Photo: Sarah777 · CC BY-SA 2.0The schools around Rhode have fewer pupils than in 2019/20: −23%, below Co. Offaly’s towns and Irish towns
On this, Rhode is below both Co. Offaly’s towns (−1%) and Irish towns (+4%). Pupils: 215, down 23% since 2019/20. Ireland publishes no school results, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them, so these schools are described here, never 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 Rhode’s schools
Fewer pupils than before
Pupil numbers at the schools here have fallen since 2019/20, against +5% across Ireland. Pupils over time ↓
From the Department of Education’s school lists: facts, not judgements of how well a school teaches.
Where the 2 schools in and around Rhode 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 Rhode’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.
Pupil numbers around Rhode
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 Rhode had 291 pupils in 2015/16 and 215 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Rhode
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 Rhode’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
2 of Rhode’s 2 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. Their patron: Bishop of Kildare & Leighlin (2). 1 of the 2 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.
Teaching through Irish in and around Rhode
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
None of the 2 schools in and around Rhode teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Rhode’s schools serve
Shares of the pupils at the area’s schools, beside Co. Offaly’s and Ireland’s, 2025/26
Each bar is the area’s share; the tick marks Ireland’s.
| Share of pupils | Around Rhode | Co. Offaly | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 42% | 42% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 2% | 6% |
| Girls | 52% | 49% | 49% |
42% of the pupils around Rhode are at a DEIS school, more than the 27% across Ireland (42% in Co. Offaly). The biggest difference from Ireland is in pupils at all-Irish schools: 0% here, 6% there. Of the DEIS schools here, S.N. Mhuire Naofa is the biggest: 91 pupils.
Each of the 2 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S.N. Mhuire NaofaPrimary | 91 | 53% | ✓ | |
| S.N. PhadraigPrimary | 124 | 51% |
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 Rhode
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
0 schools here have grown by 5% or more since 2019/20, 1 have shrunk by as much, out of 2; across Ireland: +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 Rhode
Every school in Rhode or within 3 km of its outline, each linked to its own page. No letters and no results: Ireland publishes none school by school.
Inspection reports for Rhode’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 |
|---|---|
| S.N. Mhuire NaofaPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. PhadraigPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Rhode
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
Families in Rhode have 3 post-primary schools within 10 km: 2 voluntary secondary schools 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oaklands Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 733 | 9.3 km |
| St Mary's Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 1,035 | 9.4 km |
| St Joseph's Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 1,129 | 9.7 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Rhode beside the 158 other Irish towns of 600 to 1,100 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buttevant | 1,080 | 2 | 802 | 0 | 100% | 0.6 km |
| … | ||||||
| Newtownforbes | 851 | 2 | 606 | 0 | 50% | 5 km |
| Strokestown | 850 | 3 | 851 | 0 | 33% | 0.5 km |
| Patrickswell | 848 | 2 | 204 | 0 | 50% | 3.8 km |
| Gowran | 847 | 1 | 197 | 0 | 0% | 10 km |
| Rhode | 841 | 2 | 215 | 0 | 50% | 9.3 km |
| Kilsheelan | 837 | 1 | 90 | 0 | 0% | 7.9 km |
| Ballyclerahan | 830 | 1 | 202 | 0 | 0% | 7.1 km |
| Manorcunningham | 830 | 3 | 251 | 0 | 100% | 6.8 km |
| An Fál Carrach | 829 | 3 | 699 | 2 | 100% | 0.8 km |
| … | ||||||
| Na Dúnaibh | 601 | 2 | 202 | 1 | 100% | 14 km |
Among the 158 other towns, 101 have more pupils at their schools than Rhode does. Teaching through Irish is on offer within 3 km in 15 of the 159.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Schools in the towns around Rhode
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rhode | 2 | 215 | 0 | 50% | 9.3 km |
| Daingean 8.4 km | 1 | 261 | 0 | 100% | 13 km |
| Edenderry 9.5 km | 7 | 2,986 | 1 | 57% | 0.3 km |
| Rochfortbridge 9.6 km | 2 | 1,343 | 0 | 0% | 0.5 km |
| Kinnegad 13 km | 1 | 413 | 0 | 0% | 7.1 km |
| Derrinturn 18 km | 3 | 426 | 0 | 100% | 8.3 km |
| Killucan-Rathwire 18 km | 4 | 698 | 0 | 25% | 0.9 km |
Edenderry has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. Since 2019/20 the pupils around Rhode changed by −23%; among its neighbours, Rochfortbridge’s grew most (+18%) and Kinnegad’s least (−23%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Rhode 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 Rhode
How many schools are there in Rhode?
In Rhode or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools, with 215 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Rhode that teach through Irish?
None in Rhode or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Rhode?
Not in Rhode or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Oaklands Community College, 9.3 km away.
What is the best school in Rhode?
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 Rhode?
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).