Photo: Drow69 · CC BY-SA 3.0Few schools around Kilcolgan teach through Irish: 0%, below Co. Galway’s towns and Irish towns
In the comparison, Kilcolgan comes below both Co. Galway’s towns (15%) and Irish towns (8%). 451 pupils go to the 2 primary schools in or within 3 km of Kilcolgan. With no school results published in Ireland, and the Education Act 1998 restricting comparisons of them, these schools are described, not graded or ranked.
Schools in the town or within 3 km of its outline, Department of Education lists for 2025/26; the Ireland figures cover all schools listed.
Where the 2 schools in and around Kilcolgan 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 Kilcolgan’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 Kilcolgan
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
None of the 2 schools in and around Kilcolgan teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Kilcolgan’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.
| Share of pupils | Around Kilcolgan | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 0% | 21% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 14% | 6% |
| Girls | 46% | 49% | 49% |
Around Kilcolgan, 0% of pupils attend a school in DEIS; across Ireland it is 27%, and 21% in Co. Galway. The biggest difference from Ireland is in pupils at all-Irish schools: 0% here, 6% there.
Each of the 2 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scoil MhuirePrimary | 256 | 48% | ||
| Kilcolgan Educate Together NSPrimary | 195 | 44% |
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 Kilcolgan’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
1 of Kilcolgan’s 2 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh & Kilfenora (1) and Educate Together (1). 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.
How children get a place in Kilcolgan
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 2 schools, 0 have grown by at least 5% since 2019/20 and 1 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.
The 2 schools in and around Kilcolgan
Here are the schools in Kilcolgan or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. Results by school aren’t published in Ireland, so the cards carry none.
Inspection reports for Kilcolgan’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 ↗ |
| Kilcolgan Educate Together NSPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Kilcolgan
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
Within 10 km of Kilcolgan there are 2 post-primary schools: 2 voluntary secondary schools. Every one of them takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calasanctius CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 906 | 7.6 km |
| Seamount CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 628 | 9.1 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Pupil numbers around Kilcolgan
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 Kilcolgan had 459 pupils in 2015/16 and 451 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Kilcolgan
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 Kilcolgan
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kilcolgan | 2 | 451 | 0 | 0% | 7.6 km |
| Oranmore 7.2 km | 8 | 3,669 | 1 | 13% | 0.4 km |
| Craughwell 9.5 km | 2 | 426 | 0 | 0% | 7.1 km |
| Murrough 11 km | 22 | 7,826 | 2 | 41% | 1.6 km |
| Ballybane 11 km | 18 | 6,135 | 2 | 44% | 0.3 km |
| Mervue 13 km | 30 | 9,041 | 4 | 37% | 0.9 km |
| Eyre Square 13 km | 36 | 12,413 | 5 | 33% | 1.2 km |
Eyre Square has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 5. Pupils around Kilcolgan: −6% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Mervue led (+3%) and Craughwell trailed (−11%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Kilcolgan 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 Kilcolgan
How many schools are there in Kilcolgan?
In Kilcolgan or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools, with 451 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Kilcolgan that teach through Irish?
None in Kilcolgan or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Kilcolgan?
Not in Kilcolgan or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Calasanctius College, 7.6 km away.
What is the best school in Kilcolgan?
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 Kilcolgan?
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).