Number of students attending fee-paying secondary schools hits highest level in a decade

Mark O'Brien of St Michael's College is tackled by Niall Comerford of Blackrock College during the Bank of Ireland Leinster Schools Senior Cup last year. Blackrock College is the country's largest private school.

The number of pupils attending fee-paying secondary schools in Ireland has reached its highest level in a decade.

New figures published by the Department of Education show a total of 25,881 students were enrolled in private post-primary schools in the 2019/20 school year – an annual increase of 1% with an extra 275 pupils enrolled compared to the previous year.

Despite the rise in numbers attending private schools, the popularity of private education in general appears to be on the decline as the increase has not kept pace with growth in the overall student population.

The proportion of all second-level students attending a fee-charging school has declined steadily since a peak in 2007 when over 8% of pupils attended private college.

The latest figures show approximately 7% of secondary school pupils in the recent school year attended a fee-pay college.

There is a consistent pattern of more boys than girls attending fee-charging schools – 8% of male secondary students attend private college compared to 6.9% of females.

A total of 51 out of 723 secondary schools are fee-paying – one less than the previous year following the closure of Notre Dame in Churchtown, Dublin in 2019.

Two-thirds of private schools are located in Dublin.

While enrolments in primary schools peaked in 2018 and are projected to fall over the coming 15 years, numbers attending secondary schools are expected to continue to rise for the next few years.

The country’s largest private school is the all-male Blackrock College in south Dublin where annual day fees last year were €7,100. Blackrock College had a total of 1,024 students enrolled in 2019/20, just ahead of Belvedere College in Dublin’s north inner city, which had 1,000 pupils.

The largest mixed private school is St Andrew’s College in Booterstown, Dublin with 991 students enrolled, while the largest all-girls private school is Mount Anville in Goatstown with 706 students. 

The smallest is the interdenominational John Scottus school, which recently moved from its principal location in Donnybrook to its facility in Rathmichael, Co Dublin, with 118 students.

Outside Dublin, the largest private school is Christian Brothers College in Cork city, which had 911 students last year.

The country’s most expensive private school is St Columba’s College in Rathfarnham where annual fees for the coming school year for day pupils is €8,654, rising to €23,952 for a senior boarder.

Private schools receive their income from a combination of fee revenue and teachers’ salaries paid by the Department of Education. However, they do not receive capitation funding which was €309 per student in 2019/20.

The latest figures available show the Department of Education provided €95m for salaries of teachers and special needs assistants in private schools in 2018/19, with further funding of €0.95m for capital projects.