Photo: Sarah777 at English Wikipedia · Public domainPupil numbers around Castledermot have fallen behind Co. Kildare’s towns and Irish towns: −12% since 2019/20
That puts Castledermot below both Co. Kildare’s towns (+7%) and Irish towns (+4%). Colaiste Lorcain, with 334 pupils, is the only secondary school within 3 km. 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 Castledermot’s schools
A wide choice at twelve
6 post-primary schools lie within 10 km, so families here have a real choice at twelve; each admits on its own policy. The nearest: Colaiste Lorcain (0.3 km), St Mary's Knockbeg College (7.9 km) and Presentation College (9.1 km). Post-primary choices ↓
Facts from the Department of Education’s lists; nothing here judges how well a school teaches.
The 2 schools in and around Castledermot
Each school in or within 3 km of Castledermot links to a page of its own. Ireland publishes no school-by-school results, which is why these cards have no letters.
Where the 2 schools in and around Castledermot 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 Castledermot’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 Castledermot
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
None of the 2 schools in and around Castledermot teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Castledermot’s schools serve
The pupils at the area’s schools by share, beside Co. Kildare’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 Castledermot | Co. Kildare | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 0% | 17% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 6% | 6% |
| Girls | 47% | 49% | 49% |
0% of the pupils around Castledermot are at a DEIS school, fewer than the 27% across Ireland (17% in Co. Kildare). Where this area differs most from Ireland is pupils at all-Irish schools, at 0% against 6%.
Each of the 2 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scoil DiarmadaPrimary | 344 | 45% | ||
| Colaiste LorcainPost-primary · ETB | 334 | 50% |
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 Castledermot’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
1 of Castledermot’s 2 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Archbishop of Dublin (1) and Kildare & Wicklow ETB (1). None of the 2 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 Castledermot
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, 0 of the 2 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 Castledermot’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 2 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Scoil DiarmadaPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Colaiste LorcainPost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Castledermot
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
6 post-primary schools are within 10 km of Castledermot: 4 voluntary secondary schools and 2 ETB schools. 3 of them are single-sex, 1 for girls and 2 for boys. Just one teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colaiste LorcainETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 334 | 0.3 km |
| St Mary's Knockbeg CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Boys | – | 515 | 7.9 km |
| Presentation CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 801 | 9.1 km |
| Gaelcholáiste CheatharlachETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | Gaelcholáiste | 342 | 9.2 km |
| St Mary's Academy CBSVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Boys | DEIS | 367 | 9.2 km |
| St. Leo's CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 842 | 9.5 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Castledermot
No special school is in or near Castledermot. 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.
Castledermot beside the 109 other Irish towns of 1,200 to 2,300 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balrothery | 2,282 | 16 | 7,860 | 2 | 31% | 1.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Ballymote | 1,711 | 3 | 694 | 0 | 67% | 0.5 km |
| Convoy | 1,702 | 4 | 1,290 | 0 | 75% | 4 km |
| Tullyallen | 1,697 | 1 | 411 | 0 | 0% | 3.7 km |
| Portumna | 1,690 | 2 | 741 | 0 | 50% | 0.2 km |
| Castledermot | 1,685 | 2 | 678 | 0 | 0% | 0.3 km |
| Allenwood | 1,685 | 4 | 802 | 0 | 0% | 7.2 km |
| Longwood | 1,685 | 2 | 818 | 0 | 50% | 0.6 km |
| Dingle-Daingean Uí Chuis | 1,671 | 5 | 796 | 5 | 20% | 0.3 km |
| Manorhamilton | 1,667 | 4 | 811 | 1 | 0% | 0.5 km |
| … | ||||||
| Clonee | 1,205 | 25 | 12,320 | 2 | 28% | 1.3 km |
Of the other 109 towns, 60 have more pupils at the schools around them than Castledermot. Within 3 km, 16 of these 110 towns have a school teaching through Irish.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Castledermot
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 Castledermot had 738 pupils in 2015/16 and 678 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Castledermot
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 Castledermot
Schools in or within 3 km of each neighbouring town; distances in a straight line.
| Town | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castledermot | 2 | 678 | 0 | 0% | 0.3 km |
| Carlow 9.7 km | 19 | 7,832 | 2 | 42% | 0.7 km |
| Baltinglass 9.9 km | 3 | 912 | 0 | 0% | 0.2 km |
| Rathvilly 10 km | 2 | 248 | 0 | 50% | 6.3 km |
| Athy 13 km | 7 | 2,975 | 1 | 57% | 0.8 km |
| Tullow 14 km | 4 | 1,339 | 0 | 75% | 0.5 km |
| Ballylinan 14 km | 3 | 435 | 0 | 0% | 7.2 km |
Carlow has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 2. Pupils around Castledermot: −12% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Tullow led (+6%) and Ballylinan trailed (−11%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Castledermot 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 Castledermot
How many schools are there in Castledermot?
In Castledermot or within 3 km of it: 1 primary school and 1 secondary school, with 678 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Castledermot that teach through Irish?
None in Castledermot 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 Castledermot?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Castledermot?
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 Castledermot?
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).