Non-Catholic school enrolments up

More children are attending multi-denominational schools this year. Wider choice is slowly taking effect in the education system.

The numbers attending Catholic primary schools rose by 2,500, or just under half of the overall, 5,041 jump, to 555,241, in enrolments at mainstream primary schools.

But the provisional data from the Department of Education, based on returns made by the country’s schools last autumn, show the proportion of primary pupils at multi-denominational schools increased slightly, from 5% to 5.4% of all primary enrolments. There was a similar-sized drop, to 90.6%, in the proportion of children attending Catholic-ethos primary schools.