Photo: Dylan Moore · CC BY-SA 2.0Around Kilcormac, only 0% of schools teach through Irish, fewer than around Co. Offaly’s towns or Irish towns
That puts Kilcormac below both Co. Offaly’s towns (11%) and Irish towns (8%). Coláiste Naomh Cormac, with 316 pupils, is the only secondary school within 3 km. 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 Kilcormac’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 ↓
One school growing fast
Coláiste Naomh Cormac has grown from 232 pupils in 2019/20 to 316, the fastest of the schools here. Getting a place ↓
Facts from the Department of Education’s lists; nothing here judges how well a school teaches.
Pupil numbers around Kilcormac
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 Kilcormac had 368 pupils in 2015/16 and 536 in 2025/26. Coláiste Naomh Cormac grew most: +36% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Kilcormac
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 3 schools in and around Kilcormac
Each school in or within 3 km of Kilcormac links to a page of its own. You won’t find letters or results below: Ireland publishes none for single schools.
Where the 3 schools in and around Kilcormac 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 Kilcormac’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 Kilcormac
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
None of the 3 schools in and around Kilcormac teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Kilcormac’s schools serve
How the area’s pupils divide, against Co. Offaly’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 Kilcormac | Co. Offaly | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 20% | 42% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 2% | 6% |
| Girls | 47% | 49% | 49% |
20% of the pupils around Kilcormac are at a DEIS school, fewer than the 27% across Ireland (42% in Co. Offaly). Set beside Ireland, pupils at all-Irish schools stand out most: 0% against 6%. The largest DEIS school here is Scoil Mhuire Agus Chormaic, with 109 pupils.
Each of the 3 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coláiste Naomh CormacPost-primary · ETB | 316 | 49% | ||
| Scoil Mhuire Agus ChormaicPrimary | 109 | 39% | ✓ | |
| S.N. BhridePrimary | 111 | 47% |
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 Kilcormac’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
2 of Kilcormac’s 3 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Meath (2) and Laois & Offaly ETB (1). 1 of the 3 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 2 patrons of Kilcormac’s schools
Patrons own the schools and set their ethos; boards of management run them day to day.
2 patrons run the 3 schools around Kilcormac; the largest, Bishop of Meath, has 2 of them and 41% of the pupils. One is an ETB school.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of MeathS.N. Bhride, Scoil Mhuire Agus Chormaic | Catholic | 2 | 220 |
| Laois & Offaly ETBColáiste Naomh Cormac | Multi-denominational | 1 | 316 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Kilcormac
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 3 schools, 2 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.
Inspection reports for Kilcormac’s schools
Reports from the Department of Education’s Inspectorate, every school’s linked and none rated
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 |
|---|---|
| Coláiste Naomh CormacPost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil Mhuire Agus ChormaicPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. BhridePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Kilcormac
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
The only post-primary school within 10 km of Kilcormac is Coláiste Naomh Cormac, an ETB school. It takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coláiste Naomh CormacETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 316 | 0.6 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Kilcormac
No special school is in or near Kilcormac. 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.
Kilcormac beside the 168 other Irish towns of 700 to 1,400 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moville | 1,390 | 5 | 1,100 | 1 | 40% | 0.8 km |
| … | ||||||
| Dunlavin | 1,074 | 3 | 1,103 | 0 | 33% | 0.6 km |
| Granard | 1,058 | 6 | 1,295 | 0 | 50% | 0.5 km |
| Kilmeage | 1,054 | 2 | 357 | 0 | 0% | 7.1 km |
| Newmarket | 1,052 | 2 | 224 | 0 | 0% | 7.2 km |
| Kilcormac | 1,051 | 3 | 536 | 0 | 33% | 0.7 km |
| Inishannon | 1,043 | 1 | 295 | 0 | 0% | 5.7 km |
| Béal An Mhuirthead | 1,042 | 4 | 807 | 0 | 100% | 0.6 km |
| Tinahely | 1,037 | 3 | 272 | 0 | 0% | 9.7 km |
| Craughwell | 1,034 | 2 | 426 | 0 | 0% | 7.1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Shanagarry | 700 | 2 | 201 | 0 | 0% | 11 km |
Of the other 168 towns, 75 have more pupils at the schools around them than Kilcormac. An all-Irish school is within 3 km of 20 of the 169.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Schools in the towns around Kilcormac
Schools in or within 3 km of each neighbouring town; distances in a straight line.
Birr has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. Of Kilcormac’s neighbours, Ferbane saw the most growth in pupils since 2019/20 (+10%) and Banagher the least (−3%); Kilcormac itself: +24%.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Kilcormac 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 Kilcormac
How many schools are there in Kilcormac?
In Kilcormac or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 536 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Kilcormac that teach through Irish?
None in Kilcormac 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 Kilcormac?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Kilcormac?
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 Kilcormac?
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).