School places: Three out of four parents unable to secure spots at oversubscribed secondary schools

Nearly three out of four parents are unable to secure places for their children at Ireland’s most oversubscribed second-level schools.

An unpublished Department of Education report on the capacity of the post-primary sector last year shows for the first time the volume of schools where there are more applicants than places available in second-level schools.

The report examines the subscription status of individual schools across 314 school planning areas, which are used by the department to plan for school places.

It shows that about half of all secondary schools across the State are oversubscribed, with the highest concentration in the Dublin area, commuter belt counties and some large towns.

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In the Dublin area alone, for example, almost half of the 40 or so school planning areas are recorded as areas where all schools are oversubscribed. They include Dún Laoghaire, Dublin 6W, Castleknock, Booterstown/Blackrock, Blanchardstown West, Blanchardstown Village, Rathfarnham, Rush/Lusk, Skerries, Swords, Whitehall-Santry, Malahide-Nevinstown, Palmerstown/Ronanstown and others.

There are also dozens of other school planning areas, mostly in cities, large towns and commuter belt areas, where all post-primary schools are oversubscribed.

Separate data, based on an analysis of school admission notices, shows that in the most heavily oversubscribed schools, as few as 20-25 per cent of initial applicants were successful in securing first-year school places in 2023.

The bulk of these schools were based in the south Dublin area. In some cases, these schools had hundreds of students left on waiting lists after the admissions process closed.

[ Where are the most oversubscribed secondary schools? ]

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Admission data shows, for example, that Sandford Park School in Dublin 6 had among the lowest proportion of successful applicants, with 75 applicants out of 379 applications offered a place, or 20 per cent of those who applied.

Other heavily subscribed schools with low proportions of successful applicants included St Conleth’s College, Dublin 4 (21 per cent); Loreto College, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2 (23 per cent); Newpark Comprehensive School, Co Dublin (23 per cent); and Muckross Park College, Dublin 4 (24 per cent).

Others have seen 25-30 per cent of applicants being successful. They included: St Michael’s College, Ailesbury Road, Dublin 4; St Louis High School, Rathmines, Dublin 6 (both 27 per cent); Oatlands College in Mount Merrion (28 per cent); Stratford College in Rathgar, Dublin 6 (29 per cent); and Sion Hill in Blackrock (30 per cent).

Outside the capital, several schools in Galway city were heavily oversubscribed and had low proportions of successful applicants such as Galway Educate Together Secondary School (22 per cent), Coláiste Éinde, Coláiste an Eachréidh (both 23 per cent) and Coláiste Iognáid (24 per cent).

Some post-primary schools also disclosed how many pupils were left on waiting lists to get a school place last year.

Some of the biggest waiting lists were recorded at Coláiste Éinde, Salthill (389 applicants on waiting list), Muckross Park College, Dublin 4 (373), Coláiste Iognáid, Galway (317), Wesley College, Dublin (239), St David’s Holy Faith, Greystones, Co Wicklow (230), St Benildus College, Stillorgan (198) and Belvedere College, Dublin (194).

The Department of Education says it is aware of enrolment pressures in some areas.

However, it says this may not be as a result of lack of accommodation but may also be driven by other factors such as duplication of applications and the “external draw” of applicants outside school areas.

In respect of the 2024/25 school year, it said it has received applications data for admission from post-primary schools across areas of enrolment pressure.

“The sharing of data has been very effective in the identification of school place requirements across the areas referenced. In the majority of areas, the work of schools, patrons, management bodies and the department has ensured that there are sufficient school places available to meet the needs of children in the area,” it said.

A spokeswoman added that the department was working with schools and patrons to make additional places available “in a small number of areas where there are still some students waiting to be offered a place”.

“While a small number of applicants may not yet have received an offer of a school place for 2024/25, families can be assured that all children who require a school place will be provided with one.”

The provision of additional school places can be facilitated by a range of strategies, some of which may involve additional accommodation but also optimising use of existing capacity.

The department said it was satisfied that its school capacity analysis, coupled with data sharing by schools on applications for admission, has been effective in identifying and addressing school place requirements this year.

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