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.

Overall, children enrolled in Catholic and other denominational primary schools increased by 2,593, or 0.5% on the previous school year. Although there were 2,448 additional pupils in multi-denominational primary schools, this represents a 9% increase, reflecting the opening of new schools and expansion of others.

Despite these figures, the slow pace of change is demonstrated by the fact that no children are attending multi-denominational primary schools in counties Tipperary, Roscommon, Monaghan, Leitrim, and Longford. At second-level, there is a similar lack of multi-denominational provision in Kerry, Clare, Tipperary, Waterford, Carlow, Kilkenny, Galway, Mayo, Roscommon, Laois, Longford, Leitrim, or Offaly.

The numbers attending second-level schools have grown by a similar number, or 5,200. However, because overall enrolments at that level are generally less than two-thirds of primary pupil numbers, the jump to 357,442 second-level students represents an annual increase of 1.4%.

This is around one-and-a-half times the growth at primary level, of 0.9%, and brings to 11% the increase in second-level enrolments in just six years. The corresponding rise for primary schools is 9%, and points to the shift in demographic pressure from primary classrooms to second-level schools in the coming years.