Photo: 瑞丽江的河水 · CC BY-SA 4.0More children at the schools around Rathdrum: +20% since 2019/20, above Co. Wicklow’s towns and Irish towns
For Rathdrum, that is above both Co. Wicklow’s towns (+12%) and Irish towns (+4%). Pupils: 1,116, up 20% since 2019/20. These schools are described rather than graded, because Ireland publishes no school results 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 Rathdrum’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: Avondale Community College (644), Clochar Muire N.S. (176) and Rathdrum Boys N.S. (172). Who runs them ↓
More pupils every year
Pupil numbers at the schools here have grown faster than across Ireland (+5% since 2019/20), so classes and new places are a question worth asking. Pupils over time ↓
Drawn from the Department of Education’s lists; none of it judges how well a school teaches.
Who runs Rathdrum’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
2 of Rathdrum’s 4 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Archbishop of Dublin (2), Kildare & Wicklow ETB (1) and Archbishop of Dublin & Bishop of Glendalough COI (1). 3 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.
Pupil numbers around Rathdrum
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 Rathdrum had 921 pupils in 2015/16 and 1,116 in 2025/26. Clochar Muire N.S. grew most: +23% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Rathdrum
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.
The 4 schools in and around Rathdrum
Every school in Rathdrum or within 3 km of its outline, each linked to its own page. Letters and results are missing here for a reason: Ireland publishes neither school by school.
Where the 4 schools in and around Rathdrum 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 Rathdrum’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 Rathdrum
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
None of the 4 schools in and around Rathdrum teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Rathdrum’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 Rathdrum | Co. Wicklow | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 89% | 23% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 6% | 6% |
| Girls | 49% | 49% | 49% |
89% of the pupils around Rathdrum are at a DEIS school, more than 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, Avondale Community College is the biggest: 644 pupils.
Each of the 4 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avondale Community CollegePost-primary · ETB | 644 | 48% | ✓ | |
| Clochar Muire N.S.Primary | 176 | 100% | ✓ | |
| Rathdrum Boys N.S.Primary | 172 | 0% | ✓ | |
| St Saviours N.S.Primary | 124 | 46% |
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 Rathdrum’s schools
Patrons own the schools and set their ethos; boards of management run them day to day.
3 patrons run the 4 schools around Rathdrum; the largest, Archbishop of Dublin, has 2 of them and 31% of the pupils. One is an ETB school.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archbishop of DublinClochar Muire, Rathdrum Boys | Catholic | 2 | 348 |
| Kildare & Wicklow ETBAvondale | Multi-denominational | 1 | 644 |
| Archbishop of Dublin & Bishop of Glendalough COISt Saviours | Church of Ireland | 1 | 124 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Rathdrum
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
Since 2019/20, 4 of these 4 schools have grown by 5% or more and 0 have shrunk as much; across Ireland the number of 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 Rathdrum’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 4 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Avondale Community CollegePost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Clochar Muire N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Rathdrum Boys N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Saviours 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 Rathdrum
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 Rathdrum is Avondale Community College, an ETB school. It takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avondale Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 644 | 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 Rathdrum
No special school is in or near Rathdrum. 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.
Rathdrum beside the 100 other Irish towns of 1,600 to 3,100 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kinnegad | 3,064 | 1 | 413 | 0 | 0% | 7.1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Thomastown | 2,305 | 2 | 732 | 0 | 50% | 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 |
| … | ||||||
| Castlemartyr | 1,603 | 2 | 314 | 0 | 0% | 8 km |
Of the other 100 towns, 43 have more pupils at the schools around them than Rathdrum. 30 of the 101 towns have an all-Irish school within 3 km.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Schools in the towns around Rathdrum
Schools in or within 3 km of each neighbouring town; distances in a straight line.
Arklow has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 2. Pupils around Rathdrum: +20% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Rathnew led (+12%) and Aughrim trailed (−18%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Rathdrum 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 Rathdrum
How many schools are there in Rathdrum?
In Rathdrum or within 3 km of it: 3 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 1,116 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Rathdrum that teach through Irish?
None in Rathdrum 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 Rathdrum?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Rathdrum?
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 Rathdrum?
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).