Photo: Neville Goodman · CC BY-SA 2.0Most post-primaries around Rathmore take girls and boys: 0% are single-sex, below Co. Kerry’s towns and Irish towns
On this, Rathmore is below both Co. Kerry’s towns (67%) and Irish towns (39%). Scoil Phobail Sliabh Luachra, with 367 pupils, is the only secondary school within 3 km. Nothing here grades or ranks these schools: Ireland publishes no results school by school, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them.
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.
The 3 schools in and around Rathmore
Here are the schools in Rathmore or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. Without school-level results from Ireland, the cards show no letters.
Where the 3 schools in and around Rathmore 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 Rathmore’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 Rathmore
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
None of the 3 schools in and around Rathmore teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Rathmore’s schools serve
The pupils at the area’s schools by share, beside 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 Rathmore | Co. Kerry | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 0% | 20% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 9% | 6% |
| Girls | 49% | 49% | 49% |
DEIS schools teach 0% of the pupils around Rathmore, 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%.
Each of the 3 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scoil Phobail Sliabh LuachraPost-primary · Community school | 367 | 52% | ||
| Scoil Naomh BreandanPrimary | 25 | 64% | ||
| Holy Family National SchoolPrimary | 235 | 44% |
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 Rathmore’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
2 of Rathmore’s 3 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Kerry (2) and Kerry ETB & Presentation Sisters (1). None of the 3 is 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 2 patrons of Rathmore’s schools
Patrons own the schools and set their ethos; boards of management run them day to day.
The schools around Rathmore answer to 2 patrons, and Bishop of Kerry leads with 2 of the 3 schools and 41% of their pupils. One is an ETB school.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of KerryHoly Family, Scoil Naomh Breandan | Catholic | 2 | 260 |
| Kerry ETB & Presentation SistersScoil Phobail Sliabh Luachra | Inter-denominational | 1 | 367 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Rathmore
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
Since 2019/20, 1 of these 3 schools have grown by 5% or more and 1 have shrunk as much; across Ireland the number of 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.
Inspection reports for Rathmore’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 3 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Scoil Phobail Sliabh LuachraPost-primary · Community school | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil Naomh BreandanPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Holy Family 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 Rathmore
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
Families in Rathmore have 2 post-primary schools within 10 km: 2 community schools. Every one of them takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scoil Phobail Sliabh LuachraCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 367 | 2.5 km |
| Millstreet Community SchoolCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 359 | 9.9 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Rathmore beside the 187 other Irish towns of 500 to 1,000 people
Schools in or within 3 km of each town, by population; none is ranked, as Ireland publishes no results
| Town | People | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castletownbere | 999 | 3 | 524 | 0 | 67% | 0.4 km |
| … | ||||||
| Robertstown | 771 | 3 | 618 | 0 | 0% | 4.8 km |
| Ardfert | 771 | 1 | 215 | 0 | 0% | 5.8 km |
| Donore | 767 | 4 | 2,427 | 0 | 75% | 3.7 km |
| Ballineen-Enniskean | 766 | 2 | 207 | 0 | 0% | 13 km |
| Rathmore | 766 | 3 | 627 | 0 | 0% | 2.5 km |
| Knockbridge | 759 | 1 | 285 | 0 | 0% | 5.8 km |
| Lixnaw | 758 | 1 | 104 | 0 | 100% | 7.8 km |
| Avoca | 757 | 1 | 172 | 0 | 0% | 6.7 km |
| Kilfinnane | 757 | 3 | 908 | 0 | 0% | 0.4 km |
| … | ||||||
| Stradbally | 500 | 2 | 134 | 0 | 0% | 8.7 km |
Among the 187 other towns, 39 have more pupils at their schools than Rathmore does. 16 of the 188 towns have an all-Irish school within 3 km.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Rathmore
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 Rathmore had 660 pupils in 2015/16 and 627 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Rathmore
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 Rathmore
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rathmore | 3 | 627 | 0 | 0% | 2.5 km |
| Millstreet 11 km | 4 | 703 | 0 | 0% | 0.9 km |
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Rathmore 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 Rathmore
How many schools are there in Rathmore?
In Rathmore or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 627 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Rathmore that teach through Irish?
None in Rathmore 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 Rathmore?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Rathmore?
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 Rathmore?
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).