Photo: Kenneth Allen · CC BY-SA 2.0DEIS support is widespread around Carrowkeel: 100% of schools, above Co. Donegal’s towns and Irish towns
Around Carrowkeel, 100% of schools are in DEIS, above both Co. Donegal’s towns (38%) and Irish towns (35%). 2 of its 2 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.
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 Carrowkeel’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: S.N. Ceathru Caol (53) and Cranford N.S. (48). Who runs them ↓
Fewer pupils than before
Pupil numbers at the schools here have fallen since 2019/20, against +5% across Ireland. Pupils over time ↓
From the Department of Education’s school lists: facts, not judgements of how well a school teaches.
Where the 2 schools in and around Carrowkeel 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 Carrowkeel’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 Carrowkeel’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
2 of Carrowkeel’s 2 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. Their patron: Bishop of Raphoe (2). 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.
Pupil numbers around Carrowkeel
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 Carrowkeel had 145 pupils in 2015/16 and 101 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Carrowkeel
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.
Teaching through Irish in and around Carrowkeel
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
None of the 2 schools in and around Carrowkeel teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Carrowkeel’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.
| Share of pupils | Around Carrowkeel | Co. Donegal | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 100% | 62% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 10% | 6% |
| Girls | 57% | 49% | 49% |
More of the pupils around Carrowkeel are at DEIS schools than across Ireland: 100% against 27% (Co. Donegal: 62%). Furthest from Ireland’s mix is the share of girls: 57% here against 49%. The biggest school in DEIS is S.N. Ceathru Caol (53 pupils).
Each of the 2 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S.N. Ceathru CaolPrimary | 53 | 55% | ✓ | |
| Cranford N.S.Primary | 48 | 60% | ✓ |
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 Carrowkeel
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 2 schools, 0 have grown by at least 5% since 2019/20 and 1 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.
The 2 schools in and around Carrowkeel
Here are the schools in Carrowkeel or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. No letters and no results: Ireland publishes none school by school.
Inspection reports for Carrowkeel’s schools
Reports from the Department of Education’s Inspectorate, every school’s linked and 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. Ceathru CaolPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Cranford 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 Carrowkeel
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
2 post-primary schools are within 10 km of Carrowkeel: 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mulroy CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 617 | 5.5 km |
| Loreto Community SchoolCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 810 | 6.1 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Carrowkeel beside the 169 other Irish towns of 300 to 500 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stradbally | 500 | 2 | 134 | 0 | 0% | 8.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Carrig on Bannow | 391 | 1 | 144 | 0 | 100% | 12 km |
| Shillelagh | 390 | 2 | 96 | 0 | 0% | 5.5 km |
| Lissycasey | 390 | 3 | 199 | 0 | 0% | 9.2 km |
| Carrigans | 389 | 3 | 245 | 0 | 100% | 13 km |
| Carrowkeel | 389 | 2 | 101 | 0 | 100% | 5.6 km |
| Knockcroghery | 388 | 2 | 257 | 0 | 0% | 9.7 km |
| Timoleague | 387 | 2 | 205 | 0 | 0% | 7.9 km |
| Sneem | 386 | 1 | 75 | 0 | 100% | 21 km |
| Culdaff | 385 | 1 | 108 | 0 | 100% | 7.9 km |
| … | ||||||
| Gneevgullia | 300 | 1 | 131 | 0 | 0% | 4.8 km |
Of these 169 other towns, 135 count more pupils at their schools than Carrowkeel. An all-Irish school is within 3 km of 16 of the 170.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Schools in the towns around Carrowkeel
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carrowkeel | 2 | 101 | 0 | 100% | 5.6 km |
| Milford 5.3 km | 3 | 1,645 | 0 | 67% | 0.5 km |
| Ramelton 11 km | 4 | 354 | 0 | 50% | 6.7 km |
| Buncrana 14 km | 7 | 2,583 | 2 | 43% | 0.6 km |
| Newtowncunningham 19 km | 2 | 280 | 0 | 50% | 14 km |
Buncrana has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 2. Pupils around Carrowkeel: −32% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Milford led (+11%) and Newtowncunningham trailed (−11%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Carrowkeel 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 Carrowkeel
How many schools are there in Carrowkeel?
In Carrowkeel or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools, with 101 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Carrowkeel that teach through Irish?
None in Carrowkeel or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Carrowkeel?
Not in Carrowkeel or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Mulroy College, 5.6 km away.
What is the best school in Carrowkeel?
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 Carrowkeel?
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).