Photo: Sheila1988 · CC0The nearest secondary school to Straffan is 3.8 km away
All-Irish schools make up 0% of those around Straffan, below both Co. Kildare’s towns (6%) and Irish towns (8%). Every one of its 2 schools within 3 km has a Catholic ethos. Ireland publishes no school results, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them, so these schools are described here, never 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 Straffan’s schools
A wide choice at twelve
Within 10 km of the town there are 12 post-primary schools to choose from, of different kinds; each sets its own admission policy, and many families apply to several. The nearest: St Wolstan's Community School (3.8 km), Clongowes Wood College (5 km) and Salesian College (6.2 km). Post-primary choices ↓
Drawn from the Department of Education’s lists; none of it judges how well a school teaches.
Where the 2 schools in and around Straffan 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 Straffan’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.
Who runs Straffan’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
2 of Straffan’s 2 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Archbishop of Dublin (1) and Bishop of Kildare & Leighlin (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.
Teaching through Irish in and around Straffan
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
None of the 2 schools in and around Straffan teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Straffan’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.
| Share of pupils | Around Straffan | 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 Straffan are at a DEIS school, fewer than the 27% across Ireland (17% in Co. Kildare). Furthest from Ireland’s mix is the share of pupils at all-Irish schools: 0% here against 6%.
Each of the 2 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Straffan N.S.Primary | 401 | 50% | ||
| St Annes National SchoolPrimary | 329 | 43% |
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.
How children get a place in Straffan
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, 1 of these 2 schools have grown by 5% or more and 0 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.
The 2 schools in and around Straffan
Here are the schools in Straffan or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. Results by school aren’t published in Ireland, so the cards carry none.
Inspection reports for Straffan’s schools
Reports from the Department of Education’s Inspectorate, every school’s linked and 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 2 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Straffan N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Annes 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 Straffan
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
Families in Straffan have 12 post-primary schools within 10 km: 5 community schools, 5 ETB schools and 2 voluntary secondary schools. 3 teach girls and boys apart: 1 girls’ and 2 boys’ schools. One of them charges fees. Just one teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Wolstan's Community SchoolCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls | – | 846 | 3.8 km |
| Clongowes Wood CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Boys | Fee-paying, Boarding | 421 | 5 km |
| Salesian CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Boys | – | 880 | 6.2 km |
| Scoil Mhuire Community SchoolCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 1,189 | 6.4 km |
| Celbridge Community SchoolCommunity school · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 712 | 6.4 km |
| Gaelcholáiste Mhaigh NuadETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | Gaelcholáiste | 154 | 7.6 km |
| Maynooth Post Primary SchoolETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 1,018 | 7.9 km |
| Maynooth Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 1,013 | 9 km |
| Coláiste ChiaráinCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 676 | 9.1 km |
| Holy Family Community SchoolCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 998 | 9.5 km |
| Confey Community CollegeETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 934 | 9.8 km |
| St Farnan's Post Primary SchoolETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 676 | 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 Straffan
No special school is in or near Straffan. 2 of the 2 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.
Straffan beside the 136 other Irish towns of 800 to 1,600 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kilbeggan | 1,575 | 2 | 966 | 0 | 0% | 1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Charlestown-Bellahy | 1,172 | 2 | 491 | 0 | 50% | 0.4 km |
| Ballylinan | 1,167 | 3 | 435 | 0 | 0% | 7.2 km |
| Raphoe | 1,161 | 4 | 1,792 | 0 | 100% | 0.2 km |
| Aghada-Rostellan | 1,159 | 3 | 574 | 0 | 0% | 5.5 km |
| Straffan | 1,158 | 2 | 730 | 0 | 0% | 3.8 km |
| Coolaney | 1,155 | 1 | 174 | 0 | 0% | 7.5 km |
| Ennistimon | 1,137 | 5 | 1,088 | 0 | 60% | 0.6 km |
| Crossmolina | 1,134 | 3 | 1,029 | 0 | 33% | 0.8 km |
| Drumlish | 1,124 | 1 | 215 | 0 | 100% | 10 km |
| … | ||||||
| Ballon | 801 | 1 | 239 | 0 | 0% | 7.5 km |
More pupils attend the schools around 49 of the other 136 towns than around Straffan. 15 of the 137 towns have an all-Irish school within 3 km.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Straffan
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 Straffan had 581 pupils in 2015/16 and 730 in 2025/26.
Pupils at schools in and around Straffan
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 Straffan
Schools in or within 3 km of each neighbouring town; distances in a straight line.
Maynooth has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 3. Since 2019/20 the pupils around Straffan changed by +3%; among its neighbours, Maynooth’s grew most (+23%) and Clane’s least (+3%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Straffan 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 Straffan
How many schools are there in Straffan?
In Straffan or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools, with 730 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Straffan that teach through Irish?
None in Straffan or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Straffan?
Not in Straffan or within 3 km of it; the nearest is St Wolstan's Community School, 3.8 km away.
What is the best school in Straffan?
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 Straffan?
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).