Mater Dei Academy is a small independent Catholic classical secondary school in Cork for boys and girls. It operates as a non-recognised school under Section 14 (1) of the Education (Welfare) Act 2000, receives no funding from the Irish state and relies on parent contributions and donations; it is a registered charity. The programme lasts six years. The first four years are the Junior Cycle leading to Cambridge IGCSE exams in English, Mathematics, Combined Science and Latin; students also take Irish through Teastas Eorpach na Gaeilge and French through DELF. The last two years follow the Irish national curriculum, culminating in the Leaving Certificate: English, Irish and Mathematics are core, with French, Latin, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, History, Classical Studies, Art and Music as options; after-school subjects such as Economics, Accounting and Spanish run subject to demand. The day begins with the singing of the Divine Office, and the school attends Mass weekly. Each year students travel to the West Kerry Gaeltacht. The school also runs Mater Dei Education, a homeschool programme for younger children.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $5 084 a year
4 500 EUR
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE · National programme
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Irish, French
Class size
small classes, the school does not state an exact class size
About the fees In 2026-2027 the parent contribution is 4500 euro per family for the academic year, not per child. The school receives no state funding; scholarships are available and all families are eligible.
Admissions "Admission is open to all boys and girls"; applicants must commit to uphold the Catholic ethos and identity of the Academy and take part in its life of faith. Application forms are requested by email, the closing date is December 1, late applications are considered case by case; enrolment is for the following September. The school welcomes visiting international students each year: they live with selected local Catholic host families, who are paid for room and board, and receive English tuition in small groups. No child is refused admission due solely to financial circumstances.
Stages and year groups Grades Years 1-6 (Junior Cycle 1-4, Senior Cycle 5-6). Six-year programme. Years 1-4: Junior Cycle with Cambridge IGCSE (English 0500, Mathematics 0580, Combined Science 0653, Latin 0480) plus Teastas Eorpach na Gaeilge and DELF at the end of fourth year. Years 5-6: Irish Senior Cycle with the Leaving Certificate; the school states that upon completion of the six-year programme all its students can sit the Leaving Certificate. The school does not offer A Level. Transition Year is not mentioned on the website.
Address 17 Eason's Hill, Cork T23 N44W
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · IGCSE · authorised programmeThe Cambridge register names the school as a Cambridge centre. The school teaches Cambridge IGCSE itself in the first four years, followed by the Irish Leaving Certificate in the senior years.
school is in an official registryconfirmed by a school document, by membership or by taking part in a networkclaimed by the school, no confirmation, not counted in the scoreGuide to all organisations → What stands behind each entry
CambridgeCambridge International Education
Part of the University of Cambridge. It allows a school to teach the Cambridge programmes and to enter pupils for the exams. There are four stages and they are authorised separately: primary, lower secondary, IGCSE and A Level. If the stages are known they are named in the line below; if that line is missing, the school does not publish them, and the Cambridge registry does not show stages either - it gives only the name of the centre, the country and whether private candidates are accepted. Cambridge calls what it does registration rather than accreditation, and the network holds about ten thousand schools.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. At this school: IGCSE (ages 14-16). IGCSE means exams at around Year 10 or 11, the British counterpart of a lower secondary leaving certificate.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →National programme
The state school programme of the country the school stands in: it is set by that country's ministry of education, which also licenses the school and awards the leaving certificate. That certificate is used for entry to local universities, and abroad it is matched to the local one.
What this means for this school. This entry does not count towards the score, and that is deliberate. Every lawful school in a country works to the national programme, so on its own it tells one school apart from no other - unlike the French, German or Russian programmes, which are carried abroad and confirmed by the register of their organisation. We show it because a parent needs to know what programme their child is taught and what certificate the child will get. Counting it would lift the whole ranking at once and still tell nobody apart.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
The school publishes nothing about where its leavers go: no share going on to university, no exam results, no list of universities.
Facilities
The school does not describe its premises on its website.
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
✓Teacher qualifications
✓Number of teachers11
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
What the listings show: The faculty page lists 11 teachers with degrees from Irish, British and American institutions (UCC, UCD, TCD, Munster Technological University, Hillsdale College, Crawford College of Art and Design); the art teacher holds a Professional Masters in Education. The website does not mention Teaching Council registration.
11 teachers, each listed with subjects and education; theology is taught by a priest of the Diocese of Cloyne. The school is seeking a full-time Irish teacher.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
·Security staffnot stated on the website
·Access controlnot stated on the website
·Nurse or medical roomnot stated on the website
·Counsellornot stated on the website
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school states that child protection and welfare considerations permeate all aspects of its life and that its policies apply best practice beyond statutory requirements; school policies are linked from the about page.
Reviews
No reviews yet. The community rating counts towards the score once a school has five verified reviews - until then we do not show a zero, so as not to mislead.
Criteria breakdown criterion weight in brackets
Academics and programmes (16%)72 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data55 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data60 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data70 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 "Scored on disclosed data" stands where we count only what the school has written about itself on its own site: exams and destinations, safety and wellbeing, teaching staff, facilities, clubs and activities. A low score here means the school does not write about this, not that the school does not have it: a school with good security and a sparse site will score low. A school can fill in its profile, and the score will be counted again.
The score is counted from 8 of the 9 criteria.Only those with checkable data count: programmes and accreditations from official registers, the fee from a published price list. Where it says "scored on the median", the school has no data and the middle of the list is put in its place, so that a gap gives no advantage. Admissions, teaching staff and reviews come in as their data arrives.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country
Cork, Ireland · Private