Photo: Ian S · CC BY-SA 2.0Most post-primaries around Castlemaine take girls and boys: 0% are single-sex, below Co. Kerry’s towns and Irish towns
For Castlemaine, that is below both Co. Kerry’s towns (67%) and Irish towns (39%). Its one secondary school within 3 km, Presentation Secondary School, has 712 pupils. Nothing here grades or ranks these schools: Ireland publishes no results school by school, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them.
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 Castlemaine’s schools
One school growing fast
Castlemaine N.S. has grown from 80 pupils in 2019/20 to 123, the fastest of the schools here. Getting a place ↓
From the Department of Education’s school lists: facts, not judgements of how well a school teaches.
The 4 schools in and around Castlemaine
Here are the schools in Castlemaine or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. Ireland doesn’t publish results for individual schools, so none of these carries a letter.
Where the 4 schools in and around Castlemaine 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 Castlemaine’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 Castlemaine
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
None of the 4 schools in and around Castlemaine teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Castlemaine’s schools serve
How the area’s pupils divide, against Co. Kerry’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 Castlemaine | Co. Kerry | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 2% | 20% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 9% | 6% |
| Girls | 51% | 49% | 49% |
DEIS schools teach 2% of the pupils around Castlemaine, a smaller share than Ireland’s 27% (Co. Kerry: 20%). Where this area differs most from Ireland is pupils at all-Irish schools, at 0% against 6%. Kiltallagh N.S., with 21 pupils, is the largest school here in DEIS.
Each of the 4 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castlemaine N.S.Primary | 123 | 48% | ||
| Kiltallagh N.S.Primary | 21 | 62% | ✓ | |
| Presentation Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 712 | 52% | ||
| Nagle Rice Primary SchoolPrimary | 337 | 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.
Who runs Castlemaine’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
3 of Castlemaine’s 4 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Kerry (2), Bishop of Limerick, Killaloe & Ardfert COI (1) and CEIST (1). 1 of the 4 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 3 patrons of Castlemaine’s schools
The patron owns the school and sets its ethos; a board of management runs it day to day.
Of the 4 schools around Castlemaine, 2 have Bishop of Kerry as patron, teaching 39% of the pupils; 3 patrons in all.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of KerryNagle Rice Primary School, Castlemaine | Catholic | 2 | 460 |
| CEISTPresentation | Catholic | 1 | 712 |
| Bishop of Limerick, Killaloe & Ardfert COIKiltallagh | Church of Ireland | 1 | 21 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Castlemaine
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 4 grew by 5% or more and 2 shrank as much, while Ireland’s pupil numbers moved +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.
Inspection reports for Castlemaine’s schools
The Department of Education’s Inspectorate: every school’s reports linked, none rated
The Inspectorate inspects schools in several ways: a whole-school evaluation covers teaching, learning and how the school is led; a subject inspection looks at one subject; a follow-through checks on earlier advice. Reports go on gov.ie with the school’s reply.
Reports say what inspectors found and what should improve, without an overall grade, so none appears here; each of the 4 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Castlemaine N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Kiltallagh N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Presentation Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Nagle Rice Primary SchoolPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Castlemaine
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
Families in Castlemaine have 3 post-primary schools within 10 km: 2 voluntary secondary schools and one ETB school. Every one of them takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Presentation Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 712 | 3.2 km |
| The Intermediate SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 711 | 9.8 km |
| Community College KillorglinETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 285 | 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 Castlemaine
No special school is in or near Castlemaine. 2 of the 3 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.
Pupil numbers around Castlemaine
Every school in or within 3 km of the town each September, counted where it stands today.
The schools in and around Castlemaine had 977 pupils in 2015/16 and 1,193 in 2025/26. Castlemaine N.S. grew most: +54% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Castlemaine
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 Castlemaine
For each nearby town, its schools in or within 3 km of its outline, with straight-line distances.
| Town | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castlemaine | 4 | 1,193 | 0 | 25% | 3.2 km |
| Milltown 3.4 km | 4 | 1,193 | 0 | 25% | 0.2 km |
| Killorglin 9.8 km | 4 | 1,406 | 0 | 50% | 0.4 km |
| Tralee 11 km | 18 | 6,726 | 2 | 39% | 0.6 km |
| Castleisland 18 km | 7 | 1,283 | 1 | 29% | 0.3 km |
| Killarney 18 km | 12 | 4,102 | 1 | 8% | 0.8 km |
Tralee has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 2. Pupils around Castlemaine: +9% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Killorglin led (+18%) and Tralee trailed (+5%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Castlemaine 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 Castlemaine
How many schools are there in Castlemaine?
In Castlemaine or within 3 km of it: 3 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 1,193 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Castlemaine that teach through Irish?
None in Castlemaine or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Castlemaine?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Castlemaine?
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 Castlemaine?
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).