Photo: 瑞丽江的河水 · CC BY-SA 4.0Pupil numbers around Rosslare Harbour have fallen behind Co. Wexford’s towns and Irish towns: −13% since 2019/20
Measured that way, Rosslare Harbour is below both Co. Wexford’s towns (+5%) and Irish towns (+4%). 2 of its 3 schools are in DEIS, the extra support for schools in disadvantaged areas, against 30% across Ireland. With no school results published in Ireland, and the Education Act 1998 restricting comparisons of them, these schools are described, not graded or ranked.
Every school in the town or within 3 km of its outline, from the Department of Education’s lists for 2025/26; Ireland’s figures are every school in the lists.
What stands out about Rosslare Harbour’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: Kilrane N.S. (292) and S.N. Mhuire (64). Who runs them ↓
Fewer pupils than before
Pupil numbers at the schools here have fallen since 2019/20, against +5% across Ireland. Pupils over time ↓
Facts from the Department of Education’s lists; nothing here judges how well a school teaches.
Where the 3 schools in and around Rosslare Harbour 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 Rosslare Harbour’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 runs Rosslare Harbour’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
3 of Rosslare Harbour’s 3 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. Their patron: Bishop of Ferns (3). 2 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.
Pupil numbers around Rosslare Harbour
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 Rosslare Harbour had 524 pupils in 2015/16 and 468 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Rosslare Harbour
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.
Teaching through Irish in and around Rosslare Harbour
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
None of the 3 schools in and around Rosslare Harbour teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Rosslare Harbour’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 Rosslare Harbour | Co. Wexford | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 76% | 37% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 2% | 6% |
| Girls | 53% | 49% | 49% |
More of the pupils around Rosslare Harbour are at DEIS schools than across Ireland: 76% against 27% (Co. Wexford: 37%). Set beside Ireland, pupils at all-Irish schools stand out most: 0% against 6%. The largest DEIS school here is Kilrane N.S., with 292 pupils.
Each of the 3 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kilrane N.S.Primary | 292 | 53% | ✓ | |
| Scoil MhuirePrimary | 112 | 51% | ||
| S.N. MhuirePrimary | 64 | 56% | ✓ |
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.
One patron for Rosslare Harbour’s schools
Patrons own the schools and set their ethos; boards of management run them day to day.
Bishop of Ferns is patron of every school around Rosslare Harbour.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of FernsKilrane, Scoil Mhuire, S.N. Mhuire | Catholic | 3 | 468 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Rosslare Harbour
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
Of these 3 schools, 0 have grown by at least 5% since 2019/20 and 3 have lost as much; Ireland’s pupils changed by +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 3 schools in and around Rosslare Harbour
Each school in or within 3 km of Rosslare Harbour links to a page of its own. Results by school aren’t published in Ireland, so the cards carry none.
Inspection reports for Rosslare Harbour’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 3 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Kilrane N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil MhuirePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. MhuirePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Rosslare Harbour
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
No post-primary school is within 10 km of Rosslare Harbour; the nearest is Christian Brothers Secondary School, 13 km away.
Special schools and classes around Rosslare Harbour
No special school is in or near Rosslare Harbour. 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.
Rosslare Harbour beside the 96 other Irish towns of 1,600 to 3,000 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bailieborough | 2,974 | 5 | 1,420 | 0 | 20% | 0.1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Balrothery | 2,282 | 16 | 7,860 | 2 | 31% | 1.7 km |
| Maigh Cuilinn | 2,279 | 3 | 542 | 1 | 0% | 8.3 km |
| Clogherhead | 2,275 | 2 | 568 | 0 | 0% | 9.1 km |
| Rathdrum | 2,264 | 4 | 1,116 | 0 | 75% | 0.3 km |
| Rosslare Harbour | 2,247 | 3 | 468 | 0 | 67% | 13 km |
| Ballyshannon | 2,246 | 6 | 1,236 | 1 | 83% | 0.6 km |
| Abbeyfeale | 2,206 | 5 | 1,060 | 0 | 40% | 0.7 km |
| Edgeworthstown | 2,199 | 3 | 423 | 0 | 33% | 11 km |
| Newport | 2,183 | 4 | 1,527 | 0 | 25% | 0.4 km |
| … | ||||||
| Castlemartyr | 1,603 | 2 | 314 | 0 | 0% | 8 km |
Of the other 96 towns, 81 have more pupils at the schools around them than Rosslare Harbour. An all-Irish school is within 3 km of 28 of the 97.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Schools in the towns around Rosslare Harbour
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rosslare Harbour | 3 | 468 | 0 | 67% | 13 km |
| Rosslare 4.5 km | 3 | 512 | 0 | 100% | 8.7 km |
| Wexford 13 km | 16 | 6,749 | 1 | 25% | 0.5 km |
| Castlebridge 17 km | 3 | 459 | 0 | 0% | 5.1 km |
Wexford has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. Since 2019/20 the pupils around Rosslare Harbour changed by −13%; among its neighbours, Castlebridge’s grew most (+10%) and Rosslare’s least (−17%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Rosslare Harbour 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 Rosslare Harbour
How many schools are there in Rosslare Harbour?
In Rosslare Harbour or within 3 km of it: 3 primary schools, with 468 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Rosslare Harbour that teach through Irish?
None in Rosslare Harbour or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Rosslare Harbour?
Not in Rosslare Harbour or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Christian Brothers Secondary School, 13 km away.
What is the best school in Rosslare Harbour?
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 Rosslare Harbour?
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).