To all members of the school community,
We are writing to update you on the Department of Education and Youth's Primary School Survey. This survey was carried out to understand the types of schools that parents and guardians prefer. Over 200,000 parents and guardians took part nationwide.
We are now sharing our school survey results with you for your information and review. We would welcome any feedback you may have on the results.
About the survey:
The attached survey results show:
-The preferences of parents/ guardians of children currently enrolled in our school.
The results outline the preferences of parents/ guardians of:
-Co - educational or single-sex provision
- Patronage/ ethos
-Language of instruction (English or Irish)
How to understand the survey results
The percentages in green and gold show what parents/ guardians who took part in the survey prefer.
The red line shows the margin of error. This gives a range around the survey result, showing how much the result migh be higher or lower if all parents/ guardians of children in our school had responded.
For example:
- If the whole red line is above 50%, this means it is likely that more than half of all parents/guardians prefer that option, even allowing for the margin of error.
What happens next
The Board of Management will now review the survey results and think about what they mean for our school.
As part of this, we want to make sure that parents/ guardians, students, staff and the wider school community can share their views with us. Once we have gathered all feedback, we will consider it carefully and then let you know about any decisions we make and next steps.
For example, if there is a clear preference for a change, the school may submit an 'expression of interest' form for change to the department. If this happens, the department will provide us with a dedicated contact person and other supports, to help our school in this process.
Next steps
Please read the attached survey results for our school.
You can send any comment or feedback to us at:
principal@castletowngns.ie by September 30th 2026.
Feedback will be shared with the Board of Management in September.
Read additional information at: www.gov.ie/primaryschoolsurvey
Kind regards,
Martina Rafferty and Lisa Murphy
