Photo: Graham Horn · CC BY-SA 2.0Bearna has 4 schools teaching entirely through Irish, out of 10 nearby
Every subject is taught through Irish at 40% of the schools around Bearna, above both Co. Galway’s towns (15%) and Irish towns (8%). Families in Bearna have 7 primary schools and 3 secondary schools within 3 km, teaching 4,172 pupils. 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 Bearna’s schools
More all-Irish schools than most places
Families here have more choice of a school that teaches every subject through Irish than in most of Ireland, where 8% of schools do. They are Coláiste na Coiribe (711), Gaelscoil Mhic Amhlaigh (643), S N na bhForbacha (229) and S N Seamus Naofa (221). Language ↓
A wide choice at twelve
Families here can choose among 9 post-primary schools within 10 km of the town, of more than one kind; each admits on its own published policy, so applying to more than one is common. The nearest: Coláiste na Coiribe (2.8 km), Jesus & Mary Secondary School (4.6 km) and Coláiste Einde (4.6 km). Post-primary choices ↓
Few schools in DEIS
DEIS, which gives schools in disadvantaged areas more teachers and money, includes just 1 of the 10 schools here, against 30% of schools across Ireland. The one in DEIS: Coláiste Einde (808). Who goes there ↓
Drawn from the Department of Education’s lists; none of it judges how well a school teaches.
Teaching through Irish in and around Bearna
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
4 of Bearna’s 10 schools teach every subject through Irish, 4 of them in the Gaeltacht: S N Seamus Naofa, Coláiste na Coiribe and S N na bhForbacha.
Where the 10 schools in and around Bearna 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 Bearna’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 Bearna’s schools serve
Shares of the pupils at the area’s schools, 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 Bearna | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 19% | 21% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 43% | 14% | 6% |
| Girls | 55% | 49% | 49% |
| Post-primary pupils at single-sex schools | 30% | 9% | 29% |
| Post-primary pupils at fee-paying schools | 0% | 0% | 6% |
DEIS schools teach 19% of the pupils around Bearna, a smaller share than Ireland’s 27% (Co. Galway: 21%). Where this area differs most from Ireland is pupils at all-Irish schools, at 43% against 6%. Coláiste Einde, with 808 pupils, is the largest school here in DEIS.
Each of the 10 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S N Seamus NaofaPrimary | 221 | 47% | ✓ | |
| Knocknacarra Educate Together NSPrimary | 207 | 43% | ||
| Cuan na Gaillimhe Community National SchoolPrimary | 112 | 43% | ||
| Coláiste na CoiribePost-primary · ETB | 711 | 48% | ✓ | |
| S N na bhForbachaPrimary | 229 | 52% | ✓ | |
| St. John the Apostle, Knocknacarra NSPrimary | 400 | 48% | ||
| Scoil Naomh IosefPrimary | 183 | 42% | ||
| Jesus & Mary Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 658 | 100% | ||
| Coláiste EindePost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 808 | 43% | ✓ | |
| Gaelscoil Mhic AmhlaighPrimary | 643 | 53% | ✓ |
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 Bearna’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
7 of Bearna’s 10 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh & Kilfenora (6), Educate Together (1) and Galway and Roscommon ETB (1). 1 of the 10 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 5 patrons of Bearna’s schools
Each school has a patron that owns it and sets its ethos; its board of management runs it.
Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh & Kilfenora is patron of 6 of the 10 schools around Bearna, which teach 60% of their pupils; 5 patrons run them in all. 2 are ETB schools. Educate Together runs one.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh & KilfenoraColáiste Einde, Gaelscoil Mhic Amhlaigh, St. John the Apostle, Knocknacarra NS, S N na bhForbacha, S N Seamus Naofa, Scoil Naomh Iosef | Catholic | 6 | 2,484 |
| Galway & Roscommon ETBColáiste na Coiribe | Multi-denominational | 1 | 711 |
| Le Chéile Schools TrustJesus & Mary | Catholic | 1 | 658 |
| Educate TogetherKnocknacarra Educate Together NS | Multi-denominational | 1 | 207 |
| Galway and Roscommon ETBCuan na Gaillimhe Community | Multi-denominational | 1 | 112 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Bearna
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
5 schools here have grown by 5% or more since 2019/20, 3 have shrunk by as much, out of 10; across Ireland: +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 10 schools in and around Bearna
Each school in or within 3 km of Bearna links to a page of its own. These schools carry no letter or result: Ireland doesn’t release them school by school.
Inspection reports for Bearna’s schools
The Inspectorate’s published reports for each school, linked, without ratings
Inspectors visit every kind of school. Whole-school evaluations look at teaching and learning, leadership and management; subject inspections look at one subject; follow-through inspections check whether earlier advice was taken. Each report is published 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 10 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| S N Seamus NaofaPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Knocknacarra Educate Together NSPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Cuan na Gaillimhe Community National SchoolPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Coláiste na CoiribePost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S N na bhForbachaPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St. John the Apostle, Knocknacarra NSPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil Naomh IosefPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Jesus & Mary Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Coláiste EindePost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Gaelscoil Mhic AmhlaighPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Bearna
Post-primary schools within 10 km of the town; children move at about twelve, and families apply to each school
9 post-primary schools are within 10 km of Bearna: 7 voluntary secondary schools and 2 ETB schools. 3 teach girls and boys apart: 2 girls’ and 1 boys’ schools. Just one teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coláiste na CoiribeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | Gaeltacht school | 711 | 2.8 km |
| Jesus & Mary Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 658 | 4.6 km |
| Coláiste EindeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | DEIS | 808 | 4.6 km |
| Dominican CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 564 | 5.6 km |
| Coláiste Muire MáthairVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 738 | 6.3 km |
| Coláiste Iognáid S.J.Voluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 637 | 6.6 km |
| St Joseph's CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Boys | – | 791 | 6.9 km |
| Galway City & Oranmore Educate Together Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 379 | 7.2 km |
| Galway Community CollegeETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 395 | 8.8 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Bearna
No special school is in or near Bearna. 2 of the 7 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.
Bearna beside the 103 other Irish towns of 1,600 to 3,200 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballinrobe | 3,148 | 3 | 1,391 | 0 | 0% | 0.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Castleconnell | 2,488 | 2 | 536 | 0 | 0% | 5.9 km |
| Prosperous | 2,413 | 2 | 1,169 | 0 | 50% | 0.5 km |
| Ballaghaderreen | 2,387 | 2 | 968 | 0 | 100% | 0.3 km |
| Castlerea | 2,348 | 5 | 959 | 0 | 80% | 0.3 km |
| Bearna | 2,336 | 10 | 4,172 | 4 | 10% | 2.8 km |
| Tubbercurry | 2,307 | 4 | 1,130 | 0 | 25% | 1.7 km |
| Thomastown | 2,305 | 2 | 732 | 0 | 50% | 0.1 km |
| Balrothery | 2,282 | 16 | 7,860 | 2 | 31% | 1.7 km |
| Maigh Cuilinn | 2,279 | 3 | 542 | 1 | 0% | 8.3 km |
| … | ||||||
| Castlemartyr | 1,603 | 2 | 314 | 0 | 0% | 8 km |
Of these 103 other towns, 16 count more pupils at their schools than Bearna. Teaching through Irish is on offer within 3 km in 32 of the 104.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Bearna
Every school in or within 3 km of the town each September, counted where it stands today.
The schools in and around Bearna had 3,560 pupils in 2015/16 and 4,172 in 2025/26. Cuan na Gaillimhe Community National School grew most: +104% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Bearna
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 Bearna
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bearna | 10 | 4,172 | 4 | 10% | 2.8 km |
| Knocknacarra 3.5 km | 29 | 10,407 | 5 | 17% | 0.9 km |
| Salthill 5.3 km | 30 | 10,795 | 4 | 23% | 0.6 km |
| Taylor's Hill 5.6 km | 30 | 10,795 | 4 | 23% | 0.4 km |
| Rahoon 5.7 km | 29 | 10,562 | 5 | 21% | 1.6 km |
| Newcastle 6.4 km | 31 | 11,321 | 5 | 29% | 0.9 km |
| Dangan 6.4 km | 30 | 10,789 | 5 | 23% | 1.6 km |
Knocknacarra has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 5. The roll around Bearna moved +5% since 2019/20; nearby, Salthill grew most (+5%) and Dangan least (+1%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Bearna 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 Bearna
How many schools are there in Bearna?
In Bearna or within 3 km of it: 7 primary schools and 3 secondary schools, with 4,172 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Bearna that teach through Irish?
Yes, 4: S N Seamus Naofa, Coláiste na Coiribe and S N na bhForbacha teach every subject through Irish.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Bearna?
No: all 3 secondary schools here are free.
What is the best school in Bearna?
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 Bearna?
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).