Photo: GenesisNZ · CC BY-SA 4.0Around Ennistimon, only 0% of schools teach through Irish, fewer than around Co. Clare’s towns or Irish towns
In the comparison, Ennistimon comes below both Co. Clare’s towns (10%) and Irish towns (8%). DEIS, the extra support for schools in disadvantaged areas, reaches 3 of its 5 schools; across Ireland, 30%. Ireland publishes no school results, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them, so these schools are described here, never graded or ranked.
Every school in the town or within 3 km of its outline, from the Department of Education’s lists for 2025/26; Ireland’s figures are every school in the lists.
What stands out about Ennistimon’s schools
More pupils every year
Pupil numbers at the schools here have grown faster than across Ireland (+5% since 2019/20), so classes and new places are a question worth asking. Pupils over time ↓
Extra support for many schools
Many schools here are in DEIS, which gives schools in disadvantaged areas more teachers, money and help; across Ireland, 30% of schools are. In DEIS: Mol an Óige Community National School (158), Ennistymon National School (64) and Forgleann N.S. (7). Who runs them ↓
One school growing fast
Mol an Óige Community National School has grown from 108 pupils in 2019/20 to 158, the fastest of the schools here. Getting a place ↓
Drawn from the Department of Education’s lists; none of it judges how well a school teaches.
Pupil numbers around Ennistimon
Each September’s pupils at every school in or within 3 km of the town, counted where the school stands today.
The schools in and around Ennistimon had 692 pupils in 2015/16 and 1,088 in 2025/26. Mol an Óige Community National School grew most: +46% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Ennistimon
Department of Education enrolments at 30 September each year, 2015/16 to 2025/26 (preliminary), for every school placed in the area today; schools that have since closed or merged count where they stood.
Who runs Ennistimon’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
3 of Ennistimon’s 5 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh & Kilfenora (3), CEIST & Edmund Rice Schools Trust (1) and Limerick & Clare ETB (1). 3 of the 5 are in DEIS, the extra support for schools in disadvantaged areas (30% across Ireland).
Department of Education school lists: ethos 2025/26, patron 2024/25 (the 2025/26 lists don’t give it). DEIS list 2025/26.
The 5 schools in and around Ennistimon
Each school in or within 3 km of Ennistimon links to a page of its own. No school here carries a letter or a result: Ireland publishes neither for individual schools.
Where the 5 schools in and around Ennistimon are
Each school where the official list places it, shaded by who runs it and sized by pupils; squares are secondary schools, triangles special schools. The dashed shape is Ennistimon’s outline; schools within 3 km of it count.
Places from the Department of Education’s school lists (its own coordinates for all but a handful); map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Teaching through Irish in and around Ennistimon
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
None of the 5 schools in and around Ennistimon teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Ennistimon’s schools serve
Shares of the pupils at the area’s schools, beside Co. Clare’s and Ireland’s, 2025/26
Each bar is the area’s share; the tick marks Ireland’s.
DEIS by stage: pupils at DEIS schools
| Share of pupils | Around Ennistimon | Co. Clare | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 21% | 18% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 3% | 6% |
| Girls | 51% | 50% | 49% |
Around Ennistimon, 21% of pupils attend a school in DEIS; across Ireland it is 27%, and 18% in Co. Clare. Set beside Ireland, pupils at all-Irish schools stand out most: 0% against 6%. The largest DEIS school here is Mol an Óige Community National School, with 158 pupils.
Each of the 5 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ennistymon Community SchoolPost-primary · Community school | 693 | 51% | ||
| Mol an Óige Community National SchoolPrimary | 158 | 49% | ✓ | |
| Ennistymon National SchoolPrimary | 64 | 47% | ✓ | |
| Saint Marys N.S. LahinchPrimary | 166 | 60% | ||
| Forgleann N.S.Primary | 7 | 14% | ✓ |
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary): enrolments by sex and the DEIS list. Shares are of pupils, not of schools; a county’s are the schools listed with its towns.
The 3 patrons of Ennistimon’s schools
The patron owns the school and sets its ethos; a board of management runs it day to day.
3 patrons run the 5 schools around Ennistimon; the largest, Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh & Kilfenora, has 3 of them and 22% of the pupils. One is an ETB school.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh & KilfenoraSaint Marys N.S. Lahinch, Ennistymon, Forgleann | Catholic | 3 | 237 |
| CEIST & Edmund Rice Schools TrustEnnistymon | Multi-denominational | 1 | 693 |
| Limerick & Clare ETBMol an Óige Community | Multi-denominational | 1 | 158 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Ennistimon
Starting primary school
Children can start primary school once they are four, and must be in school by six. Families apply to each school directly. Every school publishes an admission policy and a yearly admission notice; a school with more applicants than places admits on the criteria in its policy. Since the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018, a Catholic or other majority-faith primary school can’t put baptised children first; a school of a minority faith still can, to keep its ethos.
Moving to secondary school
Children move to post-primary school at about twelve, after sixth class. Again, families apply to each school, usually a year or more ahead, and an oversubscribed school admits on its published criteria, often brothers and sisters and its feeder primary schools.
Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018; each school’s admission policy and notice are on its own website.
Which schools are growing
Between 2019/20 and now, 2 of the 4 grew by 5% or more and 2 shrank as much, while Ireland’s pupil numbers moved +5%.
Department of Education enrolments at 30 September, 2019/20 and 2025/26 (preliminary). No capacity is published, so how full a school is can’t be shown.
Inspection reports for Ennistimon’s schools
The Inspectorate’s published reports for each school, linked, without ratings
Each school is visited by inspectors from time to time, for a whole-school evaluation of teaching, learning and leadership, for one subject, or to follow up earlier advice, and every report is posted on gov.ie with the school’s response.
The reports describe what inspectors saw and what each school should do next. They give no overall grade, so none is shown here; the 5 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Ennistymon Community SchoolPost-primary · Community school | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Mol an Óige Community National SchoolPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Ennistymon National SchoolPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Saint Marys N.S. LahinchPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Forgleann N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Ennistimon
Post-primary schools within 10 km of the town; children move at about twelve, and families apply to each school
The only post-primary school within 10 km of Ennistimon is Ennistymon Community School, a community school. It takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ennistymon Community SchoolCommunity school · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 693 | 0.6 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Ennistimon beside the 131 other Irish towns of 800 to 1,500 people
Schools in or within 3 km of each town, by population; none is ranked, as Ireland publishes no results
| Town | People | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rochfortbridge | 1,498 | 2 | 1,343 | 0 | 0% | 0.5 km |
| … | ||||||
| Raphoe | 1,161 | 4 | 1,792 | 0 | 100% | 0.2 km |
| Aghada-Rostellan | 1,159 | 3 | 574 | 0 | 0% | 5.5 km |
| Straffan | 1,158 | 2 | 730 | 0 | 0% | 3.8 km |
| Coolaney | 1,155 | 1 | 174 | 0 | 0% | 7.5 km |
| Ennistimon | 1,137 | 5 | 1,088 | 0 | 60% | 0.6 km |
| Crossmolina | 1,134 | 3 | 1,029 | 0 | 33% | 0.8 km |
| Drumlish | 1,124 | 1 | 215 | 0 | 100% | 10 km |
| Milltown | 1,118 | 4 | 1,193 | 0 | 25% | 0.2 km |
| Borrisokane | 1,117 | 2 | 862 | 0 | 50% | 1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Ballon | 801 | 1 | 239 | 0 | 0% | 7.5 km |
Of the other 131 towns, 27 have more pupils at the schools around them than Ennistimon. Within 3 km, 15 of these 132 towns have a school teaching through Irish.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Schools in the towns around Ennistimon
For each nearby town, its schools in or within 3 km of its outline, with straight-line distances.
| Town | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ennistimon | 5 | 1,088 | 0 | 60% | 0.6 km |
| Lehinch 3.2 km | 5 | 1,110 | 1 | 40% | 2.8 km |
Lehinch has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Ennistimon or within 3 km of its outline, as the Department places it: families here use them. Schools further out are on the map of each school’s own page.
- The kinds of school. Primary schools take children from junior infants to sixth class, about ages 4 to 12. Post-primary schools teach the Junior and Leaving Certificate, about ages 12 to 18: voluntary secondary schools (mostly with a religious patron), ETB schools and community colleges run by an Education and Training Board, and community and comprehensive schools. Special schools teach children with particular needs.
- Teaching through Irish. All-Irish: every subject taught through Irish, in the Gaeltacht or, outside it, a Gaelscoil or Gaelcholáiste. Partly in Irish: an Irish stream (some classes entirely through Irish) or some subjects through Irish. Every other school teaches Irish as a subject.
- DEIS. DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) gives schools serving disadvantaged areas more teachers, money and support; the Department decides which schools are in it.
- Ethos and patron. Most Irish schools are owned by a patron, mostly a church; the patron sets the school’s ethos. Multi-denominational schools (Educate Together, many ETB schools) teach children of every faith and none together.
- No grade. Section 53 of the Education Act 1998 lets the Minister refuse to release information that would allow schools’ exam results to be compared, and no results are published school by school. So Ireland’s schools have no letters and its towns no School Grade; nothing on this page ranks them.
- What isn’t here. What the UK and French pages show from results, these can’t: results charts, results against pupils’ backgrounds and towns ranked by their schools (no published results), and how full each school is (no capacity is published). Every post-primary school teaches to the Leaving Certificate, so there is no sixth-form split to show.
- Inspections. The Inspectorate’s reports are linked from each school’s page. They give no overall grade, so none is shown.
- The year. The 2025/26 lists are the Department’s preliminary release; numbers can change a little in the final lists.
Questions about schools in Ennistimon
How many schools are there in Ennistimon?
In Ennistimon or within 3 km of it: 4 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 1,088 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Ennistimon that teach through Irish?
None in Ennistimon or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Ennistimon?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Ennistimon?
We don’t say. Ireland publishes no exam results school by school, and section 53 of the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them; a ranking would rest on guesses. Each school’s page has its own facts and a link to its inspection reports, and visiting the schools you are weighing is still the best guide.
How do I get a place at a school in Ennistimon?
Apply to each school directly: every school publishes an admission policy and a yearly admission notice with its dates. If it has more applicants than places, it admits on the criteria in its policy.
Sources: Department of Education, school lists 2025/26 (preliminary) and enrolments since 2015/16, CC BY 4.0 · one school placed with OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL). Under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).
Contains Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Census 2022, and Tailte Éireann boundaries (CSO Urban Areas, Small Areas, local electoral areas, constituencies), under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).