Photo: Carraroe1 · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of the schools around An Cheathrú Rua teach through Irish: 2 of 3
All-Irish schools make up 67% of those around An Cheathrú Rua, above both Co. Galway’s towns (15%) and Irish towns (8%). DEIS, the extra support for schools in disadvantaged areas, reaches 2 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 An Cheathrú Rua’s schools
Mostly taught through Irish
Most schools here are in the Gaeltacht and teach through Irish; across Ireland, 8% of schools teach only through it. They are Scoil Chuimsitheach Chiaráin (440) and S.N. Mhic Dara (202). 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: Scoil Chuimsitheach Chiaráin (440) and S.N. Mhic Dara (202). Who runs them ↓
Drawn from the Department of Education’s lists; none of it judges how well a school teaches.
Teaching through Irish in and around An Cheathrú Rua
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
2 of An Cheathrú Rua’s 3 schools teach every subject through Irish, 2 of them in the Gaeltacht: Scoil Chuimsitheach Chiaráin and S.N. Mhic Dara.
Who runs An Cheathrú Rua’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
1 of An Cheathrú Rua’s 3 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Minister for Education, Archbishop of Tuam and GRETB (1), Archbishop of Tuam (1) and Ability West (1). 2 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 An Cheathrú Rua
Here are the schools in An Cheathrú Rua or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. Ireland doesn’t publish results for individual schools, so none of these carries a letter.
Where the 3 schools in and around An Cheathrú Rua 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 An Cheathrú Rua’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 An Cheathrú Rua’s schools serve
How the area’s pupils divide, against Co. Galway’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 An Cheathrú Rua | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 97% | 21% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 97% | 14% | 6% |
| Girls | 52% | 49% | 49% |
DEIS schools teach 97% of the pupils around An Cheathrú Rua, a larger share than Ireland’s 27% (Co. Galway: 21%). Where this area differs most from Ireland is pupils at all-Irish schools, at 97% against 6%. Scoil Chuimsitheach Chiaráin, with 440 pupils, is the largest school here in DEIS.
Each of the 3 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scoil Chuimsitheach ChiaráinPost-primary · Comprehensive | 440 | 55% | ✓ | ✓ |
| S.N. Mhic DaraPrimary | 202 | 48% | ✓ | ✓ |
| Tígh Nan Dooley Child Education and Development CentreSpecial | 19 | 42% |
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 3 patrons of An Cheathrú Rua’s schools
The patron owns the school and sets its ethos; a board of management runs it day to day.
Minister for Education, Archbishop of Tuam and GRETB is patron of 1 of the 3 schools around An Cheathrú Rua, which teach 67% of their pupils; 3 patrons run them in all. One is an ETB school.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minister for Education, Archbishop of Tuam and GRETBScoil Chuimsitheach Chiaráin | Inter-denominational | 1 | 440 |
| Archbishop of TuamS.N. Mhic Dara | Catholic | 1 | 202 |
| Ability WestTígh Nan Dooley Child Education and Development Centre | Other | 1 | 19 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in An Cheathrú Rua
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, 1 of the 2 grew by 5% or more and 1 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 An Cheathrú Rua’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 Chuimsitheach ChiaráinPost-primary · Comprehensive | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. Mhic DaraPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Tígh Nan Dooley Child Education and Development CentreSpecial | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of An Cheathrú Rua
Post-primary schools within 10 km of the town; children move at about twelve, and families apply to each school
The only post-primary school within 10 km of An Cheathrú Rua is Scoil Chuimsitheach Chiaráin, a comprehensive school. It takes girls and boys. Just one teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scoil Chuimsitheach ChiaráinComprehensive · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | Gaeltacht school, DEIS | 440 | 0.8 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around An Cheathrú Rua
Tígh Nan Dooley Child Education and Development Centre is the special school here, with 19 pupils. 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.
An Cheathrú Rua beside the 187 other Irish towns of 500 to 1,000 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castletownbere | 999 | 3 | 524 | 0 | 67% | 0.4 km |
| … | ||||||
| Moneenroe | 739 | 3 | 236 | 0 | 67% | 5.2 km |
| Kildalkey | 739 | 1 | 210 | 0 | 0% | 6 km |
| Castlefinn | 730 | 4 | 234 | 0 | 100% | 7.7 km |
| Bweeng | 728 | 1 | 113 | 0 | 0% | 10 km |
| An Cheathrú Rua | 725 | 3 | 661 | 2 | 67% | 0.8 km |
| Clonlara | 724 | 1 | 276 | 0 | 0% | 6.4 km |
| Grenagh | 724 | 1 | 197 | 0 | 0% | 9.6 km |
| Borrisoleigh | 724 | 2 | 571 | 0 | 0% | 0.5 km |
| Kinvarra | 721 | 3 | 1,016 | 0 | 0% | 0.3 km |
| … | ||||||
| Stradbally | 500 | 2 | 134 | 0 | 0% | 8.7 km |
Of these 187 other towns, 37 count more pupils at their schools than An Cheathrú Rua. Within 3 km, 16 of these 188 towns have a school teaching through Irish.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around An Cheathrú Rua
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 An Cheathrú Rua had 537 pupils in 2015/16 and 661 in 2025/26.
Pupils at schools in and around An Cheathrú Rua
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.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in An Cheathrú Rua 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 An Cheathrú Rua
How many schools are there in An Cheathrú Rua?
In An Cheathrú Rua or within 3 km of it: 1 primary school, 1 secondary school and 1 special school, with 661 pupils between them.
Are there schools in An Cheathrú Rua that teach through Irish?
Yes, 2: Scoil Chuimsitheach Chiaráin and S.N. Mhic Dara teach every subject through Irish.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near An Cheathrú Rua?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in An Cheathrú Rua?
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 An Cheathrú Rua?
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).