Photo: Patrice78500 · Public domainDEIS support is widespread around Ballyduff: 100% of schools, above Co. Kerry’s towns and Irish towns
100% of the schools around Ballyduff are DEIS schools, above both Co. Kerry’s towns (29%) and Irish towns (35%). Ballyduff National School is a primary with 96 pupils. Ireland publishes no school results, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them, so these schools are described here, never graded or ranked.
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 Ballyduff’s schools
Fewer pupils than before
Pupil numbers at the schools here have fallen since 2019/20, against +5% across Ireland. Pupils over time ↓
Facts from the Department of Education’s lists; nothing here judges how well a school teaches.
Where the school in or near Ballyduff is
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 Ballyduff’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 Ballyduff
Every school in or within 3 km of the town each September, counted where it stands today.
The schools in and around Ballyduff had 110 pupils in 2015/16 and 96 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Ballyduff
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.
Teaching through Irish in and around Ballyduff
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
None of the 1 schools in and around Ballyduff teaches every subject through Irish.
Who runs Ballyduff’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
1 of Ballyduff’s 1 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. Their patron: Bishop of Kerry (1). 1 of the 1 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.
How children get a place in Ballyduff
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.
The school in and around Ballyduff
Each school in or within 3 km of Ballyduff links to a page of its own. Ireland publishes no school-by-school results, which is why these cards have no letters.
Inspection reports for Ballyduff’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; the link below opens the school’s own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Ballyduff 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 Ballyduff
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
2 post-primary schools are within 10 km of Ballyduff: one ETB school 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Causeway Comprehensive SchoolETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 646 | 6.8 km |
| St. Joseph's Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 349 | 7.1 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Ballyduff
No special school is in or near Ballyduff. 1 of the 1 primary schools has 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.
Ballyduff beside the 217 other Irish towns of 300 to 600 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freshford | 593 | 2 | 244 | 0 | 50% | 10 km |
| … | ||||||
| O'Briensbridge-Montpelier | 451 | 1 | 107 | 0 | 0% | 7.3 km |
| Johnstown | 450 | 2 | 749 | 0 | 100% | 1 km |
| Coachford | 450 | 2 | 1,017 | 0 | 0% | 0.5 km |
| Kilmore Quay | 447 | 1 | 144 | 0 | 100% | 6.1 km |
| Ballyduff | 447 | 1 | 96 | 0 | 100% | 6.8 km |
| Laragh | 445 | 1 | 123 | 0 | 0% | 9 km |
| Glaslough | 443 | 1 | 86 | 0 | 0% | 7.1 km |
| Cloughduv | 440 | 1 | 166 | 0 | 0% | 7.1 km |
| Dunfanaghy | 439 | 5 | 146 | 0 | 80% | 9 km |
| … | ||||||
| Gneevgullia | 300 | 1 | 131 | 0 | 0% | 4.8 km |
Among the 217 other towns, 186 have more pupils at their schools than Ballyduff does. Teaching through Irish is on offer within 3 km in 19 of the 218.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Schools in the towns around Ballyduff
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballyduff | 1 | 96 | 0 | 100% | 6.8 km |
| Ballybunion 6.6 km | 3 | 586 | 0 | 33% | 0.5 km |
| Listowel 12 km | 8 | 1,547 | 1 | 50% | 0.4 km |
Listowel has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. Pupils around Ballyduff: −21% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Listowel led (+15%) and Ballybunion trailed (+8%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Ballyduff 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 Ballyduff
How many schools are there in Ballyduff?
In Ballyduff or within 3 km of it: 1 primary school, with 96 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Ballyduff that teach through Irish?
None in Ballyduff or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Ballyduff?
Not in Ballyduff or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Causeway Comprehensive School, 6.8 km away.
What is the best school in Ballyduff?
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 Ballyduff?
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).