Photo: Eirian Evans · CC BY-SA 2.0Fewer single-sex secondaries around Rush than around Co. Dublin’s towns or Irish towns: 0%
For Rush, that is below both Co. Dublin’s towns (40%) and Irish towns (39%). 6 of its 13 schools are multi- or inter-denominational, against 14% across Ireland. 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 Rush’s schools
More all-Irish schools than most places
Families here have more choice of a school that teaches every subject through Irish than in most of Ireland, where 8% of schools do. They are Gaelscoil Ros Eo (167) and Gaelscoil na Mara (123). Language ↓
A choice beyond the church schools
Most schools in Ireland have a church patron; here more of them are multi- or inter-denominational than in most places (14% across Ireland). They are Lusk Community College (1,104), Donabate Community College (799), Donabate/Portrane Educate Together NS (414) and Rush and Lusk Educate Together NS (393), and 2 more. Who runs them ↓
Few schools in DEIS
Just 1 of the 13 schools here get DEIS support for disadvantaged areas; 30% do across Ireland. The one in DEIS: St Joseph's Secondary School (945). Who goes there ↓
From the Department of Education’s school lists: facts, not judgements of how well a school teaches.
Teaching through Irish in and around Rush
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
2 of Rush’s 13 schools teach every subject through Irish: Gaelscoil Ros Eo and Gaelscoil na Mara.
Who runs Rush’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
6 of Rush’s 13 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Archbishop of Dublin (5), Dublin & Dún Laoghaire ETB (3) and An Foras Pátrúnachta (2). 1 of the 13 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.
Where the 13 schools in and around Rush 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 Rush’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.
Who Rush’s schools serve
How the area’s pupils divide, against 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 Rush | Co. Dublin | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 16% | 28% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 5% | 6% | 6% |
| Girls | 47% | 49% | 49% |
| Post-primary pupils at single-sex schools | 0% | 38% | 29% |
| Post-primary pupils at fee-paying schools | 0% | 18% | 6% |
DEIS schools teach 16% of the pupils around Rush, a smaller share than Ireland’s 27% (Co. Dublin: 28%). Where this area differs most from Ireland is post-primary pupils at single-sex schools, at 0% against 29%. St Joseph's Secondary School, with 945 pupils, is the largest school here in DEIS.
Each of the 13 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Joseph's Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 945 | 46% | ✓ | |
| Rush N.S.Primary | 698 | 50% | ||
| Scoil Nais CaitrionaPrimary | 274 | 46% | ||
| Gaelscoil Ros EoPrimary | 167 | 54% | ✓ | |
| Scoil N. BreandanPrimary | 183 | 45% | ||
| Crannog Nua Special SchoolSpecial | 5 | 40% | ||
| St Patricks Boys National SchoolPrimary | 370 | 0% | ||
| S.N. C Naomh PadraigPrimary | 376 | 100% | ||
| Donabate/Portrane Educate Together NSPrimary | 414 | 47% | ||
| Donabate Community CollegePost-primary · ETB | 799 | 44% | ||
| Rush and Lusk Educate Together NSPrimary | 393 | 45% | ||
| Lusk Community CollegePost-primary · ETB | 1,104 | 48% | ||
| Gaelscoil na MaraPrimary | 123 | 39% | ✓ |
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.
The 5 patrons of Rush’s schools
The patron owns the school and sets its ethos; a board of management runs it day to day.
Archbishop of Dublin is patron of 5 of the 13 schools around Rush, which teach 32% of their pupils; 5 patrons run them in all. 3 are ETB schools. Educate Together runs 2.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archbishop of DublinRush, S.N. C Naomh Padraig, St Patricks Boys, Scoil Nais Caitriona, Scoil N. Breandan | Catholic | 5 | 1,901 |
| Dublin & Dún Laoghaire ETBLusk, Donabate, Crannog Nua Special School | Multi-denominational, Other | 3 | 1,908 |
| Educate TogetherDonabate/Portrane Educate Together NS, Rush and Lusk Educate Together NS | Multi-denominational | 2 | 807 |
| An Foras PátrúnachtaGaelscoil Ros Eo, Gaelscoil na Mara | Multi-denominational | 2 | 290 |
| CEISTSt Joseph's | Catholic | 1 | 945 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Rush
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, 2 of the 11 grew by 5% or more and 8 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.
The 13 schools in and around Rush
Every school in Rush or within 3 km of its outline, each linked to its own page. Letters and results are missing here for a reason: Ireland publishes neither school by school.
Inspection reports for Rush’s schools
The Inspectorate’s published reports for each school, linked, without ratings
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 13 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| St Joseph's Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Rush N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil Nais CaitrionaPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Gaelscoil Ros EoPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil N. BreandanPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Crannog Nua Special SchoolSpecial | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Patricks Boys National SchoolPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. C Naomh PadraigPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Donabate/Portrane Educate Together NSPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Donabate Community CollegePost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Rush and Lusk Educate Together NSPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Lusk Community CollegePost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Gaelscoil na MaraPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Rush
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
Families in Rush have 4 post-primary schools within 10 km: 3 ETB schools and one voluntary secondary school. Every one of them takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Joseph's Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | DEIS | 945 | 0.7 km |
| Lusk Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 1,104 | 4.2 km |
| Donabate Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 799 | 5.2 km |
| Skerries Community CollegeETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 1,025 | 6.1 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Rush
Crannog Nua Special School is the special school here, with 5 pupils. 5 of the 9 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.
Rush beside the 87 other Irish towns of 7,600 to 14,700 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Darndale | 14,675 | 85 | 23,703 | 7 | 49% | 1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Athy | 11,035 | 7 | 2,975 | 1 | 57% | 0.8 km |
| Palmerston | 11,012 | 80 | 33,167 | 7 | 40% | 0.4 km |
| Shankill | 11,009 | 43 | 13,386 | 5 | 28% | 1.9 km |
| Longford | 10,952 | 12 | 3,607 | 1 | 83% | 0.2 km |
| Rush | 10,875 | 13 | 5,851 | 2 | 8% | 0.7 km |
| Portmarnock | 10,750 | 53 | 18,370 | 3 | 26% | 0.5 km |
| Skerries | 10,743 | 14 | 4,988 | 1 | 21% | 0.2 km |
| Ballina | 10,556 | 14 | 2,979 | 1 | 50% | 0.5 km |
| Terenure | 10,391 | 119 | 38,960 | 8 | 37% | 0.3 km |
| … | ||||||
| Frankfield and Grange | 7,687 | 58 | 20,798 | 6 | 24% | 2 km |
Of these 87 other towns, 54 count more pupils at their schools than Rush. Within 3 km, 85 of these 88 towns have a school teaching through Irish.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Rush
Every school in or within 3 km of the town each September, counted where it stands today.
The schools in and around Rush had 5,025 pupils in 2015/16 and 5,851 in 2025/26. Lusk Community College grew most: +61% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Rush
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 Rush
Each town’s schools in or within 3 km of its outline; distances as the crow flies.
Of Rush’s neighbours, Portrane saw the most growth in pupils since 2019/20 (+9%) and Skerries the least (−8%); Rush itself: +7%.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Rush 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 Rush
How many schools are there in Rush?
In Rush or within 3 km of it: 9 primary schools, 3 secondary schools and 1 special school, with 5,851 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Rush that teach through Irish?
Yes, 2: Gaelscoil Ros Eo and Gaelscoil na Mara teach every subject through Irish.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Rush?
No: all 3 secondary schools here are free.
What is the best school in Rush?
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 Rush?
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).