Photo: 瑞丽江的河水 · CC BY-SA 4.0No secondary school in or near Ferns: the nearest is 10 km away
Every subject is taught through Irish at 0% of the schools around Ferns, below both Co. Wexford’s towns (6%) and Irish towns (8%). In or within 3 km of Ferns: 2 primary schools, 324 pupils in all. Ireland publishes no school results, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them, so these schools are described here, never 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.
Where the 2 schools in and around Ferns 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 Ferns’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 Ferns
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
None of the 2 schools in and around Ferns teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Ferns’s schools serve
The pupils at the area’s schools by share, beside Co. Wexford’s and Ireland’s, 2025/26
Each bar is the area’s share; the tick marks Ireland’s.
| Share of pupils | Around Ferns | Co. Wexford | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 88% | 37% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 2% | 6% |
| Girls | 48% | 49% | 49% |
Around Ferns, 88% of pupils attend a school in DEIS; across Ireland it is 27%, and 37% in Co. Wexford. The biggest difference from Ireland is in pupils at all-Irish schools: 0% here, 6% there. Of the DEIS schools here, Naomh Maodhog N.S. is the biggest: 285 pupils.
Each of the 2 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naomh Maodhog N.S.Primary | 285 | 47% | ✓ | |
| St Edans N.S.Primary | 39 | 54% |
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 Ferns’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
1 of Ferns’s 2 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Ferns (1) and Bishop of Cashel, Ferns & Ossory COI (1). 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.
How children get a place in Ferns
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, 0 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 Ferns
Every school in Ferns or within 3 km of its outline, each linked to its own page. No letters, no results: Irish schools aren’t ranked one by one.
Inspection reports for Ferns’s schools
The Inspectorate’s published reports for each school, linked, without ratings
Reports come from whole-school evaluations (teaching, learning, leadership and management), subject inspections and follow-through visits that check earlier advice; gov.ie publishes each one with the school’s response.
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 |
|---|---|
| Naomh Maodhog N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Edans 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 Ferns
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
No post-primary school is within 10 km of Ferns; the nearest is Coláiste Bríde, 10 km away.
Ferns beside the 135 other Irish towns of 900 to 1,800 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collooney | 1,797 | 3 | 580 | 0 | 33% | 3.4 km |
| … | ||||||
| Lismore | 1,347 | 3 | 1,250 | 0 | 0% | 0.5 km |
| Ballybay | 1,329 | 4 | 772 | 0 | 50% | 0.4 km |
| Ferbane | 1,324 | 2 | 630 | 0 | 50% | 0.3 km |
| Johnstown | 1,320 | 13 | 7,322 | 1 | 0% | 3.3 km |
| Ferns | 1,317 | 2 | 324 | 0 | 50% | 10 km |
| Cahirciveen | 1,297 | 2 | 691 | 0 | 50% | 1.4 km |
| Dromiskin | 1,292 | 1 | 234 | 0 | 0% | 6.8 km |
| Enniscrone | 1,291 | 2 | 381 | 0 | 0% | 0.3 km |
| Ramelton | 1,288 | 4 | 354 | 0 | 50% | 6.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Clarinbridge | 905 | 2 | 451 | 0 | 0% | 5.5 km |
More pupils attend the schools around 106 of the other 135 towns than around Ferns. Teaching through Irish is on offer within 3 km in 14 of the 136.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Ferns
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 Ferns had 304 pupils in 2015/16 and 324 in 2025/26.
Pupils at schools in and around Ferns
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 Ferns
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ferns | 2 | 324 | 0 | 50% | 10 km |
| Enniscorthy 11 km | 9 | 3,951 | 2 | 44% | 0.9 km |
| Bunclody 13 km | 5 | 1,912 | 0 | 40% | 0.5 km |
| Carnew 14 km | 4 | 1,150 | 0 | 50% | 0.3 km |
| Gorey 17 km | 8 | 4,875 | 1 | 13% | 0.6 km |
| Courtown 19 km | 1 | 304 | 0 | 100% | 5.4 km |
Enniscorthy has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 2. Of Ferns’s neighbours, Bunclody saw the most growth in pupils since 2019/20 (+16%) and Courtown the least (−16%); Ferns itself: +5%.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Ferns 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 Ferns
How many schools are there in Ferns?
In Ferns or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools, with 324 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Ferns that teach through Irish?
None in Ferns or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Ferns?
Not in Ferns or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Coláiste Bríde, 10 km away.
What is the best school in Ferns?
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 Ferns?
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).