Photo: Harold Strong · CC BY-SA 2.0Fewer single-sex secondaries around Newcastle West than around Co. Limerick’s towns or Irish towns: 0%
In the comparison, Newcastle West comes below both Co. Limerick’s towns (55%) and Irish towns (39%). In or within 3 km of Newcastle West, they have 2,648 pupils in all. Nothing here grades or ranks these schools: Ireland publishes no results school by school, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them.
Every school in the town or within 3 km of its outline, from the Department of Education’s lists for 2025/26; Ireland’s figures are every school in the lists.
Where the 8 schools in and around Newcastle West 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 Newcastle West’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 Newcastle West
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
1 of Newcastle West’s 8 schools teach every subject through Irish: Gaelscoil O Doghair.
Who Newcastle West’s schools serve
How the area’s pupils divide, against Co. Limerick’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 Newcastle West | Co. Limerick | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 38% | 25% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 8% | 7% | 6% |
| Girls | 47% | 48% | 49% |
| Post-primary pupils at single-sex schools | 0% | 23% | 29% |
| Post-primary pupils at fee-paying schools | 0% | 4% | 6% |
More of the pupils around Newcastle West are at DEIS schools than across Ireland: 38% against 27% (Co. Limerick: 25%). The biggest difference from Ireland is in post-primary pupils at single-sex schools: 0% here, 29% there. Of the DEIS schools here, Desmond College is the biggest: 539 pupils.
Each of the 8 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scoil Mhuire & ÍdePost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 754 | 49% | ||
| Desmond CollegePost-primary · ETB | 539 | 47% | ✓ | |
| Courtenay National SchoolPrimary | 251 | 5% | ✓ | |
| St Josephs ConventPrimary | 225 | 92% | ✓ | |
| Gaelscoil O DoghairPrimary | 201 | 52% | ✓ | |
| S.N. Cill LachtainPrimary | 235 | 41% | ||
| Mahoonagh N.S.Primary | 237 | 43% | ||
| Monagea National SchoolPrimary | 206 | 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.
Who runs Newcastle West’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
7 of Newcastle West’s 8 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Limerick (6), Comhairle Mean-Scoil Mhuire agus Íde Cuideachta faoi Theorainn Ráthaíochta (1) and Limerick & Clare ETB (1). 3 of the 8 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 3 patrons of Newcastle West’s schools
Patrons own the schools and set their ethos; boards of management run them day to day.
The schools around Newcastle West answer to 3 patrons, and Bishop of Limerick leads with 6 of the 8 schools and 51% of their pupils. One is an ETB school.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of LimerickCourtenay, Mahoonagh, S.N. Cill Lachtain, St Josephs Convent, Monagea, Gaelscoil O Doghair | Catholic | 6 | 1,355 |
| Comhairle Mean-Scoil Mhuire agus Íde Cuideachta faoi Theorainn RáthaíochtaScoil Mhuire & Íde | Catholic | 1 | 754 |
| Limerick & Clare ETBDesmond College | Multi-denominational | 1 | 539 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Newcastle West
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, 4 of these 8 schools have grown by 5% or more and 2 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 8 schools in and around Newcastle West
Every school in Newcastle West or within 3 km of its outline, each linked to its own page. There are no letters or results on these cards, because Ireland publishes none school by school.
Inspection reports for Newcastle West’s schools
The Department of Education’s Inspectorate: every school’s reports linked, none rated
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 8 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Scoil Mhuire & ÍdePost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Desmond CollegePost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Courtenay National SchoolPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Josephs ConventPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Gaelscoil O DoghairPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. Cill LachtainPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Mahoonagh N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Monagea 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 Newcastle West
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
Families in Newcastle West have 2 post-primary schools within 10 km: one ETB school and one voluntary secondary school. Every one of them takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Desmond CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | Irish stream, DEIS | 539 | 0.6 km |
| Scoil Mhuire & ÍdeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 754 | 0.6 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Newcastle West
No special school is in or near Newcastle West. 5 of the 6 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.
Newcastle West beside the 96 other Irish towns of 5,000 to 9,700 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donabate | 9,669 | 6 | 2,087 | 1 | 0% | 0.3 km |
| … | ||||||
| Walkinstown | 7,442 | 91 | 27,293 | 3 | 51% | 0.2 km |
| Clongriffin | 7,438 | 53 | 15,799 | 4 | 36% | 0.3 km |
| Caherdavin | 7,364 | 46 | 16,583 | 5 | 39% | 1 km |
| Temple Bar | 7,276 | 116 | 27,705 | 10 | 51% | 0.5 km |
| Newcastle West | 7,209 | 8 | 2,648 | 1 | 38% | 0.6 km |
| Turner's Cross | 7,208 | 77 | 24,127 | 7 | 44% | 0.3 km |
| South Gate | 7,185 | 75 | 23,775 | 7 | 47% | 0.3 km |
| Dunboyne | 7,155 | 14 | 7,600 | 1 | 7% | 0.3 km |
| Buncrana | 6,971 | 7 | 2,583 | 2 | 43% | 0.6 km |
| … | ||||||
| Glounthaune | 5,000 | 32 | 10,210 | 4 | 19% | 3.7 km |
Among the 96 other towns, 75 have more pupils at their schools than Newcastle West does. 86 of the 97 towns have an all-Irish school within 3 km.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Newcastle West
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 Newcastle West had 2,149 pupils in 2015/16 and 2,648 in 2025/26. Desmond College grew most: +38% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Newcastle West
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 Newcastle West
For each nearby town, its schools in or within 3 km of its outline, with straight-line distances.
| Town | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newcastle West | 8 | 2,648 | 1 | 38% | 0.6 km |
| Rathkeale 11 km | 5 | 971 | 0 | 60% | 0.2 km |
| Askeaton 18 km | 2 | 426 | 0 | 50% | 0.5 km |
| Abbeyfeale 18 km | 5 | 1,060 | 0 | 40% | 0.7 km |
Pupils around Newcastle West: +9% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Rathkeale led (+7%) and Askeaton trailed (−22%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Newcastle West 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 Newcastle West
How many schools are there in Newcastle West?
In Newcastle West or within 3 km of it: 6 primary schools and 2 secondary schools, with 2,648 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Newcastle West that teach through Irish?
Yes, 1: Gaelscoil O Doghair teach every subject through Irish.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Newcastle West?
No: all 2 secondary schools here are free.
What is the best school in Newcastle West?
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 Newcastle West?
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).