Photo: 瑞丽江的河水 · CC BY-SA 4.0Around New Ross, only 0% of schools teach through Irish, fewer than around Co. Wexford’s towns or Irish towns
That leaves New Ross below both Co. Wexford’s towns (9%) and Irish towns (8%). 3 of its 5 secondary schools take only boys or only girls. These schools are described rather than graded, because Ireland publishes no school results 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 New Ross’s schools
Extra support for many schools
Many schools here are in DEIS, which gives schools in disadvantaged areas more teachers, money and help; across Ireland, 30% of schools are. In DEIS: Christian Brothers Secondary School (437), Bunscoil Ris (351), Bunscoil Nic Amhlaidh (312) and Kennedy College (188), and 2 more. Who runs them ↓
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: Good Counsel College (744), St. Mary's Secondary School (706) and Our Lady of Lourdes Secondary School (173). Every school ↓
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: Christian Brothers Secondary School (0.6 km), Kennedy College (0.7 km) and Good Counsel College (0.8 km). Post-primary choices ↓
From the Department of Education’s school lists: facts, not judgements of how well a school teaches.
Who runs New Ross’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
8 of New Ross’s 10 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Ossory (3), Bishop of Ferns (2) and Order of St Augustine (Augustinians) (1). 6 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 10 schools in and around New Ross
Every school in New Ross or within 3 km of its outline, each linked to its own page. You won’t find letters or results below: Ireland publishes none for single schools.
Where the 10 schools in and around New Ross 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 New Ross’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 New Ross
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
None of the 10 schools in and around New Ross teaches every subject through Irish.
Who New Ross’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 New Ross | Co. Wexford | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 49% | 37% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 2% | 6% |
| Girls | 49% | 49% | 49% |
| Post-primary pupils at single-sex schools | 72% | 45% | 29% |
| Post-primary pupils at fee-paying schools | 0% | 0% | 6% |
More of the pupils around New Ross are at DEIS schools than across Ireland: 49% against 27% (Co. Wexford: 37%). Furthest from Ireland’s mix is the share of post-primary pupils at single-sex schools: 72% here against 29%. The biggest school in DEIS is Christian Brothers Secondary School (437 pupils).
Each of the 10 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good Counsel CollegePost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 744 | 0% | ||
| St. Mary's Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 706 | 100% | ||
| Christian Brothers Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 437 | 40% | ✓ | |
| Bunscoil RisPrimary | 351 | 45% | ✓ | |
| Bunscoil Nic AmhlaidhPrimary | 312 | 45% | ✓ | |
| Kennedy CollegePost-primary · ETB | 188 | 36% | ✓ | |
| St Canice S ConventPrimary | 186 | 50% | ✓ | |
| Our Lady of Lourdes Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 173 | 100% | ||
| New Ross Educate Together National SchoolPrimary | 135 | 51% | ✓ | |
| S.N. Shean BhothPrimary | 34 | 50% |
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.
The 7 patrons of New Ross’s schools
Each school has a patron that owns it and sets its ethos; its board of management runs it.
Bishop of Ossory is patron of 3 of the 10 schools around New Ross, which teach 12% of their pupils; 7 patrons run them in all. An Education and Training Board runs one of them. Educate Together runs one.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of OssorySt Canice S Convent, Our Lady of Lourdes, S.N. Shean Bhoth | Catholic | 3 | 393 |
| Bishop of FernsBunscoil Ris, Bunscoil Nic Amhlaidh | Catholic | 2 | 663 |
| Order of St Augustine (Augustinians)Good Counsel College | Catholic | 1 | 744 |
| CEISTSt. Mary's | Catholic | 1 | 706 |
| Edmund Rice Schools TrustChristian Brothers | Catholic | 1 | 437 |
| Waterford & Wexford ETBKennedy College | Multi-denominational | 1 | 188 |
| Educate TogetherNew Ross Educate Together | Multi-denominational | 1 | 135 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in New Ross
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
5 schools here have grown by 5% or more since 2019/20, 4 have shrunk by as much, out of 10; 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 New Ross’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 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 |
|---|---|
| Good Counsel CollegePost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St. Mary's Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Christian Brothers Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Bunscoil RisPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Bunscoil Nic AmhlaidhPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Kennedy CollegePost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Canice S ConventPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Our Lady of Lourdes Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| New Ross Educate Together National SchoolPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. Shean BhothPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of New Ross
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
Families in New Ross have 5 post-primary schools within 10 km: 4 voluntary secondary schools and one ETB school. 3 teach girls and boys apart: 2 girls’ and 1 boys’ schools. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christian Brothers Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | DEIS | 437 | 0.6 km |
| Kennedy CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 188 | 0.7 km |
| Good Counsel CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Boys | – | 744 | 0.8 km |
| Our Lady of Lourdes Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 173 | 1 km |
| St. Mary's Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 706 | 1.1 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around New Ross
No special school is in or near New Ross. 2 of the 5 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.
New Ross beside the 86 other Irish towns of 6,000 to 11,600 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gorey | 11,517 | 8 | 4,875 | 1 | 13% | 0.6 km |
| … | ||||||
| Lusk | 8,806 | 11 | 4,510 | 1 | 0% | 0.9 km |
| Raheny | 8,734 | 70 | 21,242 | 4 | 34% | 0.9 km |
| Ballyvolane | 8,707 | 60 | 16,728 | 8 | 45% | 1.9 km |
| Kilcock | 8,674 | 4 | 2,202 | 1 | 0% | 0.6 km |
| New Ross | 8,610 | 10 | 3,266 | 0 | 60% | 0.6 km |
| Hollyhill and Ballincolly | 8,606 | 84 | 27,337 | 7 | 43% | 1.1 km |
| Youghal | 8,564 | 5 | 2,077 | 1 | 20% | 1.3 km |
| Booterstown | 8,505 | 73 | 27,367 | 8 | 7% | 0.2 km |
| Grand Canal Dock | 8,320 | 121 | 32,703 | 6 | 43% | 0.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Passage West-Monkstown | 6,051 | 16 | 4,438 | 0 | 6% | 0.1 km |
Of these 86 other towns, 66 count more pupils at their schools than New Ross. Teaching through Irish is on offer within 3 km in 82 of the 87.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around New Ross
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 New Ross had 3,368 pupils in 2015/16 and 3,266 in 2025/26, fewer than before. New Ross Educate Together National School grew most: +118% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around New Ross
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 New Ross
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Ross | 10 | 3,266 | 0 | 60% | 0.6 km |
| Graiguenamanagh-Tinnahinch 17 km | 4 | 399 | 0 | 75% | 0.3 km |
| Ferrybank 17 km | 32 | 12,081 | 2 | 38% | 0.6 km |
| Waterford City Centre 19 km | 33 | 12,411 | 2 | 39% | 0.5 km |
| Grantstown and Ballinakill 19 km | 31 | 11,459 | 2 | 36% | 2.1 km |
| Grange Upper 19 km | 29 | 11,835 | 2 | 41% | 0.8 km |
Ferrybank has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 2. The roll around New Ross moved −2% since 2019/20; nearby, Waterford City Centre grew most (+4%) and Graiguenamanagh-Tinnahinch least (−8%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in New Ross 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 New Ross
How many schools are there in New Ross?
In New Ross or within 3 km of it: 5 primary schools and 5 secondary schools, with 3,266 pupils between them.
Are there schools in New Ross that teach through Irish?
None in New Ross 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 New Ross?
No: all 5 secondary schools here are free.
What is the best school in New Ross?
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 New Ross?
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).