Photo: A.-K. D. · CC0Fewer single-sex secondaries around Mooncoin than around Co. Kilkenny’s towns or Irish towns: 0%
That puts Mooncoin below both Co. Kilkenny’s towns (56%) and Irish towns (39%). Coláiste Cois Siúire, with 167 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.
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 Mooncoin’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: Scoil Mhuire (261), Portlaw N.S. (214) and Coláiste Cois Siúire (167). Who runs them ↓
Facts from the Department of Education’s lists; nothing here judges how well a school teaches.
Who runs Mooncoin’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
3 of Mooncoin’s 4 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Ossory (2), Kilkenny & Carlow ETB (1) and Bishop of Waterford & Lismore (1). 3 of the 4 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 4 schools in and around Mooncoin
Every school in Mooncoin or within 3 km of its outline, each linked to its own page. These schools carry no letter or result: Ireland doesn’t release them school by school.
Where the 4 schools in and around Mooncoin 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 Mooncoin’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 Mooncoin
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
None of the 4 schools in and around Mooncoin teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Mooncoin’s schools serve
How the area’s pupils divide, against Co. Kilkenny’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 Mooncoin | Co. Kilkenny | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 84% | 20% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 3% | 6% |
| Girls | 44% | 49% | 49% |
More of the pupils around Mooncoin are at DEIS schools than across Ireland: 84% against 27% (Co. Kilkenny: 20%). Where this area differs most from Ireland is pupils at all-Irish schools, at 0% against 6%. Scoil Mhuire, with 261 pupils, is the largest school here in DEIS.
Each of the 4 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scoil MhuirePrimary | 261 | 46% | ✓ | |
| Coláiste Cois SiúirePost-primary · ETB | 167 | 37% | ✓ | |
| Portlaw N.S.Primary | 214 | 52% | ✓ | |
| Carigeen N.S.Primary | 123 | 39% |
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 3 patrons of Mooncoin’s schools
The patron owns the school and sets its ethos; a board of management runs it day to day.
The schools around Mooncoin answer to 3 patrons, and Bishop of Ossory leads with 2 of the 4 schools and 50% of their pupils. The local Education and Training Board runs one.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of OssoryScoil Mhuire, Carigeen | Catholic | 2 | 384 |
| Bishop of Waterford & LismorePortlaw | Catholic | 1 | 214 |
| Kilkenny & Carlow ETBColáiste Cois Siúire | Multi-denominational | 1 | 167 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Mooncoin
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 4 schools have grown by 5% or more and 3 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 Mooncoin’s schools
The Inspectorate’s published reports for each school, linked, without ratings
Reports come from whole-school evaluations (teaching, learning, leadership and management), subject inspections and follow-through visits that check earlier advice; gov.ie publishes each one with the school’s response.
Reports say what inspectors found and what should improve, without an overall grade, so none appears here; each of the 4 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Scoil MhuirePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Coláiste Cois SiúirePost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Portlaw N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Carigeen 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 Mooncoin
Post-primary schools within 10 km of the town; children move at about twelve, and families apply to each school
4 post-primary schools are within 10 km of Mooncoin: 2 ETB schools and 2 voluntary secondary schools. 2 of them are single-sex, 2 for girls and 0 for boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coláiste Cois SiúireETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 167 | 0.6 km |
| St Paul's Community CollegeETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 792 | 9.1 km |
| Our Lady of Mercy Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | DEIS | 479 | 9.5 km |
| Presentation Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | DEIS | 458 | 9.7 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Mooncoin
No special school is in or near Mooncoin. 3 of the 3 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.
Mooncoin beside the 136 other Irish towns of 800 to 1,600 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kilbeggan | 1,575 | 2 | 966 | 0 | 0% | 1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Kinlough | 1,196 | 3 | 898 | 0 | 33% | 3.2 km |
| Kentstown | 1,195 | 1 | 214 | 0 | 0% | 8.1 km |
| Athgarvan | 1,193 | 16 | 7,083 | 1 | 31% | 3.2 km |
| Newtowncunningham | 1,192 | 2 | 280 | 0 | 50% | 14 km |
| Mooncoin | 1,184 | 4 | 765 | 0 | 75% | 0.6 km |
| Kilworth | 1,179 | 2 | 371 | 0 | 0% | 5.1 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 |
| … | ||||||
| Ballon | 801 | 1 | 239 | 0 | 0% | 7.5 km |
Among the 136 other towns, 46 have more pupils at their schools than Mooncoin does. 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 Mooncoin
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 Mooncoin had 700 pupils in 2015/16 and 765 in 2025/26. Coláiste Cois Siúire grew most: +28% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Mooncoin
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 Mooncoin
Schools in or within 3 km of each neighbouring town; distances in a straight line.
Cleaboy has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. Since 2019/20 the pupils around Mooncoin changed by −9%; among its neighbours, Cleaboy’s grew most (+4%) and Piltown’s least (−24%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Mooncoin 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 Mooncoin
How many schools are there in Mooncoin?
In Mooncoin or within 3 km of it: 3 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 765 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Mooncoin that teach through Irish?
None in Mooncoin 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 Mooncoin?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Mooncoin?
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 Mooncoin?
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).