Photo: Siim Sepp ( Sandatlas ) · CC BY-SA 3.0Fewer single-sex secondaries around Loughshinny than around Co. Dublin’s towns or Irish towns: 0%
That leaves Loughshinny below both Co. Dublin’s towns (40%) and Irish towns (39%). They have 3,960 pupils between them, in or within 3 km of Loughshinny. 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 Loughshinny’s schools
A wide choice at twelve
Within 10 km of the town there are 9 post-primary schools to choose from, of different kinds; each sets its own admission policy, and many families apply to several. The nearest: St Joseph's Secondary School (3.1 km), Skerries Community College (3.7 km) and Lusk Community College (4.4 km). Post-primary choices ↓
Few schools in DEIS
DEIS, which gives schools in disadvantaged areas more teachers and money, includes just 1 of the 10 schools here, against 30% of schools across Ireland. The one in DEIS: St Joseph's Secondary School (945). Who goes there ↓
Drawn from the Department of Education’s lists; none of it judges how well a school teaches.
Where the 10 schools in and around Loughshinny 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 Loughshinny’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 Loughshinny
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
1 of Loughshinny’s 10 schools teach every subject through Irish: Gaelscoil Ros Eo.
Who Loughshinny’s schools serve
The pupils at the area’s schools by share, beside Co. Dublin’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 Loughshinny | Co. Dublin | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 24% | 28% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 4% | 6% | 6% |
| Girls | 48% | 49% | 49% |
| Post-primary pupils at single-sex schools | 0% | 38% | 29% |
| Post-primary pupils at fee-paying schools | 0% | 18% | 6% |
Around Loughshinny, 24% of pupils attend a school in DEIS; across Ireland it is 27%, and 28% in Co. Dublin. Set beside Ireland, post-primary pupils at single-sex schools stand out most: 0% against 29%. The largest DEIS school here is St Joseph's Secondary School, with 945 pupils.
Each of the 10 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scoil N. BreandanPrimary | 183 | 45% | ||
| Scoil Nais CaitrionaPrimary | 274 | 46% | ||
| Gaelscoil Ros EoPrimary | 167 | 54% | ✓ | |
| St Michaels Spec SchSpecial | 30 | 27% | ||
| Rush N.S.Primary | 698 | 50% | ||
| St Joseph's Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 945 | 46% | ✓ | |
| St Patricks Snr MixedPrimary | 338 | 50% | ||
| St Patricks Jnr MixedPrimary | 249 | 56% | ||
| Holmpatrick N.S.Primary | 51 | 39% | ||
| Skerries Community CollegePost-primary · ETB | 1,025 | 48% |
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 Loughshinny’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
7 of Loughshinny’s 10 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Archbishop of Dublin (5), An Foras Pátrúnachta (1) and St Michael's House (1). 1 of the 10 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 Loughshinny’s schools
Patrons own the schools and set their ethos; boards of management run them day to day.
Archbishop of Dublin is patron of 5 of the 10 schools around Loughshinny, which teach 44% of their pupils; 6 patrons run them in all. An Education and Training Board runs one of them.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archbishop of DublinRush, St Patricks Snr Mixed, Scoil Nais Caitriona, St Patricks Jnr Mixed, Scoil N. Breandan | Catholic | 5 | 1,742 |
| Dublin & Dún Laoghaire ETBSkerries | Inter-denominational | 1 | 1,025 |
| CEISTSt Joseph's | Catholic | 1 | 945 |
| An Foras PátrúnachtaGaelscoil Ros Eo | Multi-denominational | 1 | 167 |
| Archbishop of Dublin & Bishop of Glendalough COIHolmpatrick | Church of Ireland | 1 | 51 |
| St Michael's HouseSt Michaels Spec Sch | Catholic | 1 | 30 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Loughshinny
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
Of these 9 schools, 2 have grown by at least 5% since 2019/20 and 6 have lost as much; Ireland’s 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 10 schools in and around Loughshinny
Each school in or within 3 km of Loughshinny links to a page of its own. No letters, no results: Irish schools aren’t ranked one by one.
Inspection reports for Loughshinny’s schools
The Inspectorate’s published reports for each school, linked, without ratings
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 10 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Scoil N. BreandanPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil Nais CaitrionaPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Gaelscoil Ros EoPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Michaels Spec SchSpecial | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Rush N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Joseph's Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Patricks Snr MixedPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Patricks Jnr MixedPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Holmpatrick N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Skerries Community CollegePost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Loughshinny
Post-primary schools within 10 km of the town; children move at about twelve, and families apply to each school
Families in Loughshinny have 9 post-primary schools within 10 km: 5 ETB schools and 4 voluntary secondary schools. Of these, one teaches only girls or only boys. Just one teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Joseph's Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | DEIS | 945 | 3.1 km |
| Skerries Community CollegeETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 1,025 | 3.7 km |
| Lusk Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 1,104 | 4.4 km |
| Donabate Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 799 | 7.1 km |
| Ardgillan Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 1,014 | 8.1 km |
| Loreto Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 1,220 | 9.2 km |
| Balbriggan Community CollegeETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 686 | 9.3 km |
| Bremore Educate Together Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 824 | 9.5 km |
| Coláiste Ghlór na MaraVoluntary secondary · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | Gaelcholáiste | 520 | 9.9 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Loughshinny
St Michaels Spec Sch is the special school here, with 30 pupils. 2 of the 7 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.
Loughshinny beside the 187 other Irish towns of 500 to 1,000 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castletownbere | 999 | 3 | 524 | 0 | 67% | 0.4 km |
| … | ||||||
| Drumod | 753 | 2 | 284 | 0 | 0% | 7.8 km |
| An Bun Beag | 749 | 6 | 913 | 6 | 100% | 3.3 km |
| Ballyhaise | 748 | 2 | 335 | 0 | 0% | 3.7 km |
| Corrofin | 745 | 3 | 466 | 0 | 0% | 8.4 km |
| Loughshinny | 741 | 10 | 3,960 | 1 | 10% | 3.1 km |
| Killenard | 741 | 3 | 1,391 | 0 | 0% | 5 km |
| Taghmon | 740 | 1 | 183 | 0 | 100% | 9 km |
| Moneenroe | 739 | 3 | 236 | 0 | 67% | 5.2 km |
| Kildalkey | 739 | 1 | 210 | 0 | 0% | 6 km |
| … | ||||||
| Stradbally | 500 | 2 | 134 | 0 | 0% | 8.7 km |
Of these 187 other towns, 3 count more pupils at their schools than Loughshinny. An all-Irish school is within 3 km of 16 of the 188.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Loughshinny
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 Loughshinny had 3,832 pupils in 2015/16 and 3,960 in 2025/26. St Joseph's Secondary School grew most: +19% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Loughshinny
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 Loughshinny
For each nearby town, its schools in or within 3 km of its outline, with straight-line distances.
Rush has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 2. Since 2019/20 the pupils around Loughshinny changed by −3%; among its neighbours, Portrane’s grew most (+9%) and Skerries’s least (−8%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Loughshinny 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 Loughshinny
How many schools are there in Loughshinny?
In Loughshinny or within 3 km of it: 7 primary schools, 2 secondary schools and 1 special school, with 3,960 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Loughshinny that teach through Irish?
Yes, 1: Gaelscoil Ros Eo teach every subject through Irish.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Loughshinny?
No: all 2 secondary schools here are free.
What is the best school in Loughshinny?
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 Loughshinny?
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).