Loreto top ranked Wexford school in the ‘top 400’ list

THE Loreto is again the top Co Wexford school in a newspaper league table ranking 400 of Ireland’s 714 state-funded secondary schools.

Loreto Wexford ranks 70th in the Sunday Times’ ‘Definitive Guide To The Top 400 Schools in Ireland’, down from 57th place last year.

The list is weighted towards universities: schools are ranked by percentage of students gaining places in autumn 2015, 2016, and 2017 at one of the nine universities on the island of Ireland, the main teacher training colleges, the Royal College of Surgeons or the National College of Art and Design. If schools are tied, non-university third level places are taken into account.

The Loreto, which moved from Spawell Road in Wexford town to a new state-of-the-art school building on a greenfield site at Killeens for the first term of the new school year, had 63.6 per cent of students gaining university places over the three years. The 749-student Wexford school is the tenth-ranked school in Leinster in the list, outside of Dublin.

St. Peter’s College is placed 150th, down from 142nd last year. 53.2 per cent of St. Peter’s students were offered places at universities.

St. Mary’s Secondary School in New Ross makes a giant leap to 154th, up from 180th last year. 52.9 per cent of students leaving the school in 2015, 2016 and 2017 gained university places.

Other Co Wexford schools in the top 400 (with last year’s placing in brackets):

Meanscoil Gharman, Enniscorthy: rank 173 (148), 50.7%

FCJ Bunclody: rank 175 (168), 50.5%

Coláiste Bríde, Enniscorthy: rank 223 (288), 45.7% Our Lady of Lourdes, New Ross: rank 228 (207), 45.4% Presentation Wexford (286): rank 320, 39.2% Gorey Community School: rank 332 (361), 38.1% Good Counsel College, New Ross: rank 351 (339), 36.6% St Mary’s CBS, Enniscorthy: rank 361 (-), 36.1% Of the eleven Co Wexford schools that make the list, FCJ Bunclody has the most students at third level, with 93.2 per cent gaining places.