Photo: Eirian Evans · CC BY-SA 2.0Around Baltinglass, only 0% of schools teach through Irish, fewer than around Co. Wicklow’s towns or Irish towns
On this, Baltinglass is below both Co. Wicklow’s towns (9%) and Irish towns (8%). Scoil Chonglais, with 452 pupils, is the only secondary school within 3 km. Ireland publishes no school results, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them, so these schools are described here, never 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.
The 3 schools in and around Baltinglass
Here are the schools in Baltinglass or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. No letters, no results: Irish schools aren’t ranked one by one.
Where the 3 schools in and around Baltinglass 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 Baltinglass’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 Baltinglass
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
None of the 3 schools in and around Baltinglass teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Baltinglass’s schools serve
Shares of the pupils at the area’s schools, beside Co. Wicklow’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 Baltinglass | Co. Wicklow | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 0% | 23% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 6% | 6% |
| Girls | 46% | 49% | 49% |
Fewer of the pupils around Baltinglass are at DEIS schools than across Ireland: 0% against 27% (Co. Wicklow: 23%). Where this area differs most from Ireland is pupils at all-Irish schools, at 0% against 6%.
Each of the 3 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scoil ChonglaisPost-primary · ETB | 452 | 51% | ||
| Scoil Naomh IosafPrimary | 393 | 42% | ||
| Stratford Lodge N.S.Primary | 67 | 33% |
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 Baltinglass’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
1 of Baltinglass’s 3 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Kildare & Wicklow ETB (1), Bishop of Kildare & Leighlin (1) and Bishop of Cashel, Ferns & Ossory COI (1). None of the 3 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.
The 3 patrons of Baltinglass’s schools
The patron owns the school and sets its ethos; a board of management runs it day to day.
The schools around Baltinglass answer to 3 patrons, and Kildare & Wicklow ETB leads with 1 of the 3 schools and 50% of their pupils. An Education and Training Board runs one of them.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kildare & Wicklow ETBScoil Chonglais | Multi-denominational | 1 | 452 |
| Bishop of Kildare & LeighlinScoil Naomh Iosaf | Catholic | 1 | 393 |
| Bishop of Cashel, Ferns & Ossory COIStratford Lodge | Church of Ireland | 1 | 67 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Baltinglass
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, 1 have grown by at least 5% since 2019/20 and 2 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.
Inspection reports for Baltinglass’s schools
Reports from the Department of Education’s Inspectorate, every school’s linked and 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; each of the 3 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Scoil ChonglaisPost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil Naomh IosafPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Stratford Lodge 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 Baltinglass
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
Families in Baltinglass have 2 post-primary schools within 10 km: 2 ETB schools. Every one of them takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scoil ChonglaisETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 452 | 0.2 km |
| Colaiste LorcainETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 334 | 9.6 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Baltinglass
No special school is in or near Baltinglass. 1 of the 2 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.
Baltinglass beside the 88 other Irish towns of 1,800 to 3,500 people
Towns of a similar size, with the schools in or within 3 km of each; ordered by population, never ranked
| Town | People | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rahoon | 3,486 | 29 | 10,562 | 5 | 21% | 1.6 km |
| … | ||||||
| Donegal | 2,749 | 6 | 1,791 | 1 | 0% | 0.7 km |
| Decies | 2,713 | 44 | 11,294 | 1 | 64% | 0.8 km |
| Callan | 2,678 | 2 | 1,112 | 0 | 0% | 0.5 km |
| Kilrush | 2,649 | 3 | 733 | 1 | 100% | 0.4 km |
| Baltinglass | 2,611 | 3 | 912 | 0 | 0% | 0.2 km |
| Bundoran | 2,599 | 3 | 898 | 0 | 33% | 0.2 km |
| Athboy | 2,596 | 4 | 1,372 | 2 | 0% | 0.8 km |
| Kenmare | 2,566 | 3 | 1,066 | 0 | 0% | 0.4 km |
| Kylemore | 2,557 | 57 | 16,207 | 2 | 60% | 0.5 km |
| … | ||||||
| Derrinturn | 1,837 | 3 | 426 | 0 | 100% | 8.3 km |
Among the 88 other towns, 63 have more pupils at their schools than Baltinglass does. An all-Irish school is within 3 km of 36 of the 89.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Baltinglass
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 Baltinglass had 993 pupils in 2015/16 and 912 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Baltinglass
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 Baltinglass
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baltinglass | 3 | 912 | 0 | 0% | 0.2 km |
| Rathvilly 6.2 km | 2 | 248 | 0 | 50% | 6.3 km |
| Castledermot 9.9 km | 2 | 678 | 0 | 0% | 0.3 km |
| Dunlavin 14 km | 3 | 1,103 | 0 | 33% | 0.6 km |
| Tullow 15 km | 4 | 1,339 | 0 | 75% | 0.5 km |
| Carlow 19 km | 19 | 7,832 | 2 | 42% | 0.7 km |
Carlow has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 2. Pupils around Baltinglass: −1% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Dunlavin led (+22%) and Castledermot trailed (−12%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Baltinglass 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 Baltinglass
How many schools are there in Baltinglass?
In Baltinglass or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 912 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Baltinglass that teach through Irish?
None in Baltinglass 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 Baltinglass?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Baltinglass?
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 Baltinglass?
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).