Photo: Kenneth Allen · CC BY-SA 2.0Pupil numbers around Newtowncunningham have fallen behind Co. Donegal’s towns and Irish towns: −11% since 2019/20
Measured that way, Newtowncunningham is below both Co. Donegal’s towns (+7%) and Irish towns (+4%). In or within 3 km of Newtowncunningham: 2 primary schools, 280 pupils in all. Ireland publishes no school results, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them, so these schools are described here, never 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.
Where the 2 schools in and around Newtowncunningham 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 Newtowncunningham’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.
Teaching through Irish in and around Newtowncunningham
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
None of the 2 schools in and around Newtowncunningham teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Newtowncunningham’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 Newtowncunningham | Co. Donegal | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 71% | 62% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 10% | 6% |
| Girls | 53% | 49% | 49% |
More of the pupils around Newtowncunningham are at DEIS schools than across Ireland: 71% against 27% (Co. Donegal: 62%). Where this area differs most from Ireland is pupils at all-Irish schools, at 0% against 6%. Scoil Cholmcille, with 199 pupils, is the largest school here in DEIS.
Each of the 2 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scoil CholmcillePrimary | 199 | 53% | ✓ | |
| Moyle N.S.Primary | 81 | 52% |
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.
Who runs Newtowncunningham’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
1 of Newtowncunningham’s 2 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Raphoe (1) and Presbytery of Derry & Donegal (1). 1 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.
How children get a place in Newtowncunningham
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 2 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 Newtowncunningham
Every school in Newtowncunningham or within 3 km of its outline, each linked to its own page. No letters and no results: Ireland publishes none school by school.
Inspection reports for Newtowncunningham’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 |
|---|---|
| Scoil CholmcillePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Moyle 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 Newtowncunningham
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 Newtowncunningham; the nearest is The Royal and Prior School, 14 km away.
Newtowncunningham beside the 136 other Irish towns of 800 to 1,600 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kilbeggan | 1,575 | 2 | 966 | 0 | 0% | 1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Urlingford | 1,196 | 2 | 882 | 0 | 100% | 3.1 km |
| Kinlough | 1,196 | 3 | 898 | 0 | 33% | 3.2 km |
| Kentstown | 1,195 | 1 | 214 | 0 | 0% | 8.1 km |
| Athgarvan | 1,193 | 16 | 7,083 | 1 | 31% | 3.2 km |
| Newtowncunningham | 1,192 | 2 | 280 | 0 | 50% | 14 km |
| Mooncoin | 1,184 | 4 | 765 | 0 | 75% | 0.6 km |
| Kilworth | 1,179 | 2 | 371 | 0 | 0% | 5.1 km |
| Charlestown-Bellahy | 1,172 | 2 | 491 | 0 | 50% | 0.4 km |
| Ballylinan | 1,167 | 3 | 435 | 0 | 0% | 7.2 km |
| … | ||||||
| Ballon | 801 | 1 | 239 | 0 | 0% | 7.5 km |
Of the other 136 towns, 100 have more pupils at the schools around them than Newtowncunningham. An all-Irish school is within 3 km of 15 of the 137.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Newtowncunningham
Every school in or within 3 km of the town each September, counted where it stands today.
The schools in and around Newtowncunningham had 319 pupils in 2015/16 and 280 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Newtowncunningham
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 Newtowncunningham
For each nearby town, its schools in or within 3 km of its outline, with straight-line distances.
Letterkenny has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 2. The roll around Newtowncunningham moved −11% since 2019/20; nearby, Raphoe grew most (+20%) and Muff least (−1%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Newtowncunningham 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 Newtowncunningham
How many schools are there in Newtowncunningham?
In Newtowncunningham or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools, with 280 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Newtowncunningham that teach through Irish?
None in Newtowncunningham or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Newtowncunningham?
Not in Newtowncunningham or within 3 km of it; the nearest is The Royal and Prior School, 14 km away.
What is the best school in Newtowncunningham?
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 Newtowncunningham?
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).