Photo: Stephen Elwyn RODDICK · CC BY-SA 2.0Most post-primaries around Skerries take girls and boys: 0% are single-sex, below Co. Dublin’s towns and Irish towns
Measured that way, Skerries is below both Co. Dublin’s towns (40%) and Irish towns (39%). They have 4,988 pupils between them, in or within 3 km of Skerries. Ireland publishes no school results, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them, so these schools are described here, never graded or ranked.
Every school in the town or within 3 km of its outline, from the Department of Education’s lists for 2025/26; Ireland’s figures are every school in the lists.
What stands out about Skerries’s schools
A wide choice at twelve
Families here can choose among 10 post-primary schools within 10 km of the town, of more than one kind; each admits on its own published policy, so applying to more than one is common. The nearest: Skerries Community College (0.2 km), Ardgillan Community College (4.8 km) and Loreto Secondary School (5.8 km). Post-primary choices ↓
From the Department of Education’s school lists: facts, not judgements of how well a school teaches.
Where the 14 schools in and around Skerries 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 Skerries’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 Skerries
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
1 of Skerries’s 14 schools teach every subject through Irish: Gaelscoil Bhaile Brigin.
Who Skerries’s schools serve
Shares of the pupils at the area’s schools, 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 Skerries | Co. Dublin | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 21% | 28% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 6% | 6% | 6% |
| Girls | 46% | 49% | 49% |
| Post-primary pupils at single-sex schools | 0% | 38% | 29% |
| Post-primary pupils at fee-paying schools | 0% | 18% | 6% |
Fewer of the pupils around Skerries are at DEIS schools than across Ireland: 21% against 27% (Co. Dublin: 28%). The biggest difference from Ireland is in post-primary pupils at single-sex schools: 0% here, 29% there. Of the DEIS schools here, Bracken Educate Together NS is the biggest: 375 pupils.
Each of the 14 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skerries Community CollegePost-primary · ETB | 1,025 | 48% | ||
| Scoil Réalt na MaraPrimary | 338 | 45% | ||
| St Patricks Snr MixedPrimary | 338 | 50% | ||
| Skerries Educate Together National SchoolPrimary | 333 | 42% | ✓ | |
| St Patricks Jnr MixedPrimary | 249 | 56% | ||
| Holmpatrick N.S.Primary | 51 | 39% | ||
| St Michaels Spec SchSpecial | 30 | 27% | ||
| Scoil MoibhiPrimary | 84 | 37% | ||
| Scoil N. BreandanPrimary | 183 | 45% | ||
| Blessed Oliver N.S.Primary | 298 | 46% | ||
| Bracken Educate Together NSPrimary | 375 | 47% | ✓ | |
| S N Naomh TeresaPrimary | 364 | 49% | ✓ | |
| Gaelscoil Bhaile BriginPrimary | 306 | 54% | ✓ | |
| Ardgillan Community CollegePost-primary · ETB | 1,014 | 38% |
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 Skerries’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
8 of Skerries’s 14 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Archbishop of Dublin (7), Dublin & Dún Laoghaire ETB (2) and Educate Together (2). 3 of the 14 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 Skerries’s schools
Each school has a patron that owns it and sets its ethos; its board of management runs it.
Of the 14 schools around Skerries, 7 have Archbishop of Dublin as patron, teaching 37% of the pupils; 6 patrons in all. Education and Training Boards run 2 of them. Educate Together runs 2.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archbishop of DublinS N Naomh Teresa, Scoil Réalt na Mara, St Patricks Snr Mixed, Blessed Oliver, St Patricks Jnr Mixed, Scoil N. Breandan, Scoil Moibhi | Catholic | 7 | 1,854 |
| Dublin & Dún Laoghaire ETBSkerries, Ardgillan | Inter-denominational, Multi-denominational | 2 | 2,039 |
| Educate TogetherBracken Educate Together NS, Skerries Educate Together | Multi-denominational | 2 | 708 |
| An Foras PátrúnachtaGaelscoil Bhaile Brigin | Inter-denominational | 1 | 306 |
| 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 Skerries
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 13 schools, 2 have grown by at least 5% since 2019/20 and 9 have lost as much; Ireland’s pupils changed by +5%.
All 13 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 14 schools in and around Skerries
Each school in or within 3 km of Skerries links to a page of its own. No letters, no results: Irish schools aren’t ranked one by one.
Inspection reports for Skerries’s schools
Reports from the Department of Education’s Inspectorate, every school’s linked and 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 14 schools below each link their own.
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Skerries
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
10 post-primary schools are within 10 km of Skerries: 5 ETB schools and 5 voluntary secondary schools. Only one teaches girls and boys apart. Just one teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skerries Community CollegeETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 1,025 | 0.2 km |
| Ardgillan Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 1,014 | 4.8 km |
| Loreto Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 1,220 | 5.8 km |
| Balbriggan Community CollegeETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 686 | 5.9 km |
| Lusk Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 1,104 | 5.9 km |
| Bremore Educate Together Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 824 | 6.4 km |
| St Joseph's Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | DEIS | 945 | 6.7 km |
| Coláiste Ghlór na MaraVoluntary secondary · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | Gaelcholáiste | 520 | 6.8 km |
| Donabate Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 799 | 10 km |
| Franciscan CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 321 | 10 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Skerries
St Michaels Spec Sch is the special school here, with 30 pupils. 6 of the 11 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.
Skerries beside the 87 other Irish towns of 7,500 to 14,500 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Killarney | 14,412 | 12 | 4,102 | 1 | 8% | 0.8 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 |
| Kildare | 10,302 | 4 | 2,671 | 1 | 25% | 1.2 km |
| Shannon | 10,256 | 10 | 2,913 | 1 | 20% | 0.6 km |
| … | ||||||
| Kinsealy-Drinan | 7,526 | 22 | 11,271 | 1 | 5% | 0.7 km |
More pupils attend the schools around 56 of the other 87 towns than around Skerries. An all-Irish school is within 3 km of 85 of the 88.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Skerries
Each September’s pupils at every school in or within 3 km of the town, counted where the school stands today.
The schools in and around Skerries had 5,095 pupils in 2015/16 and 4,988 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Skerries
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 Skerries
Each town’s schools in or within 3 km of its outline; distances as the crow flies.
| Town | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skerries | 14 | 4,988 | 1 | 21% | 0.2 km |
| Balrothery 4.5 km | 16 | 7,860 | 2 | 31% | 1.7 km |
| Rush 6 km | 13 | 5,851 | 2 | 8% | 0.7 km |
| Balbriggan 6.1 km | 17 | 8,295 | 2 | 29% | 0.3 km |
| Lusk 6.8 km | 11 | 4,510 | 1 | 0% | 0.9 km |
| Portrane 8.9 km | 11 | 5,394 | 2 | 9% | 2.2 km |
| Donabate 10 km | 6 | 2,087 | 1 | 0% | 0.3 km |
Balrothery has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 2. Pupils around Skerries: −8% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Portrane led (+9%) and Balbriggan trailed (−1%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Skerries 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 Skerries
How many schools are there in Skerries?
In Skerries or within 3 km of it: 11 primary schools, 2 secondary schools and 1 special school, with 4,988 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Skerries that teach through Irish?
Yes, 1: Gaelscoil Bhaile Brigin teach every subject through Irish.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Skerries?
No: all 2 secondary schools here are free.
What is the best school in Skerries?
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 Skerries?
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).