Strong show from schools in the Best Schools Guide
By Aideen O'Flaherty
THERE was a strong showing from local schools in The Sunday Times’ recently released Best Schools Guide 2020, which lists the top 500 secondary schools in the country based on the average proportion of pupils gaining places in third-level colleges.
Fee-paying secondary schools Loreto High School Beaufort in Rathfarnham and Mount Sackville Secondary School in Chapelizod were both in the top 30 schools in the country, with Loreto 12th on the list, compared to 18 in the previous guide, while Mount Sackville was 22nd.
Firhouse Community College
Coláiste Cois Life in Lucan was 64 on the list, St Colmcille’s Community School in Knocklyon was ranked at number 72, while Coláiste Éanna in Ballyroan was listed as 148 and Coláiste Phadráig CBS in Lucan was at number 210, up from 282 in the previous Sunday Times Best Schools Guide.
Firhouse Community College made a significant improvement on its previous ranking of 393, as in this year’s guide the Dublin 24 school is at number 256, while St Paul’s Secondary School in Greenhills also rose up the ranks to 261, compared to 319 in the previous guide.
Ballyfermot schools also had a strong presence in the guide, with Caritas College at 281, St Dominic’s College at 357, up from their previous position of 433, while Kylemore College had no previous ranking – making an impressive debut at 395 in this year’s guide.
A number of Clondalkin schools also received top marks in the guide, with Coláiste Chillian at 226, Coláiste Bríde at 310, and Moyle Park College at 342 – up from their previous rank of 409.
Several Tallaght schools appeared in this year’s guide with no previous ranking, including Tallaght Community School at 391, Mount Seskin Community College in Jobstown at 463, and Coláiste de híde at 499, while Old Bawn Community School fell slightly in the ranks, from 478 in the previous guide to 497 this year.
The guide was devised by ranking the average proportion of pupils who gained places in universities in autumn 2017, 2018 and 2019, and as a result new schools were excluded from this year’s guide.
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