Photo: Robin Pollard · CC BY 3.0Few schools around Stamullen teach through Irish: 0%, below Co. Meath’s towns and Irish towns
That leaves Stamullen below both Co. Meath’s towns (9%) and Irish towns (8%). All 3 of its schools are Catholic: there is no other kind within 3 km. Ireland publishes no school results, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them, so these schools are described here, never graded or ranked.
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 Stamullen’s schools
Fewer pupils than before
Pupil numbers at the schools here have fallen since 2019/20, against +5% across Ireland. Pupils over time ↓
A wide choice at twelve
8 post-primary schools lie within 10 km, so families here have a real choice at twelve; each admits on its own policy. The nearest: Franciscan College (2.1 km), Coláiste Ghlór na Mara (4.6 km) and Bremore Educate Together Secondary School (5 km). Post-primary choices ↓
From the Department of Education’s school lists: facts, not judgements of how well a school teaches.
Pupil numbers around Stamullen
Pupils every September at the schools in or within 3 km of the town, each counted at today’s site.
The schools in and around Stamullen had 1,267 pupils in 2015/16 and 1,043 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Stamullen
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 Stamullen’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
3 of Stamullen’s 3 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Meath (1), Order of Friars Minor (Franciscan Fathers) Irish Province (1) and Archbishop of Dublin (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.
The 3 schools in and around Stamullen
Each school in or within 3 km of Stamullen links to a page of its own. Results by school aren’t published in Ireland, so the cards carry none.
Where the 3 schools in and around Stamullen 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 Stamullen’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 Stamullen
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
None of the 3 schools in and around Stamullen teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Stamullen’s schools serve
The pupils at the area’s schools by share, beside 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 Stamullen | Co. Meath | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 0% | 14% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 5% | 6% |
| Girls | 47% | 49% | 49% |
0% of the pupils around Stamullen are at a DEIS school, fewer than the 27% across Ireland (14% in Co. Meath). Set beside Ireland, pupils at all-Irish schools stand out most: 0% against 6%.
Each of the 3 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S.N. Naomh PadraigPrimary | 524 | 49% | ||
| Franciscan CollegePost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 321 | 42% | ||
| Balscadden N.S.Primary | 198 | 50% |
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 Stamullen’s schools
Patrons own the schools and set their ethos; boards of management run them day to day.
The schools around Stamullen answer to 3 patrons, and Bishop of Meath leads with 1 of the 3 schools and 50% of their pupils.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of MeathS.N. Naomh Padraig | Catholic | 1 | 524 |
| Order of Friars Minor (Franciscan Fathers) Irish ProvinceFranciscan College | Catholic | 1 | 321 |
| Archbishop of DublinBalscadden | Catholic | 1 | 198 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Stamullen
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, 0 of these 3 schools have grown by 5% or more and 3 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.
Inspection reports for Stamullen’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 3 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| S.N. Naomh PadraigPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Franciscan CollegePost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Balscadden N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Stamullen
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
Families in Stamullen have 8 post-primary schools within 10 km: 5 voluntary secondary schools and 3 ETB schools. Only one teaches girls and boys apart. Just one teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Franciscan CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 321 | 2.1 km |
| Coláiste Ghlór na MaraVoluntary secondary · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | Gaelcholáiste | 520 | 4.6 km |
| Bremore Educate Together Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 824 | 5 km |
| Balbriggan Community CollegeETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 686 | 5.6 km |
| Loreto Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 1,220 | 5.8 km |
| Ardgillan Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 1,014 | 6.6 km |
| Colaiste na hInseETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 1,021 | 7.1 km |
| Laytown & Drogheda Educate Together Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 520 | 9 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Stamullen beside the 93 other Irish towns of 2,600 to 5,000 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glounthaune | 5,000 | 32 | 10,210 | 4 | 19% | 3.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Kill | 3,818 | 2 | 774 | 0 | 0% | 5.5 km |
| Kilcullen | 3,815 | 3 | 1,524 | 0 | 0% | 0.2 km |
| Shanakiel | 3,804 | 52 | 16,547 | 5 | 54% | 0.6 km |
| Mitchelstown | 3,744 | 5 | 1,646 | 0 | 40% | 0.4 km |
| Stamullen | 3,720 | 3 | 1,043 | 0 | 0% | 2.1 km |
| Ballinacurra | 3,719 | 48 | 15,810 | 6 | 46% | 0.8 km |
| Cork City Centre | 3,701 | 77 | 23,441 | 7 | 48% | 0.5 km |
| Cahir | 3,679 | 2 | 1,300 | 0 | 50% | 0.6 km |
| Riverstown | 3,664 | 12 | 4,146 | 3 | 8% | 0.8 km |
| … | ||||||
| Baltinglass | 2,611 | 3 | 912 | 0 | 0% | 0.2 km |
Among the 93 other towns, 84 have more pupils at their schools than Stamullen does. 60 of the 94 towns have an all-Irish school within 3 km.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Schools in the towns around Stamullen
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stamullen | 3 | 1,043 | 0 | 0% | 2.1 km |
| Balbriggan 5.4 km | 17 | 8,295 | 2 | 29% | 0.3 km |
| Balrothery 7.3 km | 16 | 7,860 | 2 | 31% | 1.7 km |
| Laytown-Bettystown-Mornington-Donacarney 8 km | 11 | 5,783 | 1 | 0% | 1.4 km |
| Duleek 11 km | 4 | 957 | 0 | 50% | 6.8 km |
| Drogheda 11 km | 29 | 14,360 | 2 | 28% | 0.5 km |
| Skerries 11 km | 14 | 4,988 | 1 | 21% | 0.2 km |
Balbriggan has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 2. Of Stamullen’s neighbours, Drogheda saw the most growth in pupils since 2019/20 (+7%) and Skerries the least (−8%); Stamullen itself: −20%.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Stamullen 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 Stamullen
How many schools are there in Stamullen?
In Stamullen or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 1,043 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Stamullen that teach through Irish?
None in Stamullen 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 Stamullen?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Stamullen?
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 Stamullen?
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).