Photo: Sarah777 at English Wikipedia · Public domainMore of the schools around Prosperous are in DEIS than around Co. Kildare’s towns or Irish towns: 50%
That leaves Prosperous above both Co. Kildare’s towns (3%) and Irish towns (35%). St Farnan's Post Primary School, with 676 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.
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 Prosperous’s schools
More pupils every year
Pupil numbers at the schools here have grown faster than across Ireland (+5% since 2019/20), so classes and new places are a question worth asking. Pupils over time ↓
One school growing fast
The fastest-growing school here is St Farnan's Post Primary School: 450 pupils in 2019/20, 676 now. Getting a place ↓
A wide choice at twelve
Within 10 km of the town there are 5 post-primary schools to choose from, of different kinds; each sets its own admission policy, and many families apply to several. The nearest: St Farnan's Post Primary School (0.5 km), Scoil Mhuire Community School (3.9 km) and Clongowes Wood College (5.3 km). Post-primary choices ↓
From the Department of Education’s school lists: facts, not judgements of how well a school teaches.
Pupil numbers around Prosperous
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 Prosperous had 1,060 pupils in 2015/16 and 1,169 in 2025/26.
Pupils at schools in and around Prosperous
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.
The 2 schools in and around Prosperous
Here are the schools in Prosperous or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. Ireland publishes no results school by school, so these cards carry no letters or results.
Where the 2 schools in and around Prosperous 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 Prosperous’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 Prosperous
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
None of the 2 schools in and around Prosperous teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Prosperous’s schools serve
How the area’s pupils divide, against 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 Prosperous | Co. Kildare | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 58% | 17% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 6% | 6% |
| Girls | 48% | 49% | 49% |
Around Prosperous, 58% of pupils attend a school in DEIS; across Ireland it is 27%, and 17% in Co. Kildare. Furthest from Ireland’s mix is the share of pupils at all-Irish schools: 0% here against 6%. The biggest school in DEIS is St Farnan's Post Primary School (676 pupils).
Each of the 2 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Farnan's Post Primary SchoolPost-primary · ETB | 676 | 47% | ✓ | |
| Prosperous N.S.Primary | 493 | 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 Prosperous’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
1 of Prosperous’s 2 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Kildare & Wicklow ETB (1) and Bishop of Kildare & Leighlin (1). 1 of the 2 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.
How children get a place in Prosperous
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
Of these 2 schools, 1 have grown by at least 5% since 2019/20 and 1 have lost as much; Ireland’s 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 Prosperous’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 2 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| St Farnan's Post Primary SchoolPost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Prosperous N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Prosperous
Post-primary schools within 10 km of the town; children move at about twelve, and families apply to each school
Within 10 km of Prosperous there are 5 post-primary schools: 2 ETB schools, 2 voluntary secondary schools and one community school. 2 teach girls and boys apart: 1 girls’ and 1 boys’ schools. One of them charges fees. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Farnan's Post Primary SchoolETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 676 | 0.5 km |
| Scoil Mhuire Community SchoolCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 1,189 | 3.9 km |
| Clongowes Wood CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Boys | Fee-paying, Boarding | 421 | 5.3 km |
| Naas Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 928 | 8.4 km |
| Coláiste Naomh MhuireVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 1,076 | 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 Prosperous
No special school is in or near Prosperous. 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.
Prosperous beside the 93 other Irish towns of 1,700 to 3,300 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tower | 3,300 | 6 | 2,638 | 1 | 17% | 3.2 km |
| … | ||||||
| Kylemore | 2,557 | 57 | 16,207 | 2 | 60% | 0.5 km |
| Castleisland | 2,536 | 7 | 1,283 | 1 | 29% | 0.3 km |
| Grange Upper | 2,510 | 29 | 11,835 | 2 | 41% | 0.8 km |
| Castleconnell | 2,488 | 2 | 536 | 0 | 0% | 5.9 km |
| Prosperous | 2,413 | 2 | 1,169 | 0 | 50% | 0.5 km |
| Ballaghaderreen | 2,387 | 2 | 968 | 0 | 100% | 0.3 km |
| Castlerea | 2,348 | 5 | 959 | 0 | 80% | 0.3 km |
| Bearna | 2,336 | 10 | 4,172 | 4 | 10% | 2.8 km |
| Tubbercurry | 2,307 | 4 | 1,130 | 0 | 25% | 1.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Convoy | 1,702 | 4 | 1,290 | 0 | 75% | 4 km |
Of the other 93 towns, 45 have more pupils at the schools around them than Prosperous. An all-Irish school is within 3 km of 31 of the 94.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Schools in the towns around Prosperous
For each nearby town, its schools in or within 3 km of its outline, with straight-line distances.
Sallins has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. Pupils around Prosperous: +19% 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 Prosperous 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 Prosperous
How many schools are there in Prosperous?
In Prosperous or within 3 km of it: 1 primary school and 1 secondary school, with 1,169 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Prosperous that teach through Irish?
None in Prosperous 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 Prosperous?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Prosperous?
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 Prosperous?
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).