Rice College in country’s top 50

FOURTEEN Clare schools were named among the top 400 secondary schools in Ireland for university entrants according to a major Sunday newspaper at the weekend.
A table published in the Parent Power supplement of The Sunday Times ranked schools in order of the average percentage of students registering for university in the past two years. However, according to the head of one of the country’s main teaching unions, the survey does not give the full picture in terms of student’s educational achievement.
Clareman and president of the Teachers Union of Ireland, Don Ryan, pointed out that The Sunday Times Parent Power survey does not rank schools in terms of holistic education.
“We see this as a very crude measurement of educational attainment. It doesn’t include those who do not wish to attend third level but do go on to further education like apprenticeships and so on. Nor does it, for instance, take on board the enrolment policies of schools whereby a number of schools, particularly those ranked in the top quarter of the survey, exclude students for a variety of reasons. Some prospective students are excluded because of their socio-economic backgrounds, others because of special needs they may have, others because they are newcomer children. It is not a level playing pitch at entry level and it is only when these criteria are in the mix it is possible to make valid comparisons, if one wished to do so,” Mr Ryan told The Clare Champion.
Rice College in Ennis (pictured above) was the top performing Clare school last year according to the survey. Co-educational Rice College came 43rd nationally and sixth in Munster, excluding Cork, on the list.
According to the research, 67.4% of its pupils from the past two years attended university. Rice College was one of the only schools countrywide where approximately all of its students went on to some form of third level education.
The Sunday Times ranked schools according to the average proportion of pupils gaining places in autumn 2008 and 2009 at one of the nine universities across Ireland, the main teacher training colleges, the Royal College of Surgeons, the National College of Art and Design or any British university where the student registered for a full-time undergraduate degree-level course.
While the schools are ranked in order of the average percentage attending university, the table also showed the average percentage attending third level institutes and the student to staff ratio at these schools.
In compiling the guide, the progression of students to third level study from all 715 state-funded secondary schools in the Republic of Ireland was examined and only schools with more than 100 students on the roll were included in the main table, according to The Sunday Times. 
Girls’ school Coláiste Muire in Ennis came seventh in Munster, ranked nationally at number 45, with 66.9% of students from the past two years attending university and a total of 91.1% going on to third-level education.
The two Ennis schools were followed on the list by Mary Immaculate Secondary School in Lisdoonvarna, which ranked 52 overall but where 94.4% of students went on to register for third-level courses.
The highest ranked boys’ school in Clare was Meanscoil Na mBráithre in Ennistymon, which reached number 86 in the national ranking but was the 18th highest-ranking boys’ school. The research showed that 91.9% of pupils went on to study at third level.
Scoil Mhuire, Ennistymon, jumped from 284 in the table last year to 136 this year with more than half of its students going to university last year and the year before and more than three quarters going on to third level. St Joseph’s Secondary School in Tulla jumped 176 places in the past year to 150th place having nearly 50% at university from its graduating classes in ’08 and ’09 and 78.9% at third level.
St Flannan’s College in Ennis moved up to 189 in the ranking with 70.4% going on to some form of third level followed by Scariff Community College in 234 with 79.6% of students at third level in 2008 and 2009.
Ennis Community College was ranked at 254 with 41.1% of students in the last two years going to university. Meanwhile 72.4% of its students went to third level. St Joseph’s Secondary School in Miltown Malbay at 277 in the guide had 93.6% of its students going to third level in the same period, St John Bosco Community College in Kildysart at 282 had 63.8% at third level, followed by St Caimin’s Community School in Shannon at 300. There, 71.3% attended third level education in the past two years.
Each of these schools had moved down the table compared to their previous rank in terms in of students going to university. St Michael’s Community College in Kilmihil was ranked 315 while Kilrush Community School was ranked 342. St Michael’s had 36% of its students go on to university in the past two years but 74.4% moved on to third level. Just over one third of Kilrush Community School students went on to university while 67.2% attended some form of third level.
Seamount College in Kinvara was the third highest ranking school in Connacht with a national rank of 24, a slip of four on their previous rank, while Gort Community School was at number 208 in the national table, a move up from 243. At Seamount, 94.1% of students in the past two years attended third level whild in Gort 84.9% went on to third-level education.
Nationally, fee-paying Gonzaga College in Ranelagh, Dublin, was top of the table with 97.2% of students in the past two years going on to university and 100% attending some form of third level education.
Glenstal Abbey School in Murroe, Limerick was ranked third overall with 95.5% of graduating pupils in ’08 and ’09 going to university.
Laurel Hill Colaiste FCJ in the South Circular Road in the city was ranked eighth overall with 86.4% of its students going on to university.