DEIS support is widespread around Bun Na Leaca: 100% of schools, above Co. Donegal’s towns and Irish towns
100% of the schools around Bun Na Leaca 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%. Nothing here grades or ranks these schools: Ireland publishes no results school by school, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them.
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 Bun Na Leaca’s schools
Taught through Irish
Every school here is in the Gaeltacht and teaches through Irish; across Ireland, 8% of schools teach only through it. They are Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair (414) and S.N. Adhamhnain (131). 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 Ghaoth Dobhair (414) and S.N. Adhamhnain (131). 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 Bun Na Leaca
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
2 of Bun Na Leaca’s 2 schools teach every subject through Irish, 2 of them in the Gaeltacht: S.N. Adhamhnain and Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair.
Who runs Bun Na Leaca’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
1 of Bun Na Leaca’s 2 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Raphoe (1) and Donegal ETB & Bishop of Raphoe (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 Bun Na Leaca
Every school in Bun Na Leaca or within 3 km of its outline, each linked to its own page. There are no letters or results on these cards, because Ireland publishes none school by school.
Where the 2 schools in and around Bun Na Leaca 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 Bun Na Leaca’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 Bun Na Leaca’s schools serve
How the area’s pupils divide, against 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 Bun Na Leaca | Co. Donegal | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 100% | 62% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 100% | 10% | 6% |
| Girls | 54% | 49% | 49% |
Around Bun Na Leaca, 100% of pupils attend a school in DEIS; across Ireland it is 27%, and 62% in Co. Donegal. Furthest from Ireland’s mix is the share of pupils at all-Irish schools: 100% here against 6%. The biggest school in DEIS is Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair (414 pupils).
Each of the 2 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S.N. AdhamhnainPrimary | 131 | 56% | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pobalscoil Ghaoth DobhairPost-primary · Community school | 414 | 54% | ✓ | ✓ |
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 Bun Na Leaca
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, 0 of these 2 schools have grown by 5% or more and 2 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 Bun Na Leaca’s schools
The Department of Education’s Inspectorate: every school’s reports linked, none rated
Reports come from whole-school evaluations (teaching, learning, leadership and management), subject inspections and follow-through visits that check earlier advice; gov.ie publishes each one with the school’s response.
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 |
|---|---|
| S.N. AdhamhnainPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Pobalscoil Ghaoth DobhairPost-primary · Community school | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Bun Na Leaca
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
The only post-primary school within 10 km of Bun Na Leaca is Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair, a community school. It takes girls and boys. Just one teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pobalscoil Ghaoth DobhairCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | Gaeltacht school, DEIS | 414 | 3 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Bun Na Leaca beside the 215 other Irish towns of 400 to 800 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crinkill | 795 | 7 | 1,708 | 1 | 86% | 3.1 km |
| … | ||||||
| St. Johnston | 571 | 4 | 311 | 0 | 100% | 10 km |
| Ballingarry | 570 | 1 | 204 | 0 | 0% | 7.1 km |
| Grange | 569 | 3 | 611 | 0 | 0% | 0.5 km |
| Clonmany | 569 | 2 | 228 | 0 | 100% | 9.5 km |
| Bun Na Leaca | 569 | 2 | 545 | 2 | 100% | 3 km |
| Keel-Dooagh | 567 | 2 | 54 | 0 | 100% | 14 km |
| Clogheen | 564 | 1 | 81 | 0 | 100% | 13 km |
| Carrignavar | 563 | 2 | 778 | 0 | 0% | 0.7 km |
| Rathard-Aherla | 562 | 2 | 246 | 0 | 0% | 7.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Oilgate | 401 | 2 | 152 | 0 | 100% | 6.2 km |
Of these 215 other towns, 49 count more pupils at their schools than Bun Na Leaca. 18 of the 216 towns have an all-Irish school within 3 km.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Bun Na Leaca
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 Bun Na Leaca had 519 pupils in 2015/16 and 545 in 2025/26.
Pupils at schools in and around Bun Na Leaca
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 Bun Na Leaca 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 Bun Na Leaca
How many schools are there in Bun Na Leaca?
In Bun Na Leaca or within 3 km of it: 1 primary school and 1 secondary school, with 545 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Bun Na Leaca that teach through Irish?
Yes, 2: S.N. Adhamhnain and Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair teach every subject through Irish.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Bun Na Leaca?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Bun Na Leaca?
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 Bun Na Leaca?
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).