Photo: Sarah777 at English Wikipedia · Public domainAround Blackwater, only 0% of schools are in DEIS, fewer than around Co. Wexford’s towns or Irish towns
On this, Blackwater is below both Co. Wexford’s towns (44%) and Irish towns (35%). S.N. These schools are described rather than graded, because Ireland publishes no school results and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them.
Counted from the Department of Education’s 2025/26 lists: every school in the town or within 3 km of it, against every school in Ireland.
Where the school in or near Blackwater is
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 Blackwater’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 Blackwater
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
None of the 1 schools in and around Blackwater teaches every subject through Irish.
Who runs Blackwater’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
1 of Blackwater’s 1 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. Their patron: Bishop of Ferns (1). None of the 1 is 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.
How children get a place in Blackwater
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.
The school in and around Blackwater
Here are the schools in Blackwater or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. Ireland publishes no results school by school, so these cards carry no letters or results.
Inspection reports for Blackwater’s schools
The Inspectorate’s published reports for each school, linked, without ratings
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 the school should do next. They give no overall grade, so none is shown here; the school below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| S.N. Nmh BrighdePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Blackwater
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 Blackwater is Coláiste an Átha, an ETB school. It takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coláiste an ÁthaETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 349 | 8.9 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Blackwater beside the 263 other Irish towns of 300 to 700 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shanagarry | 700 | 2 | 201 | 0 | 0% | 11 km |
| … | ||||||
| Tievebane | 495 | 2 | 407 | 0 | 0% | 7.5 km |
| Smithborough | 495 | 2 | 240 | 0 | 0% | 8.7 km |
| Suncroft | 491 | 2 | 222 | 0 | 50% | 4.9 km |
| Drimoleague | 486 | 3 | 121 | 0 | 0% | 12 km |
| Blackwater | 485 | 1 | 218 | 0 | 0% | 8.9 km |
| Cluain Bú | 484 | 2 | 410 | 1 | 0% | 7.2 km |
| Carrigallen | 481 | 2 | 511 | 0 | 50% | 0.1 km |
| Kilnaleck | 481 | 4 | 406 | 0 | 25% | 8.1 km |
| Walsh Island or Coolagary | 480 | 1 | 83 | 0 | 100% | 8.1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Gneevgullia | 300 | 1 | 131 | 0 | 0% | 4.8 km |
Of the other 263 towns, 110 have more pupils at the schools around them than Blackwater. Teaching through Irish is on offer within 3 km in 22 of the 264.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Blackwater
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 Blackwater had 186 pupils in 2015/16 and 218 in 2025/26.
Pupils at schools in and around Blackwater
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 Blackwater
For each nearby town, its schools in or within 3 km of its outline, with straight-line distances.
| Town | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blackwater | 1 | 218 | 0 | 0% | 8.9 km |
| Castlebridge 9.1 km | 3 | 459 | 0 | 0% | 5.1 km |
| Wexford 15 km | 16 | 6,749 | 1 | 25% | 0.5 km |
| Enniscorthy 16 km | 9 | 3,951 | 2 | 44% | 0.9 km |
| Ferns 19 km | 2 | 324 | 0 | 50% | 10 km |
Enniscorthy has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 2. Pupils around Blackwater: +6% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Castlebridge led (+10%) and Ferns trailed (+5%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Blackwater 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 Blackwater
How many schools are there in Blackwater?
In Blackwater or within 3 km of it: 1 primary school, with 218 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Blackwater that teach through Irish?
None in Blackwater or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Blackwater?
Not in Blackwater or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Coláiste an Átha, 8.9 km away.
What is the best school in Blackwater?
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 Blackwater?
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).