Photo: Mike Searle · CC BY-SA 2.0One of the secondary schools around Rathbane charges fees: Villiers Secondary School
Teaching through Irish: 14% of the schools around Rathbane, above both Co. Limerick’s towns (12%) and Irish towns (8%). Families in Rathbane have 30 primary schools, 14 secondary schools and 8 special schools within 3 km, teaching 19,628 pupils. Ireland publishes no school results, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them, so these schools are described here, never graded or ranked.
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.
What stands out about Rathbane’s schools
One fee-paying secondary school
One secondary school within reach charges fees; the others are free. The fee-paying one: Villiers Secondary School (508). Every school ↓
A wide choice at twelve
Within 10 km of the town there are 15 post-primary schools to choose from, of different kinds; each sets its own admission policy, and many families apply to several. The nearest: Colaiste Mhichil (1.5 km), Coláiste Nano Nagle (1.7 km) and Laurel Hill Coláiste FCJ (1.9 km). Post-primary choices ↓
From the Department of Education’s school lists: facts, not judgements of how well a school teaches.
The 52 schools in and around Rathbane
Here are the schools in Rathbane or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. There are no letters or results on these cards, because Ireland publishes none school by school.
Show all 30 primary schools
Where the 52 schools in and around Rathbane 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 Rathbane’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 Rathbane
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
7 of Rathbane’s 52 schools teach every subject through Irish: Gaelscoil Sheoirse, An Mhodh Scoil and Laurel Hill Coláiste FCJ.
Who Rathbane’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 Rathbane | Co. Limerick | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 22% | 25% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 14% | 7% | 6% |
| Girls | 48% | 48% | 49% |
| Post-primary pupils at single-sex schools | 41% | 23% | 29% |
| Post-primary pupils at fee-paying schools | 5% | 4% | 6% |
22% of the pupils around Rathbane are at a DEIS school, fewer than the 27% across Ireland (25% in Co. Limerick). Set beside Ireland, post-primary pupils at single-sex schools stand out most: 41% against 29%. The largest DEIS school here is Ardscoil Mhuire, with 591 pupils.
Each of the 52 schools
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 Rathbane’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
39 of Rathbane’s 52 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Limerick (29), Limerick & Clare ETB (4) and Educate Together (3). 17 of the 52 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 15 patrons of Rathbane’s schools
The patron owns the school and sets its ethos; a board of management runs it day to day.
15 patrons run the 52 schools around Rathbane; the largest, Bishop of Limerick, has 29 of them and 46% of the pupils. 4 are ETB schools. Educate Together runs 3.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of LimerickScoil Moin A Lin, St Munchin's College, Scoil Neassain, Scoil Ide, Scoil Phoil Naofa, Milford Grange N School, St Brigids, Gaelscoil an Raithin, Gaelscoil Sairseal, Scoil Mathair de, Salesian Primary School, Our Lady Queen of Peace School, Presentation Primary School, Catherine Mc Auley Sp S, Scoil an Spioraid Naomh, St Johns Convent, Scoil Iosagain, J F K Memorial School, Scoil Padraig Naofa B, Scoil Padraig Naofa C, Le Chéile, Our Lady of Lourdes, St Mary's, Donoughmore, St Michaels, Gaelscoil Sheoirse, St John the Baptist Boys, Mid West School for the Deaf, St Augustines Spec Sch | Catholic | 29 | 9,020 |
| Limerick & Clare ETBCastletroy College, Mungret, Gaelcholáiste Luimnigh, Limerick Community Special School | Inter-denominational, Multi-denominational | 4 | 3,004 |
| Educate TogetherLimerick City East, Limerick City East Educate Together NS, Limerick School Project | Multi-denominational | 3 | 1,387 |
| Edmund Rice Schools TrustArdscoil Ris, Colaiste Mhichil | Catholic | 2 | 1,077 |
| Le Chéile Schools TrustLaurel Hill Secondary School FCJ, Laurel Hill Coláiste FCJ | Catholic | 2 | 1,061 |
| CEISTArdscoil Mhuire, Coláiste Nano Nagle | Catholic | 2 | 956 |
| Health Service ExecutiveThe Childrens Ark, St Canices Special School | Multi-denominational, Catholic | 2 | 51 |
| Minister for EducationCrescent College Comprehensive | Inter-denominational | 1 | 922 |
| Minister for Education & SkillsAn Mhodh Scoil | Catholic | 1 | 578 |
| Board of Governors of Villiers Secondary SchoolVilliers | Church of Ireland | 1 | 508 |
| An Foras PátrúnachtaGaelscoil Chaladh an Treoigh | Catholic | 1 | 412 |
| Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorist Fathers)St Clements College | Catholic | 1 | 411 |
| Bishop of Limerick, Killaloe & Ardfert COISt Michaels | Church of Ireland | 1 | 116 |
| St Gabriel's School and CentreSt Gabriels School | Multi-denominational | 1 | 64 |
| The Rehab GroupRed Hill School | Other | 1 | 61 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Rathbane
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. The fee-paying school here sets its own fees and admissions.
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, 13 of the 44 grew by 5% or more and 18 shrank as much, while Ireland’s pupil numbers moved +5%.
All 44 schools
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 Rathbane’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 52 schools below each link their own.
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Rathbane
Post-primary schools within 10 km of the town; children move at about twelve, and families apply to each school
Families in Rathbane have 15 post-primary schools within 10 km: 10 voluntary secondary schools, 4 ETB schools and one comprehensive school. 7 teach girls and boys apart: 3 girls’ and 4 boys’ schools. One of them charges fees. Every subject is taught through Irish at 2 of them.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colaiste MhichilVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Boys | DEIS | 349 | 1.5 km |
| Coláiste Nano NagleVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | DEIS | 365 | 1.7 km |
| Laurel Hill Coláiste FCJVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | Gaelcholáiste | 315 | 1.9 km |
| St Clements CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Boys | DEIS | 411 | 2 km |
| Laurel Hill Secondary School FCJVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 746 | 2 km |
| Crescent College ComprehensiveComprehensive · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 922 | 2.1 km |
| Gaelcholáiste LuimnighETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | Gaelcholáiste | 606 | 2.2 km |
| Ardscoil MhuireVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | DEIS | 591 | 2.7 km |
| Limerick City East Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 811 | 2.7 km |
| Ardscoil RisVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Boys | – | 728 | 2.8 km |
| Villiers Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Church of Ireland | Girls and boys | Fee-paying, Boarding | 508 | 3.4 km |
| St Munchin's CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Boys | – | 682 | 4 km |
All 15 post-primary schools within reach
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thomond Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 597 | 4.3 km |
| Mungret Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 991 | 5.2 km |
| Castletroy CollegeETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 1,360 | 5.3 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Rathbane
8 special schools serve the area: Mid West School for the Deaf, St Canices Special School, St Augustines Spec Sch, St Gabriels School, Catherine Mc Auley Sp S, The Childrens Ark, Red Hill School and Limerick Community Special School, 569 pupils between them. 16 of the 30 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.
Rathbane beside the 91 other Irish towns of 2,900 to 5,500 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ardee | 5,478 | 5 | 2,252 | 0 | 60% | 0.8 km |
| … | ||||||
| Lehenagh | 4,154 | 43 | 14,801 | 4 | 33% | 2.3 km |
| Mervue | 4,126 | 30 | 9,041 | 4 | 37% | 0.9 km |
| Prospect and Newtown Pery | 4,122 | 46 | 15,489 | 5 | 48% | 0.7 km |
| Montenotte | 4,113 | 70 | 20,121 | 8 | 49% | 0.5 km |
| Rathbane | 4,111 | 52 | 19,628 | 7 | 33% | 1.5 km |
| Grange | 4,109 | 32 | 12,776 | 3 | 41% | 1.3 km |
| Macroom | 4,096 | 6 | 1,897 | 0 | 17% | 0.1 km |
| Newcastle | 4,032 | 31 | 11,321 | 5 | 29% | 0.9 km |
| Charleville | 3,970 | 6 | 1,334 | 0 | 50% | 0.3 km |
| … | ||||||
| Skibbereen | 2,903 | 5 | 1,562 | 1 | 0% | 0.8 km |
Of the other 91 towns, 13 have more pupils at the schools around them than Rathbane. Within 3 km, 60 of these 92 towns have a school teaching through Irish.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Rathbane
Every school in or within 3 km of the town each September, counted where it stands today.
The schools in and around Rathbane had 17,386 pupils in 2015/16 and 19,628 in 2025/26. Limerick City East Secondary School grew most: +587% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Rathbane
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 Rathbane
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rathbane | 52 | 19,628 | 7 | 33% | 1.5 km |
| Prospect and Newtown Pery 1 km | 46 | 15,489 | 5 | 48% | 0.7 km |
| Galvone 1.2 km | 48 | 16,815 | 5 | 46% | 0.6 km |
| Garryowen 1.7 km | 41 | 14,084 | 6 | 44% | 1 km |
| Dock 1.8 km | 45 | 15,206 | 5 | 49% | 0.3 km |
| Limerick City Centre 2 km | 43 | 14,494 | 5 | 51% | 0.4 km |
| Ballinacurra 2 km | 48 | 15,810 | 6 | 46% | 0.8 km |
The roll around Rathbane moved +7% since 2019/20; nearby, Ballinacurra grew most (+4%) and Limerick City Centre least (−1%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Rathbane 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 Rathbane
How many schools are there in Rathbane?
In Rathbane or within 3 km of it: 30 primary schools, 14 secondary schools and 8 special schools, with 19,628 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Rathbane that teach through Irish?
Yes, 7: Gaelscoil Sheoirse, An Mhodh Scoil and Laurel Hill Coláiste FCJ teach every subject through Irish.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Rathbane?
1 of the 14: Villiers Secondary School. The others are free.
What is the best school in Rathbane?
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 Rathbane?
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).