More of the schools around Ballindrait are in DEIS than around Co. Donegal’s towns or Irish towns: 100%
100% of the schools around Ballindrait are DEIS schools, 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. 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 Ballindrait’s schools
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: St Patricks N.S. (162), Scoil Náisiúnta Muire Gan Smál (124) and Scoil Cuilm Cille (38). Who runs them ↓
From the Department of Education’s school lists: facts, not judgements of how well a school teaches.
Where the 3 schools in and around Ballindrait 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 Ballindrait’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 runs Ballindrait’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
3 of Ballindrait’s 3 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. Their patron: Bishop of Derry (3). 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.
Teaching through Irish in and around Ballindrait
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
None of the 3 schools in and around Ballindrait teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Ballindrait’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.
| Share of pupils | Around Ballindrait | Co. Donegal | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 100% | 62% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 10% | 6% |
| Girls | 45% | 49% | 49% |
Around Ballindrait, 100% of pupils attend a school in DEIS; across Ireland it is 27%, and 62% in Co. Donegal. Where this area differs most from Ireland is pupils at all-Irish schools, at 0% against 6%. St Patricks N.S., with 162 pupils, is the largest school here in DEIS.
Each of the 3 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Patricks N.S.Primary | 162 | 44% | ✓ | |
| Scoil Cuilm CillePrimary | 38 | 42% | ✓ | |
| Scoil Náisiúnta Muire Gan SmálPrimary | 124 | 47% | ✓ |
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.
One patron for Ballindrait’s schools
The patron owns the school and sets its ethos; a board of management runs it day to day.
Bishop of Derry is patron of every school around Ballindrait.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of DerrySt Patricks, Scoil Náisiúnta Muire Gan Smál, Scoil Cuilm Cille | Catholic | 3 | 324 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Ballindrait
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
2 schools here have grown by 5% or more since 2019/20, 1 have shrunk by as much, out of 3; across Ireland: +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.
The 3 schools in and around Ballindrait
Every school in Ballindrait or within 3 km of its outline, each linked to its own page. Without school-level results from Ireland, the cards show no letters.
Inspection reports for Ballindrait’s schools
Reports from the Department of Education’s Inspectorate, every school’s linked and none rated
The Inspectorate inspects schools in several ways: a whole-school evaluation covers teaching, learning and how the school is led; a subject inspection looks at one subject; a follow-through checks on earlier advice. Reports go on gov.ie with the school’s reply.
Reports say what inspectors found and what should improve, without an overall grade, so none appears here; each of the 3 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| St Patricks N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil Cuilm CillePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil Náisiúnta Muire Gan SmálPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Ballindrait
Post-primary schools within 10 km of the town; children move at about twelve, and families apply to each school
Within 10 km of Ballindrait there are 2 post-primary schools: one comprehensive school and one ETB school. Every one of them takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Royal and Prior SchoolComprehensive · Church of Ireland | Girls and boys | DEIS, Boarding | 609 | 5.3 km |
| Deele CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 840 | 5.8 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Ballindrait
No special school is in or near Ballindrait. 1 of the 3 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.
Pupil numbers around Ballindrait
Pupils every September at the schools in or within 3 km of the town, each counted at today’s site.
The schools in and around Ballindrait had 345 pupils in 2015/16 and 324 in 2025/26, fewer than before. Scoil Náisiúnta Muire Gan Smál grew most: +19% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Ballindrait
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.
Schools in the towns around Ballindrait
Schools in or within 3 km of each neighbouring town; distances in a straight line.
| Town | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballindrait | 3 | 324 | 0 | 100% | 5.4 km |
| Lifford 2.8 km | 3 | 303 | 0 | 100% | 8 km |
| Raphoe 5.6 km | 4 | 1,792 | 0 | 100% | 0.2 km |
| Convoy 8.8 km | 4 | 1,290 | 0 | 75% | 4 km |
| Ballybofey-Stranorlar 17 km | 7 | 2,400 | 0 | 57% | 0.6 km |
| Newtowncunningham 17 km | 2 | 280 | 0 | 50% | 14 km |
| Letterkenny 18 km | 15 | 6,825 | 2 | 20% | 0.4 km |
Letterkenny has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 2. Pupils around Ballindrait: +4% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Convoy led (+24%) and Newtowncunningham trailed (−11%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Ballindrait 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 Ballindrait
How many schools are there in Ballindrait?
In Ballindrait or within 3 km of it: 3 primary schools, with 324 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Ballindrait that teach through Irish?
None in Ballindrait or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Ballindrait?
Not in Ballindrait or within 3 km of it; the nearest is The Royal and Prior School, 5.4 km away.
What is the best school in Ballindrait?
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 Ballindrait?
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).