Photo: Robert Ashby · CC BY-SA 2.0Few schools around Spa teach through Irish: 0%, below Co. Kerry’s towns and Irish towns
Set beside other towns, Spa comes out below both Co. Kerry’s towns (11%) and Irish towns (8%). Spa National School is a primary with 230 pupils. With no school results published in Ireland, and the Education Act 1998 restricting comparisons of them, these schools are described, not 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 Spa’s schools
A wide choice at twelve
5 post-primary schools lie within 10 km, so families here have a real choice at twelve; each admits on its own policy. The nearest: Mercy Secondary School Mounthawk (4.5 km), C.B.S. Secondary School (5.8 km) and Presentation Secondary School (6.1 km). Post-primary choices ↓
Facts from the Department of Education’s lists; nothing here judges how well a school teaches.
Where the school in or near Spa 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 Spa’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 Spa
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
None of the 1 schools in and around Spa teaches every subject through Irish.
Who runs Spa’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
1 of Spa’s 1 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. Their patron: Bishop of Kerry (1). None of the 1 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.
How children get a place in Spa
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 Spa
Each school in or within 3 km of Spa 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 Spa’s schools
Reports from the Department of Education’s Inspectorate, every school’s linked and none rated
Each school is visited by inspectors from time to time, for a whole-school evaluation of teaching, learning and leadership, for one subject, or to follow up earlier advice, and every report is posted on gov.ie with the school’s response.
The reports describe what inspectors saw and what the school should do next. They give no overall grade, so none is shown here; the school below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Spa 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 Spa
Post-primary schools within 10 km of the town; children move at about twelve, and families apply to each school
Families in Spa have 5 post-primary schools within 10 km: 3 voluntary secondary schools and 2 ETB schools. Of these, 2 are single-sex: 1 for girls and 1 for boys. Just one teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercy Secondary School MounthawkVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 1,322 | 4.5 km |
| C.B.S. Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Boys | – | 801 | 5.8 km |
| Presentation Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 517 | 6.1 km |
| Gaelcholáiste ChiarraíETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | Gaelcholáiste | 312 | 6.8 km |
| Coláiste Gleann Lí Post Primary SchoolETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 279 | 7 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Spa beside the 169 other Irish towns of 300 to 500 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stradbally | 500 | 2 | 134 | 0 | 0% | 8.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Fethard | 363 | 1 | 237 | 0 | 0% | 7.8 km |
| Kilmainhamwood | 362 | 1 | 118 | 0 | 100% | 5.4 km |
| Oulart | 362 | 3 | 302 | 0 | 33% | 7 km |
| Banteer | 362 | 1 | 190 | 0 | 0% | 5.3 km |
| Spa | 362 | 1 | 230 | 0 | 0% | 4.5 km |
| Golden | 362 | 2 | 197 | 0 | 0% | 6.5 km |
| Shrule | 362 | 2 | 112 | 0 | 0% | 6.4 km |
| Kilberry | 361 | 1 | 84 | 0 | 100% | 4.6 km |
| Ballyvaughan | 361 | 1 | 42 | 0 | 0% | 13 km |
| … | ||||||
| Gneevgullia | 300 | 1 | 131 | 0 | 0% | 4.8 km |
Of the other 169 towns, 58 have more pupils at the schools around them than Spa. 16 of the 170 towns have an all-Irish school within 3 km.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Spa
Every school in or within 3 km of the town each September, counted where it stands today.
The schools in and around Spa had 221 pupils in 2015/16 and 230 in 2025/26.
Pupils at schools in and around Spa
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 Spa
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spa | 1 | 230 | 0 | 0% | 4.5 km |
| Tralee 6.1 km | 18 | 6,726 | 2 | 39% | 0.6 km |
| Milltown 16 km | 4 | 1,193 | 0 | 25% | 0.2 km |
| Killorglin 19 km | 4 | 1,406 | 0 | 50% | 0.4 km |
Tralee has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 2. Since 2019/20 the pupils around Spa changed by +9%; among its neighbours, Killorglin’s grew most (+18%) and Tralee’s least (+5%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Spa 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 Spa
How many schools are there in Spa?
In Spa or within 3 km of it: 1 primary school, with 230 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Spa that teach through Irish?
None in Spa or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Spa?
Not in Spa or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Mercy Secondary School Mounthawk, 4.5 km away.
What is the best school in Spa?
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 Spa?
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).