Photo: Ire2500 · Public domainFewer single-sex secondaries around Milltown than around Co. Kildare’s towns or Irish towns: 0%
For Milltown, that is below both Co. Kildare’s towns (20%) and Irish towns (39%). Its one secondary school within 3 km, St Conleth's Community College, has 752 pupils. These schools are described rather than graded, because Ireland publishes no school results and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them.
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 Milltown’s schools
Extra support for many schools
Many schools here are in DEIS, which gives schools in disadvantaged areas more teachers, money and help; across Ireland, 30% of schools are. In DEIS: St Conleth's Community College (752), Scoil Mhuire (389), Ballymany Junior N.S. (333) and St Patricks N.S. (187). Who runs them ↓
A wide choice at twelve
7 post-primary schools lie within 10 km, so families here have a real choice at twelve; each admits on its own policy. The nearest: St Conleth's Community College (3.8 km), Newbridge College (3.9 km) and Patrician Secondary School (4.2 km). Post-primary choices ↓
Drawn from the Department of Education’s lists; none of it judges how well a school teaches.
Who runs Milltown’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
4 of Milltown’s 7 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Kildare & Leighlin (4), KARE, Promoting Inclusion for People with Intellectual Disabilities (1) and Bishop of Meath & Kildare COI (1). 4 of the 7 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 7 schools in and around Milltown
Here are the schools in Milltown 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 7 schools in and around Milltown 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 Milltown’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 Milltown
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
None of the 7 schools in and around Milltown teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Milltown’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 Milltown | Co. Kildare | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 64% | 17% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 6% | 6% |
| Girls | 47% | 49% | 49% |
Around Milltown, 64% of pupils attend a school in DEIS; across Ireland it is 27%, and 17% in Co. Kildare. The biggest difference from Ireland is in pupils at all-Irish schools: 0% here, 6% there. Of the DEIS schools here, St Conleth's Community College is the biggest: 752 pupils.
Each of the 7 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S.N. BrighdePrimary | 229 | 43% | ||
| St Marks Special SchoolSpecial | 109 | 32% | ||
| Scoil na Naomh UiligPrimary | 589 | 48% | ||
| St Patricks N.S.Primary | 187 | 44% | ✓ | |
| St Conleth's Community CollegePost-primary · ETB | 752 | 51% | ✓ | |
| Ballymany Junior N.S.Primary | 333 | 50% | ✓ | |
| Scoil MhuirePrimary | 389 | 46% | ✓ |
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.
The 4 patrons of Milltown’s schools
Patrons own the schools and set their ethos; boards of management run them day to day.
Bishop of Kildare & Leighlin is patron of 4 of the 7 schools around Milltown, which teach 60% of their pupils; 4 patrons run them in all. One is an ETB school.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of Kildare & LeighlinScoil na Naomh Uilig, Scoil Mhuire, Ballymany Junior, S.N. Brighde | Catholic | 4 | 1,540 |
| Kildare & Wicklow ETBSt Conleth's | Multi-denominational | 1 | 752 |
| Bishop of Meath & Kildare COISt Patricks | Church of Ireland | 1 | 187 |
| KARE, Promoting Inclusion for People with Intellectual DisabilitiesSt Marks Special School | Multi-denominational | 1 | 109 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Milltown
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, 2 of these 6 schools have grown by 5% or more and 4 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 Milltown’s schools
Reports from the Department of Education’s Inspectorate, every school’s linked and 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 7 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| S.N. BrighdePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Marks Special SchoolSpecial | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil na Naomh UiligPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Patricks N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Conleth's Community CollegePost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Ballymany Junior N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil MhuirePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Milltown
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
Within 10 km of Milltown there are 7 post-primary schools: 3 ETB schools, 3 voluntary secondary schools and one community school. Of these, 2 are single-sex: 1 for girls and 1 for boys. One of them charges fees. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Conleth's Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 752 | 3.8 km |
| Newbridge CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | Fee-paying | 923 | 3.9 km |
| Patrician Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Boys | – | 932 | 4.2 km |
| Holy Family Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 789 | 4.4 km |
| Kildare Town Community SchoolCommunity school · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 1,014 | 5.5 km |
| Curragh Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 288 | 5.9 km |
| Ardscoil Rath IomgháinETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 751 | 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 Milltown
St Marks Special School is the special school here, with 109 pupils. 5 of the 5 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.
Milltown beside the 169 other Irish towns of 300 to 500 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stradbally | 500 | 2 | 134 | 0 | 0% | 8.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Gort An Choirce | 375 | 5 | 813 | 4 | 100% | 2.2 km |
| Moneygall | 374 | 1 | 108 | 0 | 0% | 11 km |
| Carney | 373 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 5.9 km |
| Bridge End | 373 | 1 | 218 | 0 | 0% | 11 km |
| Milltown | 372 | 7 | 2,588 | 0 | 57% | 3.8 km |
| Kilmead | 372 | 1 | 139 | 0 | 100% | 6.9 km |
| Kildorrery | 372 | 1 | 177 | 0 | 0% | 11 km |
| Mungret | 372 | 12 | 4,700 | 1 | 0% | 0.6 km |
| Rathcoffey | 371 | 2 | 636 | 0 | 0% | 2.3 km |
| … | ||||||
| Gneevgullia | 300 | 1 | 131 | 0 | 0% | 4.8 km |
Of these 169 other towns, 3 count more pupils at their schools than Milltown. 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 Milltown
Each September’s pupils at every school in or within 3 km of the town, counted where the school stands today.
The schools in and around Milltown had 2,445 pupils in 2015/16 and 2,588 in 2025/26. St Conleth's Community College grew most: +37% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Milltown
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 Milltown
Each town’s schools in or within 3 km of its outline; distances as the crow flies.
Newbridge has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. Pupils around Milltown: +4% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Carragh led (+43%) and Kilmeage trailed (−17%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Milltown 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 Milltown
How many schools are there in Milltown?
In Milltown or within 3 km of it: 5 primary schools, 1 secondary school and 1 special school, with 2,588 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Milltown that teach through Irish?
None in Milltown 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 Milltown?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Milltown?
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 Milltown?
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).