09 Mar School League Tables
A recent edition of Ireland’s largest selling Sunday newspaper included a School League Tables supplement based on an analysis of Leaving Certificate data (2009-2015). The supplement claims to provide a wealth of information to parents and to show which schools have been consistent in sending high percentages of students to college over the past 7 years.
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- School League Table Louth header
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- Top school in County Louth
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- Top 10 Schools in Leinster
The tables published in the Sunday Independent (24th January 2016) confirm the fact that the students of Dundalk Grammar School are consistently, year on year, achieving at a very high level. The school is ranked highest in Louth, the top ranked school in the north east of Ireland, and within the top ten schools in Leinster (excluding Dublin).
The table reports an average of 91% of DGS students as continuing to 3rd level studies, with 57% entering a university within the island of Ireland. While these figures are comparatively very good, they do not record students who sat their Leaving Certificate and who are now studying at a university outside the island of Ireland. For example, around 1 in 10 students from our most recent Leaving Certificate class are now studying overseas, and attending university in Scotland (3 students), USA (2) , Spain (2) and New Zealand (1).
It is also the case that (as John Walshe, Ireland’s longest serving educational journalist writes), “Feeder school tables have flaws and limitations and don’t tell the whole story about the real life of a school”. Visitors to the school’s website will be familiar with the wealth of opportunities for personal growth and development that are available to the students who attend Dundalk Grammar School.