Photo: C O'Flanagan · CC BY-SA 2.0The nearest secondary school to Kilmessan is 8.2 km away
Around Kilmessan, 0% of schools teach through Irish, below both Co. Meath’s towns (8%) and Irish towns (8%). All 2 of its schools are Catholic: there is no other kind 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 Kilmessan’s schools
A wide choice at twelve
5 post-primary schools lie within 10 km, so families here have a real choice at twelve; each admits on its own policy. The nearest: Boyne Community School (8.1 km), Scoil Mhuire (8.5 km) and Community College Dunshaughlin (9.1 km). Post-primary choices ↓
Facts from the Department of Education’s lists; nothing here judges how well a school teaches.
Where the 2 schools in and around Kilmessan 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 Kilmessan’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 runs Kilmessan’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
2 of Kilmessan’s 2 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. Their patron: Bishop of Meath (2). None of the 2 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.
Teaching through Irish in and around Kilmessan
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
None of the 2 schools in and around Kilmessan teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Kilmessan’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.
| Share of pupils | Around Kilmessan | Co. Meath | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 0% | 14% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 5% | 6% |
| Girls | 50% | 49% | 49% |
0% of the pupils around Kilmessan are at a DEIS school, fewer than the 27% across Ireland (14% in Co. Meath). The biggest difference from Ireland is in pupils at all-Irish schools: 0% here, 6% there.
Each of the 2 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kilmessan Mxd N.S.Primary | 242 | 52% | ||
| S.N. Naomh SeosamhPrimary | 95 | 45% |
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.
How children get a place in Kilmessan
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 2 schools in and around Kilmessan
Every school in Kilmessan or within 3 km of its outline, each linked to its own page. Results by school aren’t published in Ireland, so the cards carry none.
Inspection reports for Kilmessan’s schools
The Department of Education’s Inspectorate: every school’s reports linked, none rated
The Inspectorate inspects schools in several ways: a whole-school evaluation covers teaching, learning and how the school is led; a subject inspection looks at one subject; a follow-through checks on earlier advice. Reports go on gov.ie with the school’s reply.
Reports say what inspectors found and what should improve, without an overall grade, so none appears here; each of the 2 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Kilmessan Mxd N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. Naomh SeosamhPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Kilmessan
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
Within 10 km of Kilmessan there are 5 post-primary schools: 3 ETB schools, one community school and one voluntary secondary school. Only one teaches girls and boys apart. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boyne Community SchoolCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 1,008 | 8.1 km |
| Scoil MhuireVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 814 | 8.5 km |
| Community College DunshaughlinETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 1,120 | 9.1 km |
| Coláiste na MíETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 913 | 9.2 km |
| Beaufort CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 926 | 9.3 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Kilmessan beside the 178 other Irish towns of 600 to 1,200 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Urlingford | 1,196 | 2 | 882 | 0 | 100% | 3.1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Quin | 922 | 2 | 444 | 0 | 0% | 8.1 km |
| Miltown Malbay | 921 | 5 | 716 | 0 | 40% | 2.7 km |
| Paulstown | 919 | 1 | 217 | 0 | 0% | 4.4 km |
| Mucklagh | 918 | 3 | 1,178 | 0 | 0% | 3.7 km |
| Kilmessan | 907 | 2 | 337 | 0 | 0% | 8.2 km |
| Roundwood | 907 | 1 | 254 | 0 | 0% | 11 km |
| Kinsaley | 906 | 37 | 14,215 | 3 | 30% | 2.2 km |
| Clarinbridge | 905 | 2 | 451 | 0 | 0% | 5.5 km |
| Cratloe | 899 | 1 | 278 | 0 | 0% | 6.6 km |
| … | ||||||
| Na Dúnaibh | 601 | 2 | 202 | 1 | 100% | 14 km |
More pupils attend the schools around 86 of the other 178 towns than around Kilmessan. An all-Irish school is within 3 km of 16 of the 179.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Kilmessan
Every school in or within 3 km of the town each September, counted where it stands today.
The schools in and around Kilmessan had 271 pupils in 2015/16 and 337 in 2025/26.
Pupils at schools in and around Kilmessan
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 Kilmessan
Schools in or within 3 km of each neighbouring town; distances in a straight line.
Trim has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. Of Kilmessan’s neighbours, Dunshaughlin saw the most growth in pupils since 2019/20 (+30%) and Kentstown the least (−15%); Kilmessan itself: +6%.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Kilmessan 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 Kilmessan
How many schools are there in Kilmessan?
In Kilmessan or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools, with 337 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Kilmessan that teach through Irish?
None in Kilmessan or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Kilmessan?
Not in Kilmessan or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Boyne Community School, 8.2 km away.
What is the best school in Kilmessan?
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 Kilmessan?
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).