Primary School Survey

by | Wed,Aug,2026

Department of Education and Youth’s Primary School Survey

Dear 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’s 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; and

  • The preferences of parents/guardians of children not yet enrolled who indicated an intention to enrol in our school.

The results outline the preferences of parents/guardians for:

  • 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 the 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 might 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.

Next steps
Please read the attached survey results for our school and guidance document.

Primary School Survey for RETNS

You can send any comments or feedback to us at info@retns.ie by 30th September.

Thank you for your support with this survey and we look forward to receiving your feedback.

Yours sincerely,

Shonagh Byrne

Chairperson RETNS