Photo: Kenneth Allen · CC BY-SA 2.0Around Creeslough, 33% of schools teach every subject through Irish, more than around Co. Donegal’s towns or Irish towns
For Creeslough, that is above both Co. Donegal’s towns (7%) and Irish towns (8%). DEIS, the extra support for schools in disadvantaged areas, reaches 3 of its 3 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 Creeslough’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 Mhuire (166), Creeslough N.S. (31) and S.N. Glasain (28). Who runs them ↓
More all-Irish schools than most places
Families here have more choice of a school that teaches every subject through Irish than in most of Ireland, where 8% of schools do. The school is S.N. Glasain (28). Language ↓
More pupils every year
Pupil numbers at the schools here have grown faster than across Ireland (+5% since 2019/20), so classes and new places are a question worth asking. Pupils over time ↓
One school growing fast
The fastest-growing school here is Scoil Mhuire: 128 pupils in 2019/20, 166 now. Getting a place ↓
From the Department of Education’s school lists: facts, not judgements of how well a school teaches.
Where the 3 schools in and around Creeslough 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 Creeslough’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 Creeslough’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
2 of Creeslough’s 3 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Raphoe (2) and Bishop of Derry & Raphoe COI (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.
Teaching through Irish in and around Creeslough
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
1 of Creeslough’s 3 schools teach every subject through Irish, 1 of them in the Gaeltacht: S.N. Glasain.
Who Creeslough’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 Creeslough | Co. Donegal | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 100% | 62% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 12% | 10% | 6% |
| Girls | 45% | 49% | 49% |
DEIS schools teach 100% of the pupils around Creeslough, a larger share than Ireland’s 27% (Co. Donegal: 62%). The biggest difference from Ireland is in pupils at all-Irish schools: 12% here, 6% there. Of the DEIS schools here, Scoil Mhuire is the biggest: 166 pupils.
Each of the 3 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scoil MhuirePrimary | 166 | 45% | ✓ | |
| Creeslough N.S.Primary | 31 | 39% | ✓ | |
| S.N. GlasainPrimary | 28 | 50% | ✓ | ✓ |
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 Creeslough’s schools
The patron owns the school and sets its ethos; a board of management runs it day to day.
The schools around Creeslough answer to 2 patrons, and Bishop of Raphoe leads with 2 of the 3 schools and 86% of their pupils.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of RaphoeScoil Mhuire, S.N. Glasain | Catholic | 2 | 194 |
| Bishop of Derry & Raphoe COICreeslough | Church of Ireland | 1 | 31 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Creeslough
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, 0 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 Creeslough
Here are the schools in Creeslough or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. You won’t find letters or results below: Ireland publishes none for single schools.
Inspection reports for Creeslough’s schools
The Department of Education’s Inspectorate: every school’s reports linked, 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 |
|---|---|
| Scoil MhuirePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Creeslough N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. GlasainPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Creeslough
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
No post-primary school is within 10 km of Creeslough; the nearest is Pobalscoil Chloich Cheannfhaola, 12 km away.
Special schools and classes around Creeslough
No special school is in or near Creeslough. 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.
Creeslough beside the 169 other Irish towns of 300 to 500 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stradbally | 500 | 2 | 134 | 0 | 0% | 8.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Clonbullogue | 401 | 1 | 84 | 0 | 0% | 8 km |
| Oilgate | 401 | 2 | 152 | 0 | 100% | 6.2 km |
| Crossbarry | 399 | 2 | 184 | 0 | 0% | 8.4 km |
| Corrandulla | 398 | 1 | 281 | 0 | 0% | 8.1 km |
| Creeslough | 398 | 3 | 225 | 1 | 100% | 12 km |
| Ballinalee | 395 | 1 | 145 | 0 | 0% | 9.8 km |
| Coolgreany | 395 | 2 | 191 | 0 | 50% | 5.5 km |
| Riverstown | 394 | 4 | 767 | 0 | 0% | 2.5 km |
| Geashill | 392 | 1 | 126 | 0 | 0% | 11 km |
| … | ||||||
| Gneevgullia | 300 | 1 | 131 | 0 | 0% | 4.8 km |
Among the 169 other towns, 59 have more pupils at their schools than Creeslough does. Teaching through Irish is on offer within 3 km in 16 of the 170.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Creeslough
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 Creeslough had 168 pupils in 2015/16 and 225 in 2025/26. Scoil Mhuire grew most: +30% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Creeslough
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 Creeslough
For each nearby town, its schools in or within 3 km of its outline, with straight-line distances.
Of Creeslough’s neighbours, Milford saw the most growth in pupils since 2019/20 (+11%) and Ramelton the least (+3%); Creeslough itself: +23%.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Creeslough 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 Creeslough
How many schools are there in Creeslough?
In Creeslough or within 3 km of it: 3 primary schools, with 225 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Creeslough that teach through Irish?
Yes, 1: S.N. Glasain teach every subject through Irish.
Is there a secondary school in Creeslough?
Not in Creeslough or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Pobalscoil Chloich Cheannfhaola, 12 km away.
What is the best school in Creeslough?
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 Creeslough?
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).