Photo: Mike Searle · CC BY-SA 2.0Irish-medium schools are unusually common around Cluain Bú: 50%, above Co. Galway’s towns and Irish towns
On this, Cluain Bú is above both Co. Galway’s towns (15%) and Irish towns (8%). Every one of its 2 schools within 3 km has a Catholic ethos. These schools are described rather than graded, because Ireland publishes no school results 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.
Where the 2 schools in and around Cluain Bú 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 Cluain Bú’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 runs Cluain Bú’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
2 of Cluain Bú’s 2 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. Their patron: Archbishop of Tuam (2). None of the 2 is 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.
Teaching through Irish in and around Cluain Bú
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
1 of Cluain Bú’s 2 schools teach every subject through Irish, 1 of them in the Gaeltacht: S.N. N Breandain.
Who Cluain Bú’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.
| Share of pupils | Around Cluain Bú | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 0% | 21% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 31% | 14% | 6% |
| Girls | 46% | 49% | 49% |
Fewer of the pupils around Cluain Bú are at DEIS schools than across Ireland: 0% against 27% (Co. Galway: 21%). The biggest difference from Ireland is in pupils at all-Irish schools: 31% here, 6% there.
Each of the 2 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scoil Bhrige agus Bhreandain NaofaPrimary | 281 | 48% | ||
| S.N. N BreandainPrimary | 129 | 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.
How children get a place in Cluain Bú
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
Since 2019/20, 0 of these 2 schools have grown by 5% or more and 1 have shrunk as much; across Ireland the number of 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 2 schools in and around Cluain Bú
Here are the schools in Cluain Bú or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. Ireland publishes no results school by school, so these cards carry no letters or results.
Inspection reports for Cluain Bú’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 2 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Scoil Bhrige agus Bhreandain NaofaPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. N BreandainPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Cluain Bú
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
The only post-primary school within 10 km of Cluain Bú is Coláiste Bhaile Chláir, an ETB school. It 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 | 7.2 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Cluain Bú beside the 263 other Irish towns of 300 to 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shanagarry | 700 | 2 | 201 | 0 | 0% | 11 km |
| … | ||||||
| Smithborough | 495 | 2 | 240 | 0 | 0% | 8.7 km |
| Suncroft | 491 | 2 | 222 | 0 | 50% | 4.9 km |
| Drimoleague | 486 | 3 | 121 | 0 | 0% | 12 km |
| Blackwater | 485 | 1 | 218 | 0 | 0% | 8.9 km |
| Cluain Bú | 484 | 2 | 410 | 1 | 0% | 7.2 km |
| Carrigallen | 481 | 2 | 511 | 0 | 50% | 0.1 km |
| Kilnaleck | 481 | 4 | 406 | 0 | 25% | 8.1 km |
| Walsh Island or Coolagary | 480 | 1 | 83 | 0 | 100% | 8.1 km |
| Tyrrellspass | 480 | 1 | 176 | 0 | 0% | 5.8 km |
| … | ||||||
| Gneevgullia | 300 | 1 | 131 | 0 | 0% | 4.8 km |
More pupils attend the schools around 64 of the other 263 towns than around Cluain Bú. 22 of the 264 towns have an all-Irish school within 3 km.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Cluain Bú
Pupils every September at the schools in or within 3 km of the town, each counted at today’s site.
The schools in and around Cluain Bú had 437 pupils in 2015/16 and 410 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Cluain Bú
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 Cluain Bú
For each nearby town, its schools in or within 3 km of its outline, with straight-line distances.
| Town | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cluain Bú | 2 | 410 | 1 | 0% | 7.2 km |
| Baile Chláir 6.5 km | 3 | 1,800 | 0 | 33% | 0.8 km |
| Castlegar 9 km | 32 | 9,971 | 4 | 34% | 1.3 km |
| Ballinfoile and Terryland 9.3 km | 33 | 11,082 | 5 | 33% | 1.5 km |
| Mervue 10 km | 30 | 9,041 | 4 | 37% | 0.9 km |
| Ballybane 10 km | 18 | 6,135 | 2 | 44% | 0.3 km |
| Dangan 11 km | 30 | 10,789 | 5 | 23% | 1.6 km |
Ballinfoile and Terryland has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 5. Since 2019/20 the pupils around Cluain Bú changed by −6%; among its neighbours, Baile Chláir’s grew most (+9%) and Dangan’s least (+1%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Cluain Bú 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 Cluain Bú
How many schools are there in Cluain Bú?
In Cluain Bú or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools, with 410 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Cluain Bú that teach through Irish?
Yes, 1: S.N. N Breandain teach every subject through Irish.
Is there a secondary school in Cluain Bú?
Not in Cluain Bú or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Coláiste Bhaile Chláir, 7.2 km away.
What is the best school in Cluain Bú?
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 Cluain Bú?
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).