Photo: Sarah777 · CC BY-SA 2.0Few schools around Newcastle teach through Irish: 0%, below Co. Wicklow’s towns and Irish towns
In the comparison, Newcastle comes below both Co. Wicklow’s towns (9%) and Irish towns (8%). Its one secondary school within 3 km, Colaiste Chraobh Abhann, has 778 pupils. Ireland publishes no school results, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them, so these schools are described here, never graded or ranked.
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 Newcastle’s schools
A wide choice at twelve
Within 10 km of the town there are 6 post-primary schools to choose from, of different kinds; each sets its own admission policy, and many families apply to several. The nearest: Colaiste Chraobh Abhann (3.1 km), Greystones Community College (6.6 km) and St David's Holy Faith Secondary (8.2 km). Post-primary choices ↓
Drawn from the Department of Education’s lists; none of it judges how well a school teaches.
The 5 schools in and around Newcastle
Here are the schools in Newcastle or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. Letters and results are missing here for a reason: Ireland publishes neither school by school.
Where the 5 schools in and around Newcastle 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 Newcastle’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 Newcastle
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
None of the 5 schools in and around Newcastle teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Newcastle’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 Newcastle | Co. Wicklow | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 25% | 23% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 6% | 6% |
| Girls | 47% | 49% | 49% |
25% of the pupils around Newcastle are at a DEIS school, close to the 27% across Ireland (23% in Co. Wicklow). The biggest difference from Ireland is in pupils at all-Irish schools: 0% here, 6% there. Of the DEIS schools here, Newtownmountkennedy Primary School is the biggest: 368 pupils.
Each of the 5 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Francis N.S.Primary | 90 | 47% | ||
| St Catherines Special SchoolSpecial | 89 | 29% | ||
| Woodstock Educate Together N.S.Primary | 150 | 45% | ||
| Newtownmountkennedy Primary SchoolPrimary | 368 | 48% | ✓ | |
| Colaiste Chraobh AbhannPost-primary · ETB | 778 | 49% |
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 Newcastle’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
2 of Newcastle’s 5 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Archbishop of Dublin & Bishop of Glendalough COI (1), St Catherine's Association (1) and Educate Together (1). 1 of the 5 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 5 patrons of Newcastle’s schools
Patrons own the schools and set their ethos; boards of management run them day to day.
Of the 5 schools around Newcastle, 1 have Kildare & Wicklow ETB as patron, teaching 53% of the pupils; 5 patrons in all. An Education and Training Board runs one of them. Educate Together runs one.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kildare & Wicklow ETBColaiste Chraobh Abhann | Multi-denominational | 1 | 778 |
| Archbishop of DublinNewtownmountkennedy Primary School | Catholic | 1 | 368 |
| Educate TogetherWoodstock Educate Together | Multi-denominational | 1 | 150 |
| Archbishop of Dublin & Bishop of Glendalough COISt Francis | Church of Ireland | 1 | 90 |
| St Catherine's AssociationSt Catherines Special School | Catholic | 1 | 89 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Newcastle
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
Between 2019/20 and now, 0 of the 3 grew by 5% or more and 1 shrank as much, while Ireland’s pupil numbers moved +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 Newcastle’s schools
Reports from the Department of Education’s Inspectorate, every school’s linked and none rated
Inspectors visit every kind of school. Whole-school evaluations look at teaching and learning, leadership and management; subject inspections look at one subject; follow-through inspections check whether earlier advice was taken. Each report is published 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 5 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| St Francis N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Catherines Special SchoolSpecial | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Woodstock Educate Together N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Newtownmountkennedy Primary SchoolPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Colaiste Chraobh AbhannPost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Newcastle
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
Within 10 km of Newcastle there are 6 post-primary schools: 3 ETB schools, 2 voluntary secondary schools and one comprehensive school. Every one of them takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colaiste Chraobh AbhannETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 778 | 3.1 km |
| Greystones Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 765 | 6.6 km |
| St David's Holy Faith SecondaryVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 792 | 8.2 km |
| Temple Carrig Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Church of Ireland | Girls and boys | – | 931 | 9.1 km |
| East Glendalough SchoolComprehensive · Church of Ireland | Girls and boys | – | 365 | 9.5 km |
| Coláiste Chill MhantáinETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 995 | 9.7 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Newcastle
St Catherines Special School is the special school here, with 89 pupils. 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.
Newcastle beside the 168 other Irish towns of 700 to 1,400 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moville | 1,390 | 5 | 1,100 | 1 | 40% | 0.8 km |
| … | ||||||
| Mohill | 1,027 | 3 | 788 | 0 | 33% | 0.5 km |
| Tallow | 1,022 | 2 | 184 | 0 | 50% | 6.3 km |
| Lehinch | 1,018 | 5 | 1,110 | 1 | 40% | 2.8 km |
| Ballinagh | 1,012 | 2 | 321 | 0 | 100% | 6.8 km |
| Newcastle | 1,010 | 5 | 1,475 | 0 | 20% | 3.1 km |
| Carragh | 1,006 | 2 | 1,383 | 0 | 0% | 3.5 km |
| Castletownbere | 999 | 3 | 524 | 0 | 67% | 0.4 km |
| Ardfinnan | 978 | 1 | 244 | 0 | 0% | 8.5 km |
| Myrtleville | 965 | 4 | 999 | 0 | 0% | 2.3 km |
| … | ||||||
| Shanagarry | 700 | 2 | 201 | 0 | 0% | 11 km |
More pupils attend the schools around 18 of the other 168 towns than around Newcastle. Within 3 km, 20 of these 169 towns have a school teaching through Irish.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Newcastle
Every school in or within 3 km of the town each September, counted where it stands today.
The schools in and around Newcastle had 1,168 pupils in 2015/16 and 1,475 in 2025/26.
Pupils at schools in and around Newcastle
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 Newcastle
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newcastle | 5 | 1,475 | 0 | 20% | 3.1 km |
| Newtownmountkennedy 3.6 km | 5 | 1,475 | 0 | 20% | 3.6 km |
| Kilcoole 3.7 km | 8 | 3,046 | 0 | 0% | 0.6 km |
| Kilpedder 5.1 km | 9 | 3,990 | 0 | 11% | 3 km |
| Greystones-Delgany 7.3 km | 13 | 7,013 | 1 | 0% | 0.8 km |
| Ashford 7.9 km | 4 | 1,116 | 1 | 25% | 4.5 km |
| Rathnew 9.4 km | 11 | 4,543 | 1 | 36% | 1 km |
Greystones-Delgany has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. Pupils around Newcastle: +12% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Kilcoole led (+52%) and Ashford trailed (+5%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Newcastle 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 Newcastle
How many schools are there in Newcastle?
In Newcastle or within 3 km of it: 3 primary schools, 1 secondary school and 1 special school, with 1,475 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Newcastle that teach through Irish?
None in Newcastle 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 Newcastle?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Newcastle?
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 Newcastle?
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).