Photo: Upsilona · CC BY-SA 3.0Pupil numbers around Carnew have fallen behind Co. Wicklow’s towns and Irish towns: −5% since 2019/20
For Carnew, that is below both Co. Wicklow’s towns (+12%) and Irish towns (+4%). Coláiste Bhríde Carnew, with 836 pupils, is the only secondary school within 3 km. Nothing here grades or ranks these schools: Ireland publishes no results school by school, 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 Carnew’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: Carnew N.S. (185) and All Saints National School (23). Who runs them ↓
From the Department of Education’s school lists: facts, not judgements of how well a school teaches.
Who runs Carnew’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
2 of Carnew’s 4 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Ferns (2), Kildare & Wicklow ETB (1) and Bishop of Cashel, Ferns & Ossory COI (1). 2 of the 4 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 4 schools in and around Carnew
Each school in or within 3 km of Carnew links to a page of its own. There are no letters or results on these cards, because Ireland publishes none school by school.
Where the 4 schools in and around Carnew 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 Carnew’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 Carnew
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
None of the 4 schools in and around Carnew teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Carnew’s schools serve
The pupils at the area’s schools by share, 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 Carnew | Co. Wicklow | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 18% | 23% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 6% | 6% |
| Girls | 47% | 49% | 49% |
Around Carnew, 18% of pupils attend a school in DEIS; across Ireland it is 27%, and 23% in Co. Wicklow. Furthest from Ireland’s mix is the share of pupils at all-Irish schools: 0% here against 6%. The biggest school in DEIS is Carnew N.S. (185 pupils).
Each of the 4 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coláiste Bhríde CarnewPost-primary · ETB | 836 | 49% | ||
| Carnew N.S.Primary | 185 | 42% | ✓ | |
| All Saints National SchoolPrimary | 23 | 61% | ✓ | |
| S.N. Treasa NfaPrimary | 106 | 43% |
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 3 patrons of Carnew’s schools
Each school has a patron that owns it and sets its ethos; its board of management runs it.
3 patrons run the 4 schools around Carnew; the largest, Bishop of Ferns, has 2 of them and 25% of the pupils. An Education and Training Board runs one of them.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of FernsCarnew, S.N. Treasa Nfa | Catholic | 2 | 291 |
| Kildare & Wicklow ETBColáiste Bhríde Carnew | Multi-denominational | 1 | 836 |
| Bishop of Cashel, Ferns & Ossory COIAll Saints | Church of Ireland | 1 | 23 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Carnew
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, 2 have shrunk by as much, out of 4; 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 Carnew’s schools
The Inspectorate’s published reports for each school, linked, without ratings
The Inspectorate inspects schools in several ways: a whole-school evaluation covers teaching, learning and how the school is led; a subject inspection looks at one subject; a follow-through checks on earlier advice. Reports go on gov.ie with the school’s reply.
Reports say what inspectors found and what should improve, without an overall grade, so none appears here; each of the 4 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Coláiste Bhríde CarnewPost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Carnew N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| All Saints National SchoolPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. Treasa NfaPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Carnew
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
The only post-primary school within 10 km of Carnew is Coláiste Bhríde Carnew, an ETB school. It takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coláiste Bhríde CarnewETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 836 | 0.3 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Carnew
No special school is in or near Carnew. 2 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.
Carnew beside the 124 other Irish towns of 900 to 1,700 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tullyallen | 1,697 | 1 | 411 | 0 | 0% | 3.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Croom | 1,240 | 2 | 990 | 0 | 100% | 1 km |
| Drumshanbo | 1,240 | 2 | 752 | 0 | 0% | 0.8 km |
| Askeaton | 1,236 | 2 | 426 | 0 | 50% | 0.5 km |
| Headford | 1,235 | 4 | 1,120 | 0 | 0% | 0.8 km |
| Carnew | 1,233 | 4 | 1,150 | 0 | 50% | 0.3 km |
| Castlebellingham-Kilsaran | 1,232 | 3 | 506 | 0 | 0% | 7.7 km |
| Kiltimagh | 1,232 | 2 | 963 | 0 | 0% | 0.3 km |
| Rathkeale | 1,231 | 5 | 971 | 0 | 60% | 0.2 km |
| Ardnacrusha | 1,229 | 5 | 2,332 | 0 | 20% | 3.1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Clarinbridge | 905 | 2 | 451 | 0 | 0% | 5.5 km |
Of the other 124 towns, 22 have more pupils at the schools around them than Carnew. Teaching through Irish is on offer within 3 km in 14 of the 125.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Carnew
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 Carnew had 1,209 pupils in 2015/16 and 1,150 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Carnew
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 Carnew
Each town’s schools in or within 3 km of its outline; distances as the crow flies.
Gorey has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. Pupils around Carnew: −5% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Bunclody led (+16%) and Tinahely trailed (+3%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Carnew 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 Carnew
How many schools are there in Carnew?
In Carnew or within 3 km of it: 3 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 1,150 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Carnew that teach through Irish?
None in Carnew 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 Carnew?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Carnew?
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 Carnew?
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).