Photo: Jonathan Billinger · CC BY-SA 2.0The schools around Ardee have grown: pupils +19% since 2019/20, more than around Irish towns
In the comparison, Ardee comes above Irish towns (+4%). Pupils: 2,252, up 19% since 2019/20. With no school results published in Ireland, and the Education Act 1998 restricting comparisons of them, these schools are described, not 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 Ardee’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: Ardee Community School (1,306), Ardee Monastery (244) and Ardee Educate Together NS (177). Who runs them ↓
More pupils every year
Pupil numbers at the schools here have grown faster than across Ireland (+5% since 2019/20), so classes and new places are a question worth asking. Pupils over time ↓
One school growing fast
Of the schools here, Ardee Community School has grown fastest, from 967 in 2019/20 to 1,306. Getting a place ↓
Facts from the Department of Education’s lists; nothing here judges how well a school teaches.
Who runs Ardee’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
3 of Ardee’s 5 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Archbishop of Armagh (3), Louth & Meath ETB & Archbishop of Armagh (1) and Educate Together (1). 3 of the 5 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.
Pupil numbers around Ardee
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 Ardee had 1,610 pupils in 2015/16 and 2,252 in 2025/26. Ardee Community School grew most: +35% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Ardee
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.
The 5 schools in and around Ardee
Here are the schools in Ardee or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. No school here carries a letter or a result: Ireland publishes neither for individual schools.
Where the 5 schools in and around Ardee 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 Ardee’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 Ardee
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
None of the 5 schools in and around Ardee teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Ardee’s schools serve
How the area’s pupils divide, against Co. Louth’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 Ardee | Co. Louth | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 77% | 36% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 1% | 6% |
| Girls | 48% | 50% | 49% |
Around Ardee, 77% of pupils attend a school in DEIS; across Ireland it is 27%, and 36% in Co. Louth. Where this area differs most from Ireland is pupils at all-Irish schools, at 0% against 6%. Ardee Community School, with 1,306 pupils, is the largest school here in DEIS.
Each of the 5 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ardee Community SchoolPost-primary · Community school | 1,306 | 47% | ✓ | |
| S N Mhuire na TrocairePrimary | 339 | 80% | ||
| Ardee MonasteryPrimary | 244 | 15% | ✓ | |
| Ardee Educate Together NSPrimary | 177 | 41% | ✓ | |
| Ballapousta NSPrimary | 186 | 52% |
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 Ardee’s schools
Each school has a patron that owns it and sets its ethos; its board of management runs it.
The schools around Ardee answer to 3 patrons, and Archbishop of Armagh leads with 3 of the 5 schools and 34% of their pupils. One is an ETB school. Educate Together runs one.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archbishop of ArmaghS N Mhuire na Trocaire, Ardee Monastery, Ballapousta NS | Catholic | 3 | 769 |
| Louth & Meath ETB & Archbishop of ArmaghArdee | Inter-denominational | 1 | 1,306 |
| Educate TogetherArdee Educate Together NS | Multi-denominational | 1 | 177 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Ardee
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 5 grew by 5% or more and 1 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 Ardee’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 5 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Ardee Community SchoolPost-primary · Community school | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S N Mhuire na TrocairePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Ardee MonasteryPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Ardee Educate Together NSPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Ballapousta NSPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Ardee
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
The only post-primary school within 10 km of Ardee is Ardee Community School, a community school. It takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ardee Community SchoolCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 1,306 | 0.8 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Ardee
No special school is in or near Ardee. 2 of the 4 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.
Ardee beside the 99 other Irish towns of 3,800 to 7,400 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caherdavin | 7,364 | 46 | 16,583 | 5 | 39% | 1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Knocknaheeny | 5,592 | 59 | 18,265 | 5 | 59% | 0.5 km |
| Carrigtwohill | 5,568 | 6 | 2,782 | 0 | 0% | 0.2 km |
| Inishkenny | 5,552 | 43 | 16,164 | 4 | 35% | 1.4 km |
| Roscrea | 5,542 | 8 | 1,763 | 0 | 50% | 0.5 km |
| Ardee | 5,478 | 5 | 2,252 | 0 | 60% | 0.8 km |
| Edmondstown | 5,451 | 57 | 23,063 | 6 | 12% | 1.1 km |
| Salthill | 5,445 | 30 | 10,795 | 4 | 23% | 0.6 km |
| Ballinlough | 5,435 | 79 | 23,116 | 7 | 47% | 0.6 km |
| Garryowen | 5,428 | 41 | 14,084 | 6 | 44% | 1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Shanakiel | 3,804 | 52 | 16,547 | 5 | 54% | 0.6 km |
Among the 99 other towns, 76 have more pupils at their schools than Ardee does. Within 3 km, 82 of these 100 towns have a school teaching through Irish.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Schools in the towns around Ardee
Schools in or within 3 km of each neighbouring town; distances in a straight line.
| Town | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ardee | 5 | 2,252 | 0 | 60% | 0.8 km |
| Dunleer 9.6 km | 5 | 1,205 | 0 | 20% | 0.8 km |
| Castlebellingham-Kilsaran 10 km | 3 | 506 | 0 | 0% | 7.7 km |
| Dromiskin 12 km | 1 | 234 | 0 | 0% | 6.8 km |
| Tullyallen 15 km | 1 | 411 | 0 | 0% | 3.7 km |
| Slane 16 km | 1 | 254 | 0 | 0% | 10 km |
| Carrickmacross 18 km | 6 | 2,352 | 1 | 17% | 0.2 km |
Carrickmacross has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. Pupils around Ardee: +19% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Dunleer led (+11%) and Tullyallen trailed (−17%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Ardee 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 Ardee
How many schools are there in Ardee?
In Ardee or within 3 km of it: 4 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 2,252 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Ardee that teach through Irish?
None in Ardee 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 Ardee?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Ardee?
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 Ardee?
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).