Photo: Kenneth Allen · CC BY-SA 2.0Around Manorcunningham, 100% of schools get DEIS support, more than around Co. Donegal’s towns or Irish towns
100% of the schools around Manorcunningham are DEIS schools, above both Co. Donegal’s towns (38%) and Irish towns (35%). DEIS, the extra support for schools in disadvantaged areas, reaches 3 of its 3 schools; across Ireland, 30%. With no school results published in Ireland, and the Education Act 1998 restricting comparisons of them, these schools are described, not graded or ranked.
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 Manorcunningham’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 Proinnseas (119), S.N. Naomh Colmchille (81) and Ray N.S. (51). Who runs them ↓
A wide choice at twelve
6 post-primary schools lie within 10 km, so families here have a real choice at twelve; each admits on its own policy. The nearest: Coláiste Ailigh (6.8 km), Errigal College (7.3 km) and Loreto Secondary School (7.7 km). Post-primary choices ↓
Facts from the Department of Education’s lists; nothing here judges how well a school teaches.
Where the 3 schools in and around Manorcunningham 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 Manorcunningham’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 Manorcunningham’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
2 of Manorcunningham’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.
The 3 schools in and around Manorcunningham
Each school in or within 3 km of Manorcunningham links to a page of its own. You won’t find letters or results below: Ireland publishes none for single schools.
Teaching through Irish in and around Manorcunningham
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
None of the 3 schools in and around Manorcunningham teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Manorcunningham’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 Manorcunningham | Co. Donegal | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 100% | 62% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 10% | 6% |
| Girls | 48% | 49% | 49% |
DEIS schools teach 100% of the pupils around Manorcunningham, a larger share than Ireland’s 27% (Co. Donegal: 62%). Where this area differs most from Ireland is pupils at all-Irish schools, at 0% against 6%. Scoil Naomh Proinnseas, with 119 pupils, is the largest school here in DEIS.
Each of the 3 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ray N.S.Primary | 51 | 45% | ✓ | |
| Scoil Naomh ProinnseasPrimary | 119 | 49% | ✓ | |
| S.N. Naomh ColmchillePrimary | 81 | 48% | ✓ |
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 Manorcunningham’s schools
Each school has a patron that owns it and sets its ethos; its board of management runs it.
2 patrons run the 3 schools around Manorcunningham; the largest, Bishop of Raphoe, has 2 of them and 80% of the pupils.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of RaphoeScoil Naomh Proinnseas, S.N. Naomh Colmchille | Catholic | 2 | 200 |
| Bishop of Derry & Raphoe COIRay | Church of Ireland | 1 | 51 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Manorcunningham
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
Between 2019/20 and now, 0 of the 3 grew by 5% or more and 2 shrank as much, while Ireland’s pupil numbers moved +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 Manorcunningham’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 |
|---|---|
| Ray N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil Naomh ProinnseasPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. Naomh ColmchillePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Manorcunningham
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
Families in Manorcunningham have 6 post-primary schools within 10 km: 3 ETB schools, 2 voluntary secondary schools and one comprehensive school. 2 teach girls and boys apart: 1 girls’ and 1 boys’ schools. Just one teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coláiste AilighETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | Gaelcholáiste | 324 | 6.8 km |
| Errigal CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 662 | 7.3 km |
| Loreto Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 938 | 7.7 km |
| St Eunan's CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Boys | – | 1,003 | 7.9 km |
| The Royal and Prior SchoolComprehensive · Church of Ireland | Girls and boys | DEIS, Boarding | 609 | 8.7 km |
| Deele CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 840 | 8.8 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Manorcunningham beside the 158 other Irish towns of 600 to 1,100 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buttevant | 1,080 | 2 | 802 | 0 | 100% | 0.6 km |
| … | ||||||
| Gowran | 847 | 1 | 197 | 0 | 0% | 10 km |
| Rhode | 841 | 2 | 215 | 0 | 50% | 9.3 km |
| Kilsheelan | 837 | 1 | 90 | 0 | 0% | 7.9 km |
| Ballyclerahan | 830 | 1 | 202 | 0 | 0% | 7.1 km |
| Manorcunningham | 830 | 3 | 251 | 0 | 100% | 6.8 km |
| An Fál Carrach | 829 | 3 | 699 | 2 | 100% | 0.8 km |
| Belgooly | 823 | 1 | 363 | 0 | 0% | 4.9 km |
| Newport | 815 | 2 | 260 | 0 | 100% | 9.7 km |
| Ladysbridge | 809 | 1 | 214 | 0 | 0% | 8.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Na Dúnaibh | 601 | 2 | 202 | 1 | 100% | 14 km |
Of the other 158 towns, 86 have more pupils at the schools around them than Manorcunningham. Within 3 km, 15 of these 159 towns have a school teaching through Irish.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Manorcunningham
Every school in or within 3 km of the town each September, counted where it stands today.
The schools in and around Manorcunningham had 258 pupils in 2015/16 and 251 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Manorcunningham
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 Manorcunningham
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manorcunningham | 3 | 251 | 0 | 100% | 6.8 km |
| Letterkenny 7.1 km | 15 | 6,825 | 2 | 20% | 0.4 km |
| Newtowncunningham 8.8 km | 2 | 280 | 0 | 50% | 14 km |
| Raphoe 9 km | 4 | 1,792 | 0 | 100% | 0.2 km |
| Ramelton 9.8 km | 4 | 354 | 0 | 50% | 6.7 km |
| Convoy 10 km | 4 | 1,290 | 0 | 75% | 4 km |
| Lifford 16 km | 3 | 303 | 0 | 100% | 8 km |
Letterkenny has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 2. Of Manorcunningham’s neighbours, Convoy saw the most growth in pupils since 2019/20 (+24%) and Newtowncunningham the least (−11%); Manorcunningham itself: −9%.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Manorcunningham 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 Manorcunningham
How many schools are there in Manorcunningham?
In Manorcunningham or within 3 km of it: 3 primary schools, with 251 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Manorcunningham that teach through Irish?
None in Manorcunningham or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Manorcunningham?
Not in Manorcunningham or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Coláiste Ailigh, 6.8 km away.
What is the best school in Manorcunningham?
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 Manorcunningham?
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).