Photo: Gareth James · CC BY-SA 2.0Around Clifden, only 0% of schools teach through Irish, fewer than around Co. Galway’s towns or Irish towns
That puts Clifden below both Co. Galway’s towns (15%) and Irish towns (8%). Scoil Phobail, with 489 pupils, is the only secondary school within 3 km. 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 Clifden’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: Scoil Phobail (489) and Scoil Mhuire (241). Who runs them ↓
Drawn from the Department of Education’s lists; none of it judges how well a school teaches.
Who runs Clifden’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
1 of Clifden’s 2 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Archbishop of Tuam (1) and Galway & Roscommon ETB & Order of the Friars Minor (Franciscan brothers) (1). 2 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.
The 2 schools in and around Clifden
Each school in or within 3 km of Clifden links to a page of its own. No school here carries a letter or a result: Ireland publishes neither for individual schools.
Where the 2 schools in and around Clifden 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 Clifden’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 Clifden
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
None of the 2 schools in and around Clifden teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Clifden’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 Clifden | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 100% | 21% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 14% | 6% |
| Girls | 50% | 49% | 49% |
Around Clifden, 100% of pupils attend a school in DEIS; across Ireland it is 27%, and 21% in Co. Galway. Where this area differs most from Ireland is pupils at all-Irish schools, at 0% against 6%. Scoil Phobail, with 489 pupils, is the largest school here in DEIS.
Each of the 2 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scoil MhuirePrimary | 241 | 50% | ✓ | |
| Scoil PhobailPost-primary · Community school | 489 | 50% | ✓ |
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.
How children get a place in Clifden
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
2 schools here have grown by 5% or more since 2019/20, 0 have shrunk by as much, out of 2; 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.
Inspection reports for Clifden’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 2 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Scoil MhuirePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil PhobailPost-primary · Community school | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Clifden
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
The only post-primary school within 10 km of Clifden is Scoil Phobail, a community school. It takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scoil PhobailCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 489 | 1.2 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Clifden
No special school is in or near Clifden. 1 of the 1 primary schools has 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.
Clifden beside the 124 other Irish towns of 900 to 1,700 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tullyallen | 1,697 | 1 | 411 | 0 | 0% | 3.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Ramelton | 1,288 | 4 | 354 | 0 | 50% | 6.7 km |
| Piltown | 1,275 | 1 | 254 | 0 | 0% | 3.8 km |
| Greencastle | 1,268 | 5 | 1,100 | 1 | 40% | 4 km |
| Portrane | 1,262 | 11 | 5,394 | 2 | 9% | 2.2 km |
| Clifden | 1,259 | 2 | 730 | 0 | 100% | 1.2 km |
| Killybegs | 1,258 | 5 | 697 | 0 | 80% | 0.5 km |
| Kilpedder | 1,248 | 9 | 3,990 | 0 | 11% | 3 km |
| Whitegate | 1,248 | 2 | 391 | 0 | 0% | 5.2 km |
| An Clochán Liath | 1,247 | 3 | 825 | 0 | 100% | 0.6 km |
| … | ||||||
| Clarinbridge | 905 | 2 | 451 | 0 | 0% | 5.5 km |
Among the 124 other towns, 53 have more pupils at their schools than Clifden does. Teaching through Irish is on offer within 3 km in 14 of the 125.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Clifden
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 Clifden had 647 pupils in 2015/16 and 730 in 2025/26.
Pupils at schools in and around Clifden
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 Clifden 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 Clifden
How many schools are there in Clifden?
In Clifden or within 3 km of it: 1 primary school and 1 secondary school, with 730 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Clifden that teach through Irish?
None in Clifden 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 Clifden?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Clifden?
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 Clifden?
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).