 | 1 | 189 | 0 | 0% | 4.9 km |
| Killala | 587 | 3 | 191 | 0 | 67% | 4.9 km |
| … | ||||||
| Oilgate | 401 | 2 | 152 | 0 | 100% | 6.2 km |
Among the 215 other towns, 39 have more pupils at their schools than Saleen does. Teaching through Irish is on offer within 3 km in 18 of the 216.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Schools in the towns around Saleen
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saleen | 2 | 653 | 0 | 0% | 4.6 km |
| Cloyne 2.8 km | 2 | 653 | 0 | 0% | 5.8 km |
| Aghada-Rostellan 4.5 km | 3 | 574 | 0 | 0% | 5.5 km |
| Midleton 5.4 km | 10 | 5,560 | 1 | 10% | 0.3 km |
| Whitegate 5.8 km | 2 | 391 | 0 | 0% | 5.2 km |
| Carrigtwohill 8.3 km | 6 | 2,782 | 0 | 0% | 0.2 km |
| Castlemartyr 9.4 km | 2 | 314 | 0 | 0% | 8 km |
Midleton has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. The roll around Saleen moved −16% since 2019/20; nearby, Carrigtwohill grew most (+24%) and Castlemartyr least (−18%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Saleen 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 Saleen
How many schools are there in Saleen?
In Saleen or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools, with 653 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Saleen that teach through Irish?
None in Saleen or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Saleen?
Not in Saleen or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Christian Brothers Secondary School, 4.6 km away.
What is the best school in Saleen?
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 Saleen?
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).