Photo: Joseph Mischyshyn · CC BY-SA 2.0Around An Fál Carrach, 100% of schools get DEIS support, more than around Co. Donegal’s towns or Irish towns
DEIS, the extra support for schools serving disadvantaged areas, reaches 100% of the schools around An Fál Carrach, above both Co. Donegal’s towns (38%) and Irish towns (35%). 3 of its 3 schools are in DEIS, the extra support for schools in disadvantaged areas, against 30% across Ireland. Nothing here grades or ranks these schools: Ireland publishes no results school by school, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them.
Schools in the town or within 3 km of its outline, Department of Education lists for 2025/26; the Ireland figures cover all schools listed.
What stands out about An Fál Carrach’s schools
Mostly taught through Irish
Most schools here are in the Gaeltacht and teach through Irish; across Ireland, 8% of schools teach only through it. They are Scoil Fhionáin (204) and S.N. Gort an Choirce (40). Language ↓
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: Pobalscoil Chloich Cheannfhaola (455), Scoil Fhionáin (204) and S.N. Gort an Choirce (40). Who runs them ↓
Drawn from the Department of Education’s lists; none of it judges how well a school teaches.
Teaching through Irish in and around An Fál Carrach
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
2 of An Fál Carrach’s 3 schools teach every subject through Irish, 2 of them in the Gaeltacht: Scoil Fhionáin and S.N. Gort an Choirce.
Who runs An Fál Carrach’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
2 of An Fál Carrach’s 3 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Raphoe (2) and Donegal ETB & Bishop of Raphoe (1). 3 of the 3 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 3 schools in and around An Fál Carrach
Each school in or within 3 km of An Fál Carrach links to a page of its own. No letters, no results: Irish schools aren’t ranked one by one.
Where the 3 schools in and around An Fál Carrach 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 An Fál Carrach’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.
Who An Fál Carrach’s schools serve
Shares of the pupils at the area’s schools, beside Co. Donegal’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 An Fál Carrach | Co. Donegal | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 100% | 62% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 35% | 10% | 6% |
| Girls | 46% | 49% | 49% |
100% of the pupils around An Fál Carrach are at a DEIS school, more than the 27% across Ireland (62% in Co. Donegal). Set beside Ireland, pupils at all-Irish schools stand out most: 35% against 6%. The largest DEIS school here is Pobalscoil Chloich Cheannfhaola, with 455 pupils.
Each of the 3 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pobalscoil Chloich CheannfhaolaPost-primary · Community school | 455 | 46% | ✓ | |
| Scoil FhionáinPrimary | 204 | 48% | ✓ | ✓ |
| S.N. Gort an ChoircePrimary | 40 | 35% | ✓ | ✓ |
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 2 patrons of An Fál Carrach’s schools
Patrons own the schools and set their ethos; boards of management run them day to day.
Of the 3 schools around An Fál Carrach, 2 have Bishop of Raphoe as patron, teaching 35% of the pupils; 2 patrons in all. An Education and Training Board runs one of them.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of RaphoeScoil Fhionáin, S.N. Gort an Choirce | Catholic | 2 | 244 |
| Donegal ETB & Bishop of RaphoePobalscoil Chloich Cheannfhaola | Inter-denominational | 1 | 455 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in An Fál Carrach
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
Of these 3 schools, 1 have grown by at least 5% since 2019/20 and 0 have lost as much; Ireland’s pupils changed by +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 An Fál Carrach’s schools
Reports from the Department of Education’s Inspectorate, every school’s linked and none rated
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 3 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Pobalscoil Chloich CheannfhaolaPost-primary · Community school | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil FhionáinPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. Gort an ChoircePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of An Fál Carrach
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 An Fál Carrach is Pobalscoil Chloich Cheannfhaola, a community school. It takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pobalscoil Chloich CheannfhaolaCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 455 | 0.8 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around An Fál Carrach
No special school is in or near An Fál Carrach. 2 of the 2 primary schools have special classes for children who need more support. Their cards ↑
Special schools and primary schools with special classes as the Department lists them; the National Council for Special Education places pupils in special classes.
An Fál Carrach beside the 158 other Irish towns of 600 to 1,100 people
Towns of a similar size, with the schools in or within 3 km of each; ordered by population, never ranked
| Town | People | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buttevant | 1,080 | 2 | 802 | 0 | 100% | 0.6 km |
| … | ||||||
| Rhode | 841 | 2 | 215 | 0 | 50% | 9.3 km |
| Kilsheelan | 837 | 1 | 90 | 0 | 0% | 7.9 km |
| Ballyclerahan | 830 | 1 | 202 | 0 | 0% | 7.1 km |
| Manorcunningham | 830 | 3 | 251 | 0 | 100% | 6.8 km |
| An Fál Carrach | 829 | 3 | 699 | 2 | 100% | 0.8 km |
| Belgooly | 823 | 1 | 363 | 0 | 0% | 4.9 km |
| Newport | 815 | 2 | 260 | 0 | 100% | 9.7 km |
| Ladysbridge | 809 | 1 | 214 | 0 | 0% | 8.7 km |
| Ballon | 801 | 1 | 239 | 0 | 0% | 7.5 km |
| … | ||||||
| Na Dúnaibh | 601 | 2 | 202 | 1 | 100% | 14 km |
More pupils attend the schools around 35 of the other 158 towns than around An Fál Carrach. An all-Irish school is within 3 km of 15 of the 159.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around An Fál Carrach
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 An Fál Carrach had 689 pupils in 2015/16 and 699 in 2025/26. Scoil Fhionáin grew most: +20% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around An Fál Carrach
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.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in An Fál Carrach 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 An Fál Carrach
How many schools are there in An Fál Carrach?
In An Fál Carrach or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 699 pupils between them.
Are there schools in An Fál Carrach that teach through Irish?
Yes, 2: Scoil Fhionáin and S.N. Gort an Choirce teach every subject through Irish.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near An Fál Carrach?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in An Fál Carrach?
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 An Fál Carrach?
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).