Photo: Kenneth Allen · CC BY-SA 2.0Pupil numbers around Raphoe are rising faster than around Co. Donegal’s towns or Irish towns: +20% since 2019/20
That leaves Raphoe above both Co. Donegal’s towns (+7%) and Irish towns (+4%). Pupils: 1,792, up 20% since 2019/20. These schools are described rather than graded, because Ireland publishes no school results 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 Raphoe’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: Deele College (840), The Royal and Prior School (609), Raphoe Central N.S. (185) and Scoil Adhamhnain (158). Who runs them ↓
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
Deele College has grown from 603 pupils in 2019/20 to 840, the fastest of the schools here. Getting a place ↓
From the Department of Education’s school lists: facts, not judgements of how well a school teaches.
Who runs Raphoe’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
1 of Raphoe’s 4 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Donegal ETB (1), Minister for Education (1) and Bishop of Derry & Raphoe COI (1). 4 of the 4 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 Raphoe
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 Raphoe had 1,478 pupils in 2015/16 and 1,792 in 2025/26. Deele College grew most: +39% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Raphoe
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.
Where the 4 schools in and around Raphoe 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 Raphoe’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 Raphoe
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
None of the 4 schools in and around Raphoe teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Raphoe’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.
DEIS by stage: pupils at DEIS schools
| Share of pupils | Around Raphoe | Co. Donegal | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 100% | 62% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 10% | 6% |
| Girls | 49% | 49% | 49% |
| Post-primary pupils at single-sex schools | 0% | 13% | 29% |
| Post-primary pupils at fee-paying schools | 0% | 0% | 6% |
Around Raphoe, 100% of pupils attend a school in DEIS; across Ireland it is 27%, and 62% in Co. Donegal. Set beside Ireland, post-primary pupils at single-sex schools stand out most: 0% against 29%. The largest DEIS school here is Deele College, with 840 pupils.
Each of the 4 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deele CollegePost-primary · ETB | 840 | 47% | ✓ | |
| The Royal and Prior SchoolPost-primary · Comprehensive | 609 | 52% | ✓ | |
| Raphoe Central N.S.Primary | 185 | 49% | ✓ | |
| Scoil AdhamhnainPrimary | 158 | 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.
The 4 patrons of Raphoe’s schools
The patron owns the school and sets its ethos; a board of management runs it day to day.
4 patrons run the 4 schools around Raphoe; the largest, Donegal ETB, has 1 of them and 47% of the pupils. One is an ETB school.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donegal ETBDeele College | Multi-denominational | 1 | 840 |
| Minister for EducationThe Royal and Prior School | Church of Ireland | 1 | 609 |
| Bishop of Derry & Raphoe COIRaphoe Central | Church of Ireland | 1 | 185 |
| Bishop of RaphoeScoil Adhamhnain | Catholic | 1 | 158 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Raphoe
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 4 schools, 2 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 4 schools in and around Raphoe
Here are the schools in Raphoe or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. Without school-level results from Ireland, the cards show no letters.
Inspection reports for Raphoe’s schools
The Department of Education’s Inspectorate: every school’s reports linked, none rated
Each school is visited by inspectors from time to time, for a whole-school evaluation of teaching, learning and leadership, for one subject, or to follow up earlier advice, and every report is posted 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 4 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Deele CollegePost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| The Royal and Prior SchoolPost-primary · Comprehensive | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Raphoe Central N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil AdhamhnainPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Raphoe
Post-primary schools within 10 km of the town; children move at about twelve, and families apply to each school
Families in Raphoe have 2 post-primary schools within 10 km: one ETB school and one comprehensive school. Every one of them takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deele CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 840 | 0.2 km |
| The Royal and Prior SchoolComprehensive · Church of Ireland | Girls and boys | DEIS, Boarding | 609 | 0.9 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Raphoe
No special school is in or near Raphoe. 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.
Raphoe beside the 136 other Irish towns of 800 to 1,600 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kilbeggan | 1,575 | 2 | 966 | 0 | 0% | 1 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 |
| Raphoe | 1,161 | 4 | 1,792 | 0 | 100% | 0.2 km |
| Aghada-Rostellan | 1,159 | 3 | 574 | 0 | 0% | 5.5 km |
| Straffan | 1,158 | 2 | 730 | 0 | 0% | 3.8 km |
| Coolaney | 1,155 | 1 | 174 | 0 | 0% | 7.5 km |
| Ennistimon | 1,137 | 5 | 1,088 | 0 | 60% | 0.6 km |
| … | ||||||
| Ballon | 801 | 1 | 239 | 0 | 0% | 7.5 km |
Of the other 136 towns, 11 have more pupils at the schools around them than Raphoe. 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.
Schools in the towns around Raphoe
Each town’s schools in or within 3 km of its outline; distances as the crow flies.
| Town | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raphoe | 4 | 1,792 | 0 | 100% | 0.2 km |
| Convoy 4 km | 4 | 1,290 | 0 | 75% | 4 km |
| Lifford 8.3 km | 3 | 303 | 0 | 100% | 8 km |
| Letterkenny 13 km | 15 | 6,825 | 2 | 20% | 0.4 km |
| Ballybofey-Stranorlar 14 km | 7 | 2,400 | 0 | 57% | 0.6 km |
| Newtowncunningham 15 km | 2 | 280 | 0 | 50% | 14 km |
| Ramelton 19 km | 4 | 354 | 0 | 50% | 6.7 km |
Letterkenny has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 2. Since 2019/20 the pupils around Raphoe changed by +20%; among its neighbours, Convoy’s grew most (+24%) and Newtowncunningham’s least (−11%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Raphoe 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 Raphoe
How many schools are there in Raphoe?
In Raphoe or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools and 2 secondary schools, with 1,792 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Raphoe that teach through Irish?
None in Raphoe or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Raphoe?
No: all 2 secondary schools here are free.
What is the best school in Raphoe?
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 Raphoe?
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).