Photo: 瑞丽江的河水 · CC BY-SA 4.0More of the post-primaries around Sallins are single-sex than around Co. Kildare’s towns or Irish towns: 50%
On this, Sallins is above both Co. Kildare’s towns (10%) and Irish towns (39%). Its primary schools are big ones: 483 pupils each on average, against 175 across Ireland. These schools are described rather than graded, because Ireland publishes no school results and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them.
Counted from the Department of Education’s 2025/26 lists: every school in the town or within 3 km of it, against every school in Ireland.
What stands out about Sallins’s schools
No school in DEIS
None of the schools here is in DEIS, the extra support for schools in disadvantaged areas; across Ireland, 30% of schools are. Who runs them ↓
A wide choice at twelve
8 post-primary schools lie within 10 km, so families here have a real choice at twelve; each admits on its own policy. The nearest: Naas Community College (2.3 km), Coláiste Naomh Mhuire (3.6 km) and Gaelcholáiste Chill Dara (4 km). Post-primary choices ↓
Facts from the Department of Education’s lists; nothing here judges how well a school teaches.
Who runs Sallins’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
7 of Sallins’s 9 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Kildare & Leighlin (4), Kildare & Wicklow ETB (1) and CEIST (1). None of the 9 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 9 schools in and around Sallins
Here are the schools in Sallins or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. These schools carry no letter or result: Ireland doesn’t release them school by school.
Where the 9 schools in and around Sallins 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 Sallins’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 Sallins
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
1 of Sallins’s 9 schools teach every subject through Irish: Gaelcholáiste Chill Dara.
Who Sallins’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 Sallins | Co. Kildare | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 0% | 17% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 7% | 6% | 6% |
| Girls | 50% | 49% | 49% |
| Post-primary pupils at single-sex schools | 61% | 26% | 29% |
| Post-primary pupils at fee-paying schools | 0% | 6% | 6% |
DEIS schools teach 0% of the pupils around Sallins, a smaller share than Ireland’s 27% (Co. Kildare: 17%). Set beside Ireland, post-primary pupils at single-sex schools stand out most: 61% against 29%.
Each of the 9 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Laurences National SchoolPrimary | 646 | 51% | ||
| Naas Community CollegePost-primary · ETB | 928 | 46% | ||
| Scoil BrídPrimary | 612 | 43% | ||
| Mercy Convent Primary SchoolPrimary | 607 | 92% | ||
| Coláiste Naomh MhuirePost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 1,076 | 100% | ||
| Hewetsons N.S.Primary | 89 | 46% | ||
| Gaelcholáiste Chill DaraPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 401 | 58% | ✓ | |
| Meánscoil Iognáid RisPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 1,013 | 0% | ||
| Scoil ChorbainPrimary | 460 | 0% |
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 6 patrons of Sallins’s schools
Patrons own the schools and set their ethos; boards of management run them day to day.
The schools around Sallins answer to 6 patrons, and Bishop of Kildare & Leighlin leads with 4 of the 9 schools and 40% of their pupils. An Education and Training Board runs one of them.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of Kildare & LeighlinSt Laurences, Scoil Bríd, Mercy Convent Primary School, Scoil Chorbain | Catholic | 4 | 2,325 |
| CEISTColáiste Naomh Mhuire | Catholic | 1 | 1,076 |
| Edmund Rice Schools TrustMeánscoil Iognáid Ris | Catholic | 1 | 1,013 |
| Kildare & Wicklow ETBNaas | Multi-denominational | 1 | 928 |
| An Foras PátrúnachtaGaelcholáiste Chill Dara | Catholic | 1 | 401 |
| Bishop of Meath & Kildare COIHewetsons | Church of Ireland | 1 | 89 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Sallins
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, 3 of the 9 grew by 5% or more and 3 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 Sallins’s schools
The Department of Education’s Inspectorate: every school’s reports linked, 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 9 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| St Laurences National SchoolPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Naas Community CollegePost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil BrídPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Mercy Convent Primary SchoolPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Coláiste Naomh MhuirePost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Hewetsons N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Gaelcholáiste Chill DaraPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Meánscoil Iognáid RisPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil ChorbainPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Sallins
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
Within 10 km of Sallins there are 8 post-primary schools: 4 voluntary secondary schools, 3 ETB schools and one community school. 3 of them are single-sex, 1 for girls and 2 for boys. One of them charges fees. Just one teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naas Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 928 | 2.3 km |
| Coláiste Naomh MhuireVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 1,076 | 3.6 km |
| Gaelcholáiste Chill DaraVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | Gaelcholáiste | 401 | 4 km |
| Meánscoil Iognáid RisVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Boys | – | 1,013 | 4.1 km |
| Scoil Mhuire Community SchoolCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 1,189 | 4.9 km |
| Piper's Hill CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 1,049 | 6.3 km |
| Clongowes Wood CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Boys | Fee-paying, Boarding | 421 | 6.6 km |
| St Farnan's Post Primary SchoolETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 676 | 6.7 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Sallins
No special school is in or near Sallins. 2 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.
Sallins beside the 99 other Irish towns of 4,400 to 8,500 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Canal Dock | 8,320 | 121 | 32,703 | 6 | 43% | 0.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Roscommon | 6,555 | 7 | 2,589 | 1 | 29% | 0.7 km |
| Castleknock | 6,355 | 77 | 27,912 | 3 | 51% | 0.1 km |
| Loughrea | 6,322 | 6 | 2,361 | 1 | 0% | 0.7 km |
| Marino | 6,272 | 117 | 32,982 | 9 | 51% | 0.2 km |
| Sallins | 6,269 | 9 | 5,832 | 1 | 0% | 2.3 km |
| Dock | 6,258 | 45 | 15,206 | 5 | 49% | 0.3 km |
| Lisduggan | 6,216 | 29 | 11,782 | 1 | 45% | 0.2 km |
| The Glen | 6,119 | 66 | 19,000 | 5 | 50% | 0.5 km |
| Passage West-Monkstown | 6,051 | 16 | 4,438 | 0 | 6% | 0.1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Tivoli | 4,449 | 76 | 23,233 | 10 | 45% | 1 km |
Among the 99 other towns, 61 have more pupils at their schools than Sallins does. Within 3 km, 87 of these 100 towns have a school teaching through Irish.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Sallins
Every school in or within 3 km of the town each September, counted where it stands today.
The schools in and around Sallins had 5,091 pupils in 2015/16 and 5,832 in 2025/26. Naas Community College grew most: +95% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Sallins
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 Sallins
For each nearby town, its schools in or within 3 km of its outline, with straight-line distances.
Naas has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 2. Since 2019/20 the pupils around Sallins changed by +8%; among its neighbours, Carragh’s grew most (+43%) and Clane’s least (+3%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Sallins 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 Sallins
How many schools are there in Sallins?
In Sallins or within 3 km of it: 5 primary schools and 4 secondary schools, with 5,832 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Sallins that teach through Irish?
Yes, 1: Gaelcholáiste Chill Dara teach every subject through Irish.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Sallins?
No: all 4 secondary schools here are free.
What is the best school in Sallins?
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 Sallins?
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).