Photo: Kevin McNamee · CC BY-SA 4.0Pupil numbers around Kilcloon are rising faster than around Co. Meath’s towns or Irish towns: +67% since 2019/20
That leaves Kilcloon above both Co. Meath’s towns (+4%) and Irish towns (+4%). Its schools have 1,411 pupils, 67% more than in 2019/20. Nothing here grades or ranks these schools: Ireland publishes no results school by school, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them.
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 Kilcloon’s schools
More all-Irish schools than most places
Families here have more choice of a school that teaches every subject through Irish than in most of Ireland, where 8% of schools do. The school is Gaelscoil Ruairí (173). Language ↓
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 ↓
A choice beyond the church schools
Most schools in Ireland have a church patron; here more of them are multi- or inter-denominational than in most places (14% across Ireland). They are Maynooth Community College (1,013) and Gaelscoil Ruairí (173). Who runs them ↓
A wide choice at twelve
Families here can choose among 14 post-primary schools within 10 km of the town, of more than one kind; each admits on its own published policy, so applying to more than one is common. The nearest: Maynooth Community College (3.1 km), Maynooth Post Primary School (4.1 km) and Gaelcholáiste Mhaigh Nuad (4.3 km). Post-primary choices ↓
From the Department of Education’s school lists: facts, not judgements of how well a school teaches.
Teaching through Irish in and around Kilcloon
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
1 of Kilcloon’s 3 schools teach every subject through Irish: Gaelscoil Ruairí.
Pupil numbers around Kilcloon
Every school in or within 3 km of the town each September, counted where it stands today.
The schools in and around Kilcloon had 440 pupils in 2015/16 and 1,411 in 2025/26.
Pupils at schools in and around Kilcloon
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.
Who runs Kilcloon’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
1 of Kilcloon’s 3 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Meath (1), Kildare & Wicklow ETB (1) and An Foras Pátrúnachta (1). None of the 3 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.
Where the 3 schools in and around Kilcloon 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 Kilcloon’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 Kilcloon’s schools serve
How the area’s pupils divide, against Co. Meath’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 Kilcloon | Co. Meath | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 0% | 14% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 12% | 5% | 6% |
| Girls | 51% | 49% | 49% |
DEIS schools teach 0% of the pupils around Kilcloon, a smaller share than Ireland’s 27% (Co. Meath: 14%). Set beside Ireland, pupils at all-Irish schools stand out most: 12% against 6%.
Each of the 3 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scoil Oilibheir NaofaPrimary | 225 | 45% | ||
| Maynooth Community CollegePost-primary · ETB | 1,013 | 52% | ||
| Gaelscoil RuairíPrimary | 173 | 49% | ✓ |
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 Kilcloon’s schools
Patrons own the schools and set their ethos; boards of management run them day to day.
Kildare & Wicklow ETB is patron of 1 of the 3 schools around Kilcloon, which teach 72% of their pupils; 3 patrons run them in all. An Education and Training Board runs one of them.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kildare & Wicklow ETBMaynooth | Multi-denominational | 1 | 1,013 |
| Bishop of MeathScoil Oilibheir Naofa | Catholic | 1 | 225 |
| An Foras PátrúnachtaGaelscoil Ruairí | Multi-denominational | 1 | 173 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Kilcloon
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
Of these 2 schools, 1 have grown by at least 5% since 2019/20 and 0 have lost as much; Ireland’s 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 3 schools in and around Kilcloon
Here are the schools in Kilcloon 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 Kilcloon’s schools
The Inspectorate’s published reports for each school, linked, without ratings
Each school is visited by inspectors from time to time, for a whole-school evaluation of teaching, learning and leadership, for one subject, or to follow up earlier advice, and every report is posted 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 3 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Scoil Oilibheir NaofaPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Maynooth Community CollegePost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Gaelscoil RuairíPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Kilcloon
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
14 post-primary schools are within 10 km of Kilcloon: 8 ETB schools, 3 voluntary secondary schools and 3 community schools. 2 of them are single-sex, 1 for girls and 1 for boys. Just one teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maynooth Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 1,013 | 3.1 km |
| Maynooth Post Primary SchoolETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 1,018 | 4.1 km |
| Gaelcholáiste Mhaigh NuadETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | Gaelcholáiste | 154 | 4.3 km |
| Scoil DaraVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 828 | 6.6 km |
| Celbridge Community SchoolCommunity school · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 712 | 6.9 km |
| Salesian CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Boys | – | 880 | 7 km |
| St Peter's CollegeETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 1,214 | 7 km |
| Confey Community CollegeETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 934 | 7.2 km |
| Coláiste ChiaráinCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 676 | 7.9 km |
| Hansfield ETSSVoluntary secondary · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 867 | 9.1 km |
| Eriu Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 193 | 9.2 km |
| St Wolstan's Community SchoolCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls | – | 846 | 9.5 km |
All 14 post-primary schools within reach
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coláiste Pobail SetantaETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 1,079 | 9.6 km |
| Coláiste RiogaETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 267 | 9.8 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Kilcloon
No special school is in or near Kilcloon. 1 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.
Kilcloon beside the 217 other Irish towns of 300 to 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freshford | 593 | 2 | 244 | 0 | 50% | 10 km |
| … | ||||||
| Two Mile House | 474 | 2 | 460 | 0 | 0% | 3.7 km |
| Kilmihil | 472 | 3 | 445 | 0 | 0% | 0.1 km |
| Camolin | 470 | 1 | 75 | 0 | 100% | 10 km |
| Clondulane | 470 | 1 | 80 | 0 | 0% | 4.1 km |
| Kilcloon | 469 | 3 | 1,411 | 1 | 0% | 3.1 km |
| Twomileborris | 469 | 1 | 148 | 0 | 0% | 6.5 km |
| Ardmore | 468 | 2 | 154 | 0 | 50% | 9.5 km |
| Ballindine | 468 | 1 | 138 | 0 | 0% | 7.7 km |
| Rampark | 465 | 2 | 249 | 0 | 0% | 4.8 km |
| … | ||||||
| Gneevgullia | 300 | 1 | 131 | 0 | 0% | 4.8 km |
Of these 217 other towns, 11 count more pupils at their schools than Kilcloon. An all-Irish school is within 3 km of 19 of the 218.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Schools in the towns around Kilcloon
Each town’s schools in or within 3 km of its outline; distances as the crow flies.
Maynooth has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 3. The roll around Kilcloon moved +67% since 2019/20; nearby, Maynooth grew most (+23%) and Clonee least (−4%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Kilcloon 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 Kilcloon
How many schools are there in Kilcloon?
In Kilcloon or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 1,411 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Kilcloon that teach through Irish?
Yes, 1: Gaelscoil Ruairí teach every subject through Irish.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Kilcloon?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Kilcloon?
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 Kilcloon?
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).