More than 10% of primary school students in Clare are in an oversized class.
New figures released by the Department of Education have revealed that one in four schools in this county have an oversized class of 30 or more.
The National School Annual Census is compiled by the Department of Education based on enrolment figures submitted by individual schools nationwide.
The 2023-24 edition of the report shows that 13,186 students were enrolled in Clare’s 109 primary schools last year.
Ennis CBS had the most pupils with a total of 655.
The school with the largest average class size was Ballyea NS at 27.9 while Clarecastle NS had the largest single class size in the county with one of its classes being made up of 35 students, and Clondrinagh NS had the smallest with one of its classes having just four students.
28 of the 109 primary schools in the county – or roughly one in four – contained an oversized class of 30 students or more.
At 52%, more than half of classes at St Joseph’s National School in Miltown Malbay were oversized.
A total of 1,476 primary school students in Clare were in classes of 30 or more last year – meaning 11% of students were in oversized classes.
The national average was just 9.5%.
