Photo: MaxPride · CC BY-SA 4.0DEIS support is widespread around Loch An Iúir: 100% of schools, above Co. Donegal’s towns and Irish towns
The DEIS programme includes 100% of the schools around Loch An Iúir, above both Co. Donegal’s towns (38%) and Irish towns (35%). No secondary school is in or within 3 km of Loch An Iúir; the nearest, Rosses Community School, is 7.6 km away. 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 Loch An Iúir’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 S.N. Dhubhthaigh (91) and S.N. Loch an Iubhair (25). 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: S.N. Dhubhthaigh (91) and S.N. Loch an Iubhair (25). 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.
Teaching through Irish in and around Loch An Iúir
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
2 of Loch An Iúir’s 2 schools teach every subject through Irish, 2 of them in the Gaeltacht: S.N. Loch an Iubhair and S.N. Dhubhthaigh.
Where the 2 schools in and around Loch An Iúir 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 Loch An Iúir’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 Loch An Iúir’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
2 of Loch An Iúir’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.
Who Loch An Iúir’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 Loch An Iúir | Co. Donegal | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 100% | 62% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 100% | 10% | 6% |
| Girls | 47% | 49% | 49% |
Around Loch An Iúir, 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 100% against 6%. S.N. Dhubhthaigh, with 91 pupils, is the largest school here in DEIS.
Each of the 2 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S.N. Loch an IubhairPrimary | 25 | 44% | ✓ | ✓ |
| S.N. DhubhthaighPrimary | 91 | 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.
How children get a place in Loch An Iúir
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
0 schools here have grown by 5% or more since 2019/20, 2 have shrunk by as much, out of 2; 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 2 schools in and around Loch An Iúir
Every school in Loch An Iúir 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.
Inspection reports for Loch An Iúir’s schools
The Department of Education’s Inspectorate: every school’s reports linked, none rated
Inspectors visit every kind of school. Whole-school evaluations look at teaching and learning, leadership and management; subject inspections look at one subject; follow-through inspections check whether earlier advice was taken. Each report is published on gov.ie with the school’s response.
The reports describe what inspectors saw and what each school should do next. They give no overall grade, so none is shown here; the 2 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| S.N. Loch an IubhairPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. DhubhthaighPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Loch An Iúir
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 Loch An Iúir is Rosses Community School, a community school. It takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rosses Community SchoolCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 509 | 7.6 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Loch An Iúir
No special school is in or near Loch An Iúir. 1 of the 2 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.
Loch An Iúir beside the 217 other Irish towns of 300 to 600 people
Schools in or within 3 km of each town, by population; none is ranked, as Ireland publishes no results
| Town | People | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freshford | 593 | 2 | 244 | 0 | 50% | 10 km |
| … | ||||||
| Baltimore | 414 | 1 | 116 | 0 | 0% | 11 km |
| Littleton | 414 | 2 | 221 | 0 | 50% | 6.9 km |
| Burnfoot | 413 | 2 | 407 | 0 | 0% | 8.9 km |
| Robinstown | 412 | 1 | 194 | 0 | 0% | 6.2 km |
| Loch An Iúir | 412 | 2 | 116 | 2 | 100% | 7.6 km |
| Fiddown | 410 | 1 | 254 | 0 | 0% | 5.4 km |
| Inniskeen | 405 | 2 | 368 | 0 | 0% | 8.9 km |
| Nobber | 404 | 2 | 848 | 0 | 50% | 0.6 km |
| Cappawhite | 403 | 1 | 126 | 0 | 100% | 5.6 km |
| … | ||||||
| Gneevgullia | 300 | 1 | 131 | 0 | 0% | 4.8 km |
Of the other 217 towns, 159 have more pupils at the schools around them than Loch An Iúir. Teaching through Irish is on offer within 3 km in 19 of the 218.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Loch An Iúir
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 Loch An Iúir had 135 pupils in 2015/16 and 116 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Loch An Iúir
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 Loch An Iúir
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loch An Iúir | 2 | 116 | 2 | 100% | 7.6 km |
| An Clochán Liath 8 km | 3 | 825 | 0 | 100% | 0.6 km |
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Loch An Iúir 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 Loch An Iúir
How many schools are there in Loch An Iúir?
In Loch An Iúir or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools, with 116 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Loch An Iúir that teach through Irish?
Yes, 2: S.N. Loch an Iubhair and S.N. Dhubhthaigh teach every subject through Irish.
Is there a secondary school in Loch An Iúir?
Not in Loch An Iúir or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Rosses Community School, 7.6 km away.
What is the best school in Loch An Iúir?
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 Loch An Iúir?
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).