St.Brendan's Community School

The facts

Getting in

Not oversubscribed last year. The notice carries no previous-year breakdown, which is only required of a school that had more applicants than places.

check the notice — it lists more than one intake.

Read the school's Annual Admission Notice ↗ (2027/28)

Ireland has no catchment areas. A place depends on the school's own oversubscription criteria — siblings, feeder school, parish, distance, date of application — not on where you live. Read the admissions policy for those.

What DEIS means here

DEIS Post-primary. This is extra staffing, a Home School Community Liaison coordinator, School Completion Programme access, enhanced capitation, free State exam fees, and eligibility for the HEAR Scheme for reduced-points college entry.

Post-primary DEIS benefits: Free State examination fees for Junior Cycle and Leaving Certificate, Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) coordinator, School Completion Programme, and eligibility for the HEAR Scheme (Higher Education Access Route) offering reserved university places at reduced CAO points across Irish universities.

Worth knowing: several things people associate with DEIS are now available in every school. Schoolbooks are free at primary and post-primary regardless of DEIS status, and since 2025 all primary schools are eligible for the hot school meals programme. What remains specific to DEIS is the staffing — reduced class sizes in Urban Band 1, the Home School Community Liaison coordinator, School Completion Programme access and enhanced capitation.

Band as published in the Department's DEIS list, last revised 2022-10-12.

What DEIS is, band by band, HEAR college entry, and whether it says anything about how good a school is →

Special classes

3 special classes sanctioned for 26/27:

• 2 × Autism/Autistic Spectrum Disorders
• 1 × Autism Inclusion Class

1 of these are newly sanctioned for 26/27, up from 2 classes last year.

Source: National Council for Special Education. Children in a special class travel under a separate transport scheme with its own rules.

The area around this school

School planning area: Birr. This is how the Department plans where to build capacity. It is not a catchment.

Local house prices: the median residential sale price in Eircode district R42 (Birr) was €240,000 in 2025. That is up 84.6% since 2020. CSO figures for the whole district, not the streets beside the school.

Area profile: the Pobal HP Deprivation Index rates Birr Urban at -9.54 (Marginally Below Average), where 0 is the national average. 30% of adults there hold a third-level qualification.

Contact

Other schools in Birr

• Carrig N S Primary school, Tipperary
• Ceann Eitigh N S Primary school, Offaly
• Croinchoill N S Primary school, Offaly
• Gaelscoil Na Laochra Primary school, Offaly
• Mercy Primary School Primary school, Offaly
• S N An Cillin Primary school, Tipperary
• S N Flannain Naofa Primary school, Tipperary
• S N Naomh Eoin Primary school, Offaly
• S N Osmann Primary school, Offaly
• Seir Kierans N S Primary school, Offaly
• Shinrone Mixed N S Primary school, Offaly
• St Brendans Monastery Primary school, Offaly