Number of primary pupils in Ireland increases for first time since 2018 due to Ukrainian enrolments

The number of pupils attending primary schools in the State has risen for the first time since 2018 due to the influx of thousands of children from Ukraine.

Preliminary figures published by the Department of Education on enrolments last September show an annual increase of 0.6 per cent in the numbers attending mainstream primary schools. A total of 549,189 pupils were listed as attending the 3,095 mainstream national schools at the start of the 2022/23 school year, an increase of 3,083 on the previous year.

The latest figures show a total of 7,420 children from Ukraine were enrolled in schools in September, with the number rising to 8,823 by the Christmas holidays. Department of Education figures suggest the numbers attending primary schools would have decreased by 4,337 at the start of the school year but for the Ukrainian arrivals.

The age of children from Ukraine attending primary schools is spread fairly evenly across classes with the greatest number (1,216) enrolled in junior infants. Overall, 1,495 primary schools – 48 per cent – have pupils from Ukraine in their classes. Schoolchildren from Ukraine account for more than 10 per cent of all pupils in 192 schools.

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The highest concentrations of Ukrainian pupils at primary level are found in Dublin (1,216), Kerry (879), Cork (872), Donegal (752) and Clare (570). The smallest numbers are located in Monaghan (56), Longford (57), Offaly (98) and Carlow (109).

The figures also show the rate of increase among boys attending primary school in the current year was over twice that of girls. The number of boys rose by 2,154 to 281,100, while the number of girls increased by 929 to 268,089.

The figures show the proportion of pupils attending Catholic schools has continued to decline in the current school year, although actual enrolments in such schools increased by 0.2 per cent or 1,058 pupils. There was a total of 488,076 children enrolled in Catholic schools in September, representing 88.9 per cent of all pupils – down from 89.2 per cent in 2021/22

Data on enrolments show there are nine fewer Catholic primary schools operating this year compared to 12 months ago, while the number has reduced by almost 120 over the past decade. However, they still account for 2,739 of the country’s 3,095 primary schools – 88.5 per cent of the total.

The fastest-growing category of schools in both percentage and absolute terms were multi-denominational schools, which now account for 7.8 per cent of the primary school population – up from 7.6 per cent the previous year. The actual number of pupils in multi-denominational schools rose by 3.6 per cent or 1,479 to a total of 42,981.

“The changes in school numbers by ethos have occurred due to various reasons such as closure of small schools, where enrolments have declined, amalgamation of schools which are in proximity to each other and the opening of new multi-denominational schools in response to parental choice,” the department said.

At post-primary level, the latest figures show there was a 3.8 per cent increase in enrolments in September. Student numbers were up in every county with the largest absolute increases recorded in Cork county (1,552), Fingal (1,165), Dublin city (1,121) and Meath (1,031).

The total number of students in secondary schools increased by 14,758 to 406,457 with the figure including 4,389 students from Ukraine.

Numbers attending Catholic secondary schools account for 48.7 per cent of the total with 47.6 per cent attending schools with a multi-denominational ethos.

In the current school year, there are 343 Catholic schools and 358 multi-denominational schools among a total of 727 post primary schools.