Photo: Eric Jones · CC BY-SA 2.0Fewer single-sex secondaries around Castleblayney than around Irish towns: 0%
Set beside other towns, Castleblayney comes out below Irish towns (39%). In or within 3 km of Castleblayney: 6 primary schools, 2 secondary schools and 1 special school. 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 Castleblayney’s schools
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 ↓
Facts from the Department of Education’s lists; nothing here judges how well a school teaches.
Pupil numbers around Castleblayney
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 Castleblayney had 1,677 pupils in 2015/16 and 2,076 in 2025/26. Castleblayney College grew most: +61% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Castleblayney
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.
Where the 9 schools in and around Castleblayney 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 Castleblayney’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 Castleblayney
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
1 of Castleblayney’s 9 schools teach every subject through Irish: Gaelscoil Lorgan.
Who Castleblayney’s schools serve
How the area’s pupils divide, against Co. Monaghan’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 Castleblayney | Co. Monaghan | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 47% | 33% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 8% | 9% | 6% |
| Girls | 46% | 48% | 49% |
| Post-primary pupils at single-sex schools | 0% | 31% | 29% |
| Post-primary pupils at fee-paying schools | 0% | 4% | 6% |
DEIS schools teach 47% of the pupils around Castleblayney, a larger share than Ireland’s 27% (Co. Monaghan: 33%). Furthest from Ireland’s mix is the share of post-primary pupils at single-sex schools: 0% here against 29%. The biggest school in DEIS is Castleblayney College (434 pupils).
Each of the 9 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Our Lady's Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 883 | 49% | ||
| Castleblayney CollegePost-primary · ETB | 434 | 44% | ✓ | |
| Castleblayney Convent Infants National SchoolPrimary | 197 | 41% | ✓ | |
| Scoil Mhuire BNSPrimary | 183 | 0% | ✓ | |
| Gaelscoil LorganPrimary | 159 | 52% | ✓ | |
| Castleblayney Convent National SchoolPrimary | 155 | 100% | ✓ | |
| Monaghan Community Special SchoolSpecial | 18 | 28% | ||
| Castleblayney Cent N.S.Primary | 10 | 30% | ||
| Annalitten N.S.Primary | 37 | 35% |
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 Castleblayney’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
5 of Castleblayney’s 9 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Clogher (5), CEIST (1) and Cavan & Monaghan ETB (1). 4 of the 9 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 5 patrons of Castleblayney’s schools
The patron owns the school and sets its ethos; a board of management runs it day to day.
Of the 9 schools around Castleblayney, 5 have Bishop of Clogher as patron, teaching 35% of the pupils; 5 patrons in all. An Education and Training Board runs one of them.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of ClogherCastleblayney Convent Infants, Scoil Mhuire BNS, Gaelscoil Lorgan, Castleblayney Convent, Annalitten | Catholic, Inter-denominational | 5 | 731 |
| CEISTOur Lady's | Catholic | 1 | 883 |
| Cavan & Monaghan ETBCastleblayney College | Multi-denominational | 1 | 434 |
| patron not listedMonaghan Community Special School | Multi-denominational | 1 | 18 |
| Presbytery of MonaghanCastleblayney Cent | Presbyterian | 1 | 10 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Castleblayney
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, 7 of the 8 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.
The 9 schools in and around Castleblayney
Each school in or within 3 km of Castleblayney links to a page of its own. Results by school aren’t published in Ireland, so the cards carry none.
Inspection reports for Castleblayney’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 9 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Our Lady's Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Castleblayney CollegePost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Castleblayney Convent Infants National SchoolPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil Mhuire BNSPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Gaelscoil LorganPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Castleblayney Convent National SchoolPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Monaghan Community Special SchoolSpecial | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Castleblayney Cent N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Annalitten 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 Castleblayney
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
2 post-primary schools are within 10 km of Castleblayney: one voluntary secondary school and one ETB school. Every one of them takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Our Lady's Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 883 | 0.5 km |
| Castleblayney CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 434 | 0.7 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Castleblayney
Monaghan Community Special School is the special school here, with 18 pupils. 4 of the 6 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.
Castleblayney beside the 96 other Irish towns of 2,700 to 5,300 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inchicore | 5,285 | 76 | 21,071 | 3 | 59% | 0.7 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 |
| Castleblayney | 3,926 | 9 | 2,076 | 1 | 44% | 0.5 km |
| Claremorris | 3,857 | 3 | 1,120 | 0 | 0% | 0.7 km |
| Farranree | 3,824 | 57 | 16,957 | 5 | 56% | 0.4 km |
| Kill | 3,818 | 2 | 774 | 0 | 0% | 5.5 km |
| Kilcullen | 3,815 | 3 | 1,524 | 0 | 0% | 0.2 km |
| … | ||||||
| Decies | 2,713 | 44 | 11,294 | 1 | 64% | 0.8 km |
More pupils attend the schools around 57 of the other 96 towns than around Castleblayney. Within 3 km, 64 of these 97 towns have a school teaching through Irish.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Schools in the towns around Castleblayney
Each town’s schools in or within 3 km of its outline; distances as the crow flies.
| Town | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castleblayney | 9 | 2,076 | 1 | 44% | 0.5 km |
| Ballybay 10 km | 4 | 772 | 0 | 50% | 0.4 km |
| Carrickmacross 16 km | 6 | 2,352 | 1 | 17% | 0.2 km |
Pupils around Castleblayney: +25% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Carrickmacross led (+8%) and Ballybay trailed (+2%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Castleblayney 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 Castleblayney
How many schools are there in Castleblayney?
In Castleblayney or within 3 km of it: 6 primary schools, 2 secondary schools and 1 special school, with 2,076 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Castleblayney that teach through Irish?
Yes, 1: Gaelscoil Lorgan teach every subject through Irish.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Castleblayney?
No: all 2 secondary schools here are free.
What is the best school in Castleblayney?
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 Castleblayney?
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).