Photo: Andreas F. Borchert · CC BY-SA 4.0Few schools around Baile Chláir teach through Irish: 0%, below Co. Galway’s towns and Irish towns
On this, Baile Chláir is below both Co. Galway’s towns (15%) and Irish towns (8%). Coláiste Bhaile Chláir, with 1,269 pupils, is the only secondary school within 3 km. Nothing here grades or ranks these schools: Ireland publishes no results school by school, 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 Baile Chláir’s schools
A choice beyond the church schools
Most schools in Ireland have a church patron; here more of them are multi- or inter-denominational than in most places (14% across Ireland). They are Coláiste Bhaile Chláir (1,269) and Claregalway Educate Together NS (220). Who runs them ↓
From the Department of Education’s school lists: facts, not judgements of how well a school teaches.
Who runs Baile Chláir’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
1 of Baile Chláir’s 3 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh & Kilfenora (1), Educate Together (1) and Galway & Roscommon ETB (1). 1 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 Baile Chláir
Every school in Baile Chláir or within 3 km of its outline, each linked to its own page. Results by school aren’t published in Ireland, so the cards carry none.
Where the 3 schools in and around Baile Chláir 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 Baile Chláir’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 Baile Chláir
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
None of the 3 schools in and around Baile Chláir teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Baile Chláir’s schools serve
The pupils at the area’s schools by share, beside 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 Baile Chláir | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 12% | 21% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 14% | 6% |
| Girls | 45% | 49% | 49% |
DEIS schools teach 12% of the pupils around Baile Chláir, a smaller share than Ireland’s 27% (Co. Galway: 21%). Set beside Ireland, pupils at all-Irish schools stand out most: 0% against 6%. The largest DEIS school here is Claregalway Educate Together NS, with 220 pupils.
Each of the 3 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S N Chlair na GaillimhePrimary | 311 | 51% | ||
| Claregalway Educate Together NSPrimary | 220 | 47% | ✓ | |
| Coláiste Bhaile ChláirPost-primary · ETB | 1,269 | 43% |
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 Baile Chláir’s schools
The patron owns the school and sets its ethos; a board of management runs it day to day.
The schools around Baile Chláir answer to 3 patrons, and Galway & Roscommon ETB leads with 1 of the 3 schools and 71% of their pupils. The local Education and Training Board runs one. Educate Together runs one.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Galway & Roscommon ETBColáiste Bhaile Chláir | Multi-denominational | 1 | 1,269 |
| Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh & KilfenoraS N Chlair na Gaillimhe | Catholic | 1 | 311 |
| Educate TogetherClaregalway Educate Together NS | Multi-denominational | 1 | 220 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Baile Chláir
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 3 schools, 2 have grown by at least 5% since 2019/20 and 0 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.
Inspection reports for Baile Chláir’s schools
Reports from the Department of Education’s Inspectorate, every school’s linked and 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 3 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| S N Chlair na GaillimhePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Claregalway Educate Together NSPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Coláiste Bhaile ChláirPost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Baile Chláir
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
Families in Baile Chláir have 4 post-primary schools within 10 km: 3 ETB schools and one voluntary secondary school. Every one of them takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coláiste Bhaile ChláirETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 1,269 | 0.8 km |
| Coláiste Mhuirlinne/Merlin CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 710 | 7.1 km |
| Calasanctius CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 906 | 8.2 km |
| Galway Community CollegeETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 395 | 8.9 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Baile Chláir
No special school is in or near Baile Chláir. 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.
Baile Chláir beside the 122 other Irish towns of 1,100 to 2,200 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edgeworthstown | 2,199 | 3 | 423 | 0 | 33% | 11 km |
| … | ||||||
| Dingle-Daingean Uí Chuis | 1,671 | 5 | 796 | 5 | 20% | 0.3 km |
| Manorhamilton | 1,667 | 4 | 811 | 1 | 0% | 0.5 km |
| Killaloe | 1,666 | 4 | 1,336 | 0 | 50% | 0.7 km |
| Mullagh | 1,651 | 2 | 450 | 0 | 0% | 9.3 km |
| Baile Chláir | 1,632 | 3 | 1,800 | 0 | 33% | 0.8 km |
| Ballybunion | 1,618 | 3 | 586 | 0 | 33% | 0.5 km |
| Lifford | 1,613 | 3 | 303 | 0 | 100% | 8 km |
| Belturbet | 1,610 | 4 | 551 | 0 | 50% | 0.2 km |
| Castlemartyr | 1,603 | 2 | 314 | 0 | 0% | 8 km |
| … | ||||||
| Ballinamore | 1,112 | 2 | 573 | 0 | 50% | 1.1 km |
Among the 122 other towns, 11 have more pupils at their schools than Baile Chláir does. An all-Irish school is within 3 km of 14 of the 123.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Baile Chláir
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 Baile Chláir had 1,069 pupils in 2015/16 and 1,800 in 2025/26. Claregalway Educate Together NS grew most: +20% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Baile Chláir
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 Baile Chláir
Schools in or within 3 km of each neighbouring town; distances in a straight line.
Ballinfoile and Terryland has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 5. Of Baile Chláir’s neighbours, Mervue saw the most growth in pupils since 2019/20 (+3%) and Ballinfoile and Terryland the least (+2%); Baile Chláir itself: +9%.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Baile Chláir 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 Baile Chláir
How many schools are there in Baile Chláir?
In Baile Chláir or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 1,800 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Baile Chláir that teach through Irish?
None in Baile Chláir 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 Baile Chláir?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Baile Chláir?
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 Baile Chláir?
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).