Photo: Kenneth Allen · CC BY-SA 2.0More of the schools around Ballintra are in DEIS than around Co. Donegal’s towns or Irish towns: 100%
100% of the schools around Ballintra are DEIS schools, above both Co. Donegal’s towns (38%) and Irish towns (35%). DEIS, the extra support for schools in disadvantaged areas, reaches 2 of its 2 schools; across Ireland, 30%. These schools are described rather than graded, because Ireland publishes no school results and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them.
Counted from the Department of Education’s 2025/26 lists: every school in the town or within 3 km of it, against every school in Ireland.
What stands out about Ballintra’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: Scoil Naomh Earnan (94) and Robertson N.S. (67). Who runs them ↓
From the Department of Education’s school lists: facts, not judgements of how well a school teaches.
Where the 2 schools in and around Ballintra 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 Ballintra’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 Ballintra’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
1 of Ballintra’s 2 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Raphoe (1) and Bishop of Derry & Raphoe COI (1). 2 of the 2 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 2 schools in and around Ballintra
Each school in or within 3 km of Ballintra links to a page of its own. Letters and results are missing here for a reason: Ireland publishes neither school by school.
Teaching through Irish in and around Ballintra
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
None of the 2 schools in and around Ballintra teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Ballintra’s schools serve
The pupils at the area’s schools by share, 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 Ballintra | Co. Donegal | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 100% | 62% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 10% | 6% |
| Girls | 52% | 49% | 49% |
Around Ballintra, 100% of pupils attend a school in DEIS; across Ireland it is 27%, and 62% in Co. Donegal. The biggest difference from Ireland is in pupils at all-Irish schools: 0% here, 6% there. Of the DEIS schools here, Scoil Naomh Earnan is the biggest: 94 pupils.
Each of the 2 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scoil Naomh EarnanPrimary | 94 | 59% | ✓ | |
| Robertson N.S.Primary | 67 | 42% | ✓ |
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.
How children get a place in Ballintra
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
Since 2019/20, 1 of these 2 schools have grown by 5% or more and 0 have shrunk as much; across Ireland the number of 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 Ballintra’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 2 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Scoil Naomh EarnanPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Robertson 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 Ballintra
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
Within 10 km of Ballintra there are 2 post-primary schools: one ETB school and one community school. Every one of them takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abbey Vocational SchoolETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 999 | 7.4 km |
| Coláiste CholmcilleCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 682 | 9.7 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Ballintra beside the 128 other Irish towns of 200 to 300 people
Each town’s schools in or within 3 km, listed by population: Ireland publishes no results, so none is ranked
| Town | People | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gneevgullia | 300 | 1 | 131 | 0 | 0% | 4.8 km |
| … | ||||||
| Turloughmore | 243 | 2 | 296 | 0 | 0% | 6.5 km |
| Gleneely | 243 | 1 | 118 | 0 | 100% | 7.7 km |
| Cheekpoint | 242 | 2 | 257 | 0 | 50% | 5.9 km |
| Woodford | 242 | 2 | 210 | 0 | 50% | 0.8 km |
| Ballintra | 242 | 2 | 161 | 0 | 100% | 7.4 km |
| Donard | 238 | 2 | 213 | 0 | 0% | 6.6 km |
| Kilbrittain | 238 | 1 | 211 | 0 | 0% | 7.9 km |
| Keshcarrigan | 238 | 1 | 142 | 0 | 100% | 7.4 km |
| Brannockstown | 235 | 1 | 83 | 0 | 0% | 4.1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Lahardane | 200 | 1 | 76 | 0 | 0% | 7.1 km |
Among the 128 other towns, 47 have more pupils at their schools than Ballintra does. 7 of the 129 towns have an all-Irish school within 3 km.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Ballintra
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 Ballintra had 163 pupils in 2015/16 and 161 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Ballintra
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 Ballintra
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballintra | 2 | 161 | 0 | 100% | 7.4 km |
| Donegal 8 km | 6 | 1,791 | 1 | 0% | 0.7 km |
| Ballyshannon 9.7 km | 6 | 1,236 | 1 | 83% | 0.6 km |
| Bundoran 16 km | 3 | 898 | 0 | 33% | 0.2 km |
| Kinlough 19 km | 3 | 898 | 0 | 33% | 3.2 km |
Donegal has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. The roll around Ballintra moved +9% since 2019/20; nearby, Donegal grew most (+10%) and Kinlough least (+1%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Ballintra 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 Ballintra
How many schools are there in Ballintra?
In Ballintra or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools, with 161 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Ballintra that teach through Irish?
None in Ballintra or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Ballintra?
Not in Ballintra or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Abbey Vocational School, 7.4 km away.
What is the best school in Ballintra?
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 Ballintra?
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).