Photo: P L Chadwick · CC BY-SA 2.0Most post-primaries around Duncannon take girls and boys: 0% are single-sex, below Co. Wexford’s towns and Irish towns
In the comparison, Duncannon comes below both Co. Wexford’s towns (55%) and Irish towns (39%). Ramsgrange Community School, with 636 pupils, is the only secondary school within 3 km. Nothing here grades or ranks these schools: Ireland publishes no results school by school, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them.
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 Duncannon’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 ↓
Drawn from the Department of Education’s lists; none of it judges how well a school teaches.
Pupil numbers around Duncannon
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 Duncannon had 620 pupils in 2015/16 and 841 in 2025/26. Ramsgrange Community School grew most: +35% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Duncannon
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 4 schools in and around Duncannon
Each school in or within 3 km of Duncannon links to a page of its own. You won’t find letters or results below: Ireland publishes none for single schools.
Where the 4 schools in and around Duncannon 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 Duncannon’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 Duncannon
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
None of the 4 schools in and around Duncannon teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Duncannon’s schools serve
Shares of the pupils at the area’s schools, beside Co. Wexford’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 Duncannon | Co. Wexford | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 76% | 37% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 2% | 6% |
| Girls | 44% | 49% | 49% |
DEIS schools teach 76% of the pupils around Duncannon, a larger share than Ireland’s 27% (Co. Wexford: 37%). Where this area differs most from Ireland is pupils at all-Irish schools, at 0% against 6%. Ramsgrange Community School, with 636 pupils, is the largest school here in DEIS.
Each of the 4 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S.N. Olibheir BeannuithePrimary | 74 | 50% | ||
| Ramsgrange Central N.S.Primary | 30 | 47% | ||
| Ramsgrange Community SchoolPost-primary · Community school | 636 | 43% | ✓ | |
| Passage East N.S.Primary | 101 | 44% |
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 Duncannon’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
3 of Duncannon’s 4 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Ferns (2), Waterford & Wexford ETB & Sisters of St Louis (1) and Bishop of Waterford & Lismore (1). 1 of the 4 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 3 patrons of Duncannon’s schools
Each school has a patron that owns it and sets its ethos; its board of management runs it.
3 patrons run the 4 schools around Duncannon; the largest, Bishop of Ferns, has 2 of them and 12% of the pupils. An Education and Training Board runs one of them.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of FernsS.N. Olibheir Beannuithe, Ramsgrange Central | Catholic | 2 | 104 |
| Waterford & Wexford ETB & Sisters of St LouisRamsgrange | Inter-denominational | 1 | 636 |
| Bishop of Waterford & LismorePassage East | Catholic | 1 | 101 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Duncannon
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
Between 2019/20 and now, 3 of the 4 grew by 5% or more and 1 shrank as much, while Ireland’s pupil numbers moved +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 Duncannon’s schools
The Inspectorate’s published reports for each school, linked, without ratings
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 4 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| S.N. Olibheir BeannuithePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Ramsgrange Central N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Ramsgrange Community SchoolPost-primary · Community school | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Passage East N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Duncannon
Post-primary schools within 10 km of the town; children move at about twelve, and families apply to each school
Within 10 km of Duncannon there are 2 post-primary schools: one community school and one voluntary secondary school. Every one of them takes girls and boys. Just one teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ramsgrange Community SchoolCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 636 | 2.8 km |
| Gaelcholáiste Phort LáirgeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | Gaelcholáiste | 146 | 9.1 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Duncannon
No special school is in or near Duncannon. 1 of the 3 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.
Duncannon beside the 224 other Irish towns of 200 to 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crossbarry | 399 | 2 | 184 | 0 | 0% | 8.4 km |
| … | ||||||
| Ballygawley | 285 | 3 | 358 | 0 | 33% | 5.2 km |
| Baylin | 284 | 2 | 533 | 0 | 50% | 5.6 km |
| Emo | 283 | 1 | 207 | 0 | 0% | 6.7 km |
| Toomevara | 283 | 1 | 96 | 0 | 100% | 11 km |
| Duncannon | 281 | 4 | 841 | 0 | 25% | 2.8 km |
| Clashmore | 280 | 2 | 120 | 0 | 50% | 7.1 km |
| Doonbeg | 279 | 1 | 63 | 0 | 0% | 10 km |
| Duagh | 278 | 1 | 166 | 0 | 0% | 6.8 km |
| Palatine | 276 | 1 | 377 | 0 | 0% | 4.2 km |
| … | ||||||
| Lahardane | 200 | 1 | 76 | 0 | 0% | 7.1 km |
Of the other 224 towns, 7 have more pupils at the schools around them than Duncannon. Within 3 km, 17 of these 225 towns have a school teaching through Irish.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Schools in the towns around Duncannon
Each town’s schools in or within 3 km of its outline; distances as the crow flies.
| Town | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duncannon | 4 | 841 | 0 | 25% | 2.8 km |
| Dunmore East 9.1 km | 1 | 196 | 0 | 0% | 9.1 km |
| Grantstown and Ballinakill 9.8 km | 31 | 11,459 | 2 | 36% | 2.1 km |
| Grange 11 km | 32 | 12,776 | 3 | 41% | 1.3 km |
| Grange Upper 11 km | 29 | 11,835 | 2 | 41% | 0.8 km |
| Ferrybank 12 km | 32 | 12,081 | 2 | 38% | 0.6 km |
| Ballytruckle 12 km | 32 | 12,776 | 3 | 41% | 1 km |
Grange has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 3. Pupils around Duncannon: +24% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Dunmore East led (+8%) and Grantstown and Ballinakill trailed (+1%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Duncannon 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 Duncannon
How many schools are there in Duncannon?
In Duncannon or within 3 km of it: 3 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 841 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Duncannon that teach through Irish?
None in Duncannon 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 Duncannon?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Duncannon?
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 Duncannon?
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).