Photo: Críostóir Ó Faoláin · CC BY-SA 4.0Fewer single-sex secondaries around An Rinn than around Co. Waterford’s towns or Irish towns: 0%
For An Rinn, that is below both Co. Waterford’s towns (56%) and Irish towns (39%). Meánscoil San Nioclás, with 159 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.
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 An Rinn’s schools
Taught through Irish
Every school here is in the Gaeltacht and teaches through Irish; across Ireland, 8% of schools teach only through it. They are Meánscoil San Nioclás (159), S N na Rinne (131) and S N na Leanai (42). Language ↓
A wide choice at twelve
5 post-primary schools lie within 10 km, so families here have a real choice at twelve; each admits on its own policy. The nearest: Meánscoil San Nioclás (0.3 km), Ardscoil na nDéise (5.4 km) and Scoil na mBraithre (5.6 km). Post-primary choices ↓
Drawn from the Department of Education’s lists; none of it judges how well a school teaches.
Teaching through Irish in and around An Rinn
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
3 of An Rinn’s 3 schools teach every subject through Irish, 3 of them in the Gaeltacht: Meánscoil San Nioclás, S N na Rinne and S N na Leanai.
The 3 schools in and around An Rinn
Every school in An Rinn or within 3 km of its outline, each linked to its own page. There are no letters or results on these cards, because Ireland publishes none school by school.
Where the 3 schools in and around An Rinn 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 An Rinn’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.
Who An Rinn’s schools serve
Shares of the pupils at the area’s schools, beside Co. Waterford’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 An Rinn | Co. Waterford | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 48% | 30% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 100% | 6% | 6% |
| Girls | 45% | 49% | 49% |
48% of the pupils around An Rinn are at a DEIS school, more than the 27% across Ireland (30% in Co. Waterford). Furthest from Ireland’s mix is the share of pupils at all-Irish schools: 100% here against 6%. The biggest school in DEIS is Meánscoil San Nioclás (159 pupils).
Each of the 3 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meánscoil San NioclásPost-primary · ETB | 159 | 52% | ✓ | ✓ |
| S N na RinnePrimary | 131 | 36% | ✓ | |
| S N na LeanaiPrimary | 42 | 52% | ✓ |
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 An Rinn’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
2 of An Rinn’s 3 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Waterford & Lismore (2) and To be decided 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 An Rinn’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 An Rinn; the largest, Bishop of Waterford & Lismore, has 2 of them and 52% of the pupils. An Education and Training Board runs one of them.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of Waterford & LismoreS N na Rinne, S N na Leanai | Catholic | 2 | 173 |
| To be decided ETBMeánscoil San Nioclás | Inter-denominational | 1 | 159 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in An Rinn
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
1 schools here have grown by 5% or more since 2019/20, 2 have shrunk by as much, out of 3; 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.
Inspection reports for An Rinn’s schools
Reports from the Department of Education’s Inspectorate, every school’s linked and 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 3 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Meánscoil San NioclásPost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S N na RinnePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S N na LeanaiPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of An Rinn
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
5 post-primary schools are within 10 km of An Rinn: 3 voluntary secondary schools and 2 ETB schools. Of these, one teaches only girls or only boys. Just one teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meánscoil San NioclásETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | Gaeltacht school, DEIS | 159 | 0.3 km |
| Ardscoil na nDéiseVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 265 | 5.4 km |
| Scoil na mBraithreVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 338 | 5.6 km |
| Dungarvan College-Coláiste Dhún GarbhánETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 247 | 5.8 km |
| St Augustines CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 1,069 | 6 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
An Rinn beside the 169 other Irish towns of 500 to 900 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cratloe | 899 | 1 | 278 | 0 | 0% | 6.6 km |
| … | ||||||
| Schull | 669 | 2 | 510 | 0 | 0% | 0.8 km |
| Tallanstown | 668 | 2 | 457 | 0 | 0% | 7.8 km |
| Cappamore | 668 | 2 | 161 | 0 | 50% | 6.3 km |
| Ballitore | 667 | 1 | 259 | 0 | 0% | 9.4 km |
| An Rinn | 665 | 3 | 332 | 3 | 33% | 0.3 km |
| Bennettsbridge | 664 | 1 | 206 | 0 | 0% | 7 km |
| Dunmore | 664 | 3 | 605 | 0 | 0% | 0.5 km |
| Ballygar | 660 | 3 | 411 | 0 | 33% | 0.3 km |
| Ballyroan | 657 | 1 | 177 | 0 | 0% | 7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Stradbally | 500 | 2 | 134 | 0 | 0% | 8.7 km |
Of the other 169 towns, 64 have more pupils at the schools around them than An Rinn. Teaching through Irish is on offer within 3 km in 15 of the 170.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around An Rinn
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 An Rinn had 290 pupils in 2015/16 and 332 in 2025/26.
Pupils at schools in and around An Rinn
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 An Rinn
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| An Rinn | 3 | 332 | 3 | 33% | 0.3 km |
| Dungarvan 5.9 km | 12 | 3,623 | 1 | 25% | 0.5 km |
| Ballinroad 6.3 km | 7 | 2,813 | 1 | 14% | 1.1 km |
Pupils around An Rinn: −10% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Ballinroad led (+11%) and Dungarvan trailed (+8%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in An Rinn 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 An Rinn
How many schools are there in An Rinn?
In An Rinn or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 332 pupils between them.
Are there schools in An Rinn that teach through Irish?
Yes, 3: Meánscoil San Nioclás, S N na Rinne and S N na Leanai teach every subject through Irish.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near An Rinn?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in An Rinn?
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 An Rinn?
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).