Photo: Sue Mischyshyn · CC BY-SA 2.0The schools around Avoca have fewer pupils than in 2019/20: −7%, below Co. Wicklow’s towns and Irish towns
Measured that way, Avoca is below both Co. Wicklow’s towns (+12%) and Irish towns (+4%). Padraig Naofa N.S. is a primary with 172 pupils. With no school results published in Ireland, and the Education Act 1998 restricting comparisons of them, these schools are described, not graded or ranked.
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.
What stands out about Avoca’s schools
A wide choice at twelve
Families here can choose among 5 post-primary schools within 10 km of the town, of more than one kind; each admits on its own published policy, so applying to more than one is common. The nearest: Gaelcholáiste na Mara (6.7 km), Glenart College (7 km) and Arklow CBS (7.1 km). Post-primary choices ↓
Drawn from the Department of Education’s lists; none of it judges how well a school teaches.
Where the school in or near Avoca 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 Avoca’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 Avoca
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
None of the 1 schools in and around Avoca teaches every subject through Irish.
Who runs Avoca’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
1 of Avoca’s 1 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. Their patron: Archbishop of Dublin (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 Avoca
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 Avoca
Here are the schools in Avoca or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. No letters, no results: Irish schools aren’t ranked one by one.
Inspection reports for Avoca’s schools
The Department of Education’s Inspectorate: every school’s reports linked, none rated
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; the link below opens the school’s own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Padraig Naofa 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 Avoca
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
5 post-primary schools are within 10 km of Avoca: 3 ETB schools and 2 voluntary secondary schools. 2 teach girls and boys apart: 1 girls’ and 1 boys’ schools. Just one teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gaelcholáiste na MaraETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | Gaelcholáiste | 279 | 6.7 km |
| Glenart CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 633 | 7 km |
| Arklow CBSVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Boys | – | 392 | 7.1 km |
| St Marys CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 527 | 7.4 km |
| Avondale Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 644 | 9 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Avoca
No special school is in or near Avoca. 1 of the 1 primary schools has 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.
Avoca beside the 187 other Irish towns of 500 to 1,000 people
Each town’s schools in or within 3 km, listed by population: Ireland publishes no results, so none is ranked
| Town | People | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castletownbere | 999 | 3 | 524 | 0 | 67% | 0.4 km |
| … | ||||||
| Ballineen-Enniskean | 766 | 2 | 207 | 0 | 0% | 13 km |
| Rathmore | 766 | 3 | 627 | 0 | 0% | 2.5 km |
| Knockbridge | 759 | 1 | 285 | 0 | 0% | 5.8 km |
| Lixnaw | 758 | 1 | 104 | 0 | 100% | 7.8 km |
| Avoca | 757 | 1 | 172 | 0 | 0% | 6.7 km |
| Kilfinnane | 757 | 3 | 908 | 0 | 0% | 0.4 km |
| Killenaule | 755 | 2 | 495 | 0 | 100% | 0.2 km |
| Keenagh | 753 | 1 | 109 | 0 | 0% | 7.1 km |
| Drumod | 753 | 2 | 284 | 0 | 0% | 7.8 km |
| … | ||||||
| Stradbally | 500 | 2 | 134 | 0 | 0% | 8.7 km |
Among the 187 other towns, 145 have more pupils at their schools than Avoca does. Teaching through Irish is on offer within 3 km in 16 of the 188.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Avoca
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 Avoca had 207 pupils in 2015/16 and 172 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Avoca
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 Avoca
For each nearby town, its schools in or within 3 km of its outline, with straight-line distances.
Arklow has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 2. Of Avoca’s neighbours, Rathdrum saw the most growth in pupils since 2019/20 (+20%) and Aughrim the least (−18%); Avoca itself: −7%.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Avoca 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 Avoca
How many schools are there in Avoca?
In Avoca or within 3 km of it: 1 primary school, with 172 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Avoca that teach through Irish?
None in Avoca or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Avoca?
Not in Avoca or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Gaelcholáiste na Mara, 6.7 km away.
What is the best school in Avoca?
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 Avoca?
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).