Photo: Sarah777 · Public domainAround Thurles, only 10% of schools are in DEIS, fewer than around Co. Tipperary’s towns or Irish towns
Measured that way, Thurles is below both Co. Tipperary’s towns (50%) and Irish towns (35%). Families in Thurles have 6 primary schools and 4 secondary schools within 3 km, teaching 3,787 pupils. 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 Thurles’s schools
Mostly single-sex at secondary
Most secondary schools here take only boys or only girls; the mixed ones are marked on the cards below. Single-sex: Ursuline Secondary School (895), C.B.S. Thurles (571) and Presentation Secondary School (559). Every school ↓
Few schools in DEIS
DEIS, which gives schools in disadvantaged areas more teachers and money, includes just 1 of the 10 schools here, against 30% of schools across Ireland. The one in DEIS: Coláiste Mhuire Co-Ed (601). Who goes there ↓
Facts from the Department of Education’s lists; nothing here judges how well a school teaches.
The 10 schools in and around Thurles
Each school in or within 3 km of Thurles links to a page of its own. Ireland publishes no school-by-school results, which is why these cards have no letters.
Where the 10 schools in and around Thurles 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 Thurles’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 Thurles
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
1 of Thurles’s 10 schools teach every subject through Irish: Gaelscoil Durlas Eile.
Who Thurles’s schools serve
Shares of the pupils at the area’s schools, beside Co. Tipperary’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 Thurles | Co. Tipperary | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 16% | 31% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 5% | 3% | 6% |
| Girls | 59% | 49% | 49% |
| Post-primary pupils at single-sex schools | 77% | 41% | 29% |
| Post-primary pupils at fee-paying schools | 0% | 4% | 6% |
Around Thurles, 16% of pupils attend a school in DEIS; across Ireland it is 27%, and 31% in Co. Tipperary. Set beside Ireland, post-primary pupils at single-sex schools stand out most: 77% against 29%. The largest DEIS school here is Coláiste Mhuire Co-Ed, with 601 pupils.
Each of the 10 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ursuline Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 895 | 100% | ||
| C.B.S. ThurlesPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 571 | 0% | ||
| Presentation Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 559 | 100% | ||
| Presentation Primary SchoolPrimary | 247 | 71% | ||
| Scoil AngelaPrimary | 219 | 75% | ||
| Gaelscoil Durlas EilePrimary | 194 | 53% | ✓ | |
| Scoil AilbhePrimary | 189 | 10% | ||
| Coláiste Mhuire Co-EdPost-primary · ETB | 601 | 30% | ✓ | |
| S.N. LeamhachPrimary | 117 | 42% | ||
| S.N. Micheal NaofaPrimary | 195 | 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 Thurles’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
9 of Thurles’s 10 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Archbishop of Cashel & Emly (6), Le Chéile Schools Trust (1) and Edmund Rice Schools Trust (1). 1 of the 10 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 Thurles’s schools
The patron owns the school and sets its ethos; a board of management runs it day to day.
The schools around Thurles answer to 5 patrons, and Archbishop of Cashel & Emly leads with 6 of the 10 schools and 31% of their pupils. An Education and Training Board runs one of them.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archbishop of Cashel & EmlyPresentation Primary School, Scoil Angela, S.N. Micheal Naofa, Gaelscoil Durlas Eile, Scoil Ailbhe, S.N. Leamhach | Catholic | 6 | 1,161 |
| Le Chéile Schools TrustUrsuline | Catholic | 1 | 895 |
| Tipperary ETBColáiste Mhuire Co-Ed | Multi-denominational | 1 | 601 |
| Edmund Rice Schools TrustC.B.S. Thurles | Catholic | 1 | 571 |
| CEISTPresentation | Catholic | 1 | 559 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Thurles
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, 3 of these 10 schools have grown by 5% or more and 5 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 Thurles’s schools
The Department of Education’s Inspectorate: every school’s reports linked, none rated
Inspectors visit every kind of school. Whole-school evaluations look at teaching and learning, leadership and management; subject inspections look at one subject; follow-through inspections check whether earlier advice was taken. Each report is published 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 10 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Ursuline Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| C.B.S. ThurlesPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Presentation Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Presentation Primary SchoolPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil AngelaPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Gaelscoil Durlas EilePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil AilbhePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Coláiste Mhuire Co-EdPost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. LeamhachPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. Micheal NaofaPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Thurles
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
Families in Thurles have 4 post-primary schools within 10 km: 3 voluntary secondary schools and one ETB school. 3 of them are single-sex, 2 for girls and 1 for boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ursuline Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | Boarding | 895 | 0.3 km |
| C.B.S. ThurlesVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Boys | – | 571 | 0.4 km |
| Presentation Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | Boarding | 559 | 0.6 km |
| Coláiste Mhuire Co-EdETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | Irish stream, DEIS | 601 | 1.2 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Thurles
No special school is in or near Thurles. 3 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.
Thurles beside the 93 other Irish towns of 5,700 to 11,000 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Longford | 10,952 | 12 | 3,607 | 1 | 83% | 0.2 km |
| … | ||||||
| Dalkey | 8,275 | 43 | 12,331 | 1 | 28% | 0.9 km |
| Bandon | 8,196 | 10 | 3,617 | 1 | 10% | 0.4 km |
| Howth | 8,192 | 27 | 8,571 | 3 | 11% | 0.8 km |
| Ballybough | 8,188 | 126 | 34,469 | 8 | 52% | 0.2 km |
| Thurles | 8,185 | 10 | 3,787 | 1 | 10% | 0.3 km |
| Clane | 8,152 | 7 | 3,836 | 0 | 14% | 0.7 km |
| Dubber | 7,941 | 54 | 15,781 | 5 | 67% | 1.8 km |
| Monaghan | 7,894 | 11 | 3,968 | 2 | 36% | 0.2 km |
| Edenderry | 7,888 | 7 | 2,986 | 1 | 57% | 0.3 km |
| … | ||||||
| Portobello | 5,732 | 110 | 29,104 | 7 | 46% | 0.4 km |
Among the 93 other towns, 65 have more pupils at their schools than Thurles does. 89 of the 94 towns have an all-Irish school within 3 km.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Thurles
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 Thurles had 3,764 pupils in 2015/16 and 3,787 in 2025/26. Coláiste Mhuire Co-Ed grew most: +72% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Thurles
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 Thurles
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thurles | 10 | 3,787 | 1 | 10% | 0.3 km |
| Templemore 13 km | 5 | 973 | 0 | 60% | 0.3 km |
| Urlingford 16 km | 2 | 882 | 0 | 100% | 3.1 km |
| Cashel 19 km | 6 | 1,837 | 0 | 33% | 0.6 km |
The roll around Thurles moved +6% since 2019/20; nearby, Templemore grew most (+6%) and Cashel least (−1%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Thurles 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 Thurles
How many schools are there in Thurles?
In Thurles or within 3 km of it: 6 primary schools and 4 secondary schools, with 3,787 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Thurles that teach through Irish?
Yes, 1: Gaelscoil Durlas Eile teach every subject through Irish.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Thurles?
No: all 4 secondary schools here are free.
What is the best school in Thurles?
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 Thurles?
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).