Ireland · Kilkenny
Kilkenny College is a co-educational Church of Ireland school on Castlecomer Road. It offers day places and five-and-a-half-day boarding, with boarders going home each Friday. Applications for Form 1 entry in 2027–28 run from 1 to 22 October 2026.
Kilkenny College is a co-educational Church of Ireland boarding and day school on Castlecomer Road. It is not St Kieran’s College, the Catholic boys’ day school on College Road.
The distinction matters before a family compares application dates. Kilkenny College offers boarding, admits girls and boys, and applies denominational priorities if a category is oversubscribed.
The school may suit families seeking a Church of Ireland education within reach of Kilkenny city. It may also suit parents who need weekly boarding but want their child home every weekend.
This is not seven-day boarding. The school describes a five-and-a-half-day arrangement. Boarders return on Sunday evening or Monday morning and go home every Friday evening.
Families looking for continuous weekend boarding should ask how often any supervised weekend programme operates. They should not infer it from the word “boarding.”
The boarding page places the school on a 52-acre site outside the city centre. It describes separate boarding houses for boys and girls, together with full-time nursing staff.
The admissions page says each pupil belongs to a small group led by a staff member. Each year group also has its own staff lead. New Form 1 pupils arrive one day before the wider pupil body for induction.
Parents should visit the boarding house their child would actually use. A Sunday-evening visit can reveal more about the weekly rhythm than an open-day presentation alone.
The school runs from Form I to Form VI. Its published material refers to the Junior Cycle, Transition Year and Leaving Certificate.
Parents considering senior entry should ask which subject combinations still have space. The admissions page directs Form 2, 3, 4 and 5 enquiries to admissions@kilkennycollege.ie.
The annual admission notice dated 1 September 2026 gives a short formal window:
The school’s Open Evening registration is separate. Registering for that event is not an application for a place.
The 2027–28 notice publishes 160 Form 1 places. It divides them into 76 boarding places and 84 day places. The notice also reports 300 applications in the previous admissions process.
There is one source discrepancy to resolve. The April 2026 policy states 38 boarding places for girls, 38 for boys and 80 day places. Its boarding total agrees with the annual notice, but its day total is four lower.
Ask admissions whether the extra four day places are a 2027–28 adjustment. The dated annual notice is the operative cohort document, but the mismatch deserves written confirmation.
Boarding and day applications are processed separately. The policy also aims to balance boys and girls within the available boarding accommodation.
If one stream is oversubscribed, the policy applies these categories in order:
The first three categories require the specified church certificate. When a category contains more applicants than the remaining places, an independently witnessed random draw is used.
The policy says academic ability is not used to decide mainstream admission. Its reference to scholarship examinations should therefore not be read as an entrance test for a standard place.
The public pages reviewed for this profile do not publish a current tuition or boarding tariff. Ask the school for a dated schedule that separates tuition, boarding, deposits and optional costs.
The open-day programme includes information about grants administered by the Secondary Education Committee. Eligibility is not automatic. Families should obtain a decision for their own circumstances before relying on support in a budget.
Official pages and documents we read. If a figure matters to your budget or your application, open the link and confirm it is still current.
Friendly orientation, not an application. Dates, fees, and programme details move. Confirm everything with the school.
St Kieran’s College is a Catholic all-boys voluntary secondary school on College Road. Applications for First Year 2027–28 run from 1 October until 4 p.m. on 22 October 2026. Its annual notice needs clarification because the place-count section carries the wrong school-year heading.
DublinAlexandra College is a fee-paying girls' day and boarding school in Milltown, Dublin. Day places run from Preschool to Sixth Year; five-day and seven-day boarding begins in J5. The Senior School follows Junior Cycle, compulsory Transition Year and the Leaving Certificate.
DublinBelvedere College SJ is a Catholic Jesuit day school for boys in central Dublin. It follows Ireland's Junior Cycle and Leaving Certificate route, with a compulsory Transition Year. For 2027 entry, it has published 168 First Year places and a defined October application window.
DublinBlackrock College is a fee-paying Catholic Spiritan school for boys in Dublin. First Year is at Willow Park Senior School; Blackrock College teaches Second to Sixth Year and offers day and boarding places.
Kilkenny College offers co-educational day and weekly boarding places. St Kieran’s is a boys’ day school, while Loreto is an additional girls’ option. Check each school’s own 2027 admissions process.
8 minStart with the child and a realistic weekly timetable. Then confirm who provides care, which nights are covered, and what happens when plans change.
7 minStart with the qualification your child would actually receive. Then check its subjects, language demands, and recognition in the countries where they may study next.
7 minStart with your child and the family's likely plans. Define the non-negotiables, verify the school's claims, compare three realistic options and visit with specific questions.