Photo: Graham Horn · CC BY-SA 2.0Most post-primaries around Loughrea take girls and boys: 0% are single-sex, below Co. Galway’s towns and Irish towns
Measured that way, Loughrea is below both Co. Galway’s towns (33%) and Irish towns (39%). None of its 6 schools is in DEIS, the extra support for schools in disadvantaged areas (30% of schools across Ireland are). 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 Loughrea’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. The school is Gaelscoil Riabhach (170). Language ↓
No school in DEIS
None of the schools here is in DEIS, the extra support for schools in disadvantaged areas; across Ireland, 30% of schools are. Who runs them ↓
Facts from the Department of Education’s lists; nothing here judges how well a school teaches.
Teaching through Irish in and around Loughrea
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
1 of Loughrea’s 6 schools teach every subject through Irish: Gaelscoil Riabhach.
Who runs Loughrea’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
4 of Loughrea’s 6 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Clonfert (3), Galway & Roscommon ETB (1) and CEIST (1). None of the 6 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.
Where the 6 schools in and around Loughrea 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 Loughrea’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 Loughrea’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 Loughrea | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 0% | 21% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 7% | 14% | 6% |
| Girls | 51% | 49% | 49% |
| Post-primary pupils at single-sex schools | 0% | 9% | 29% |
| Post-primary pupils at fee-paying schools | 0% | 0% | 6% |
DEIS schools teach 0% of the pupils around Loughrea, a smaller share than Ireland’s 27% (Co. Galway: 21%). Where this area differs most from Ireland is post-primary pupils at single-sex schools, at 0% against 29%.
Each of the 6 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Brigids CollegePost-primary · ETB | 751 | 55% | ||
| St Raphaels CollegePost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 749 | 47% | ||
| S.N. Ide NaofaPrimary | 328 | 83% | ||
| St Brendans N.S.Primary | 216 | 0% | ||
| Gaelscoil RiabhachPrimary | 170 | 54% | ✓ | |
| S.N. Cillini DiomaPrimary | 147 | 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.
The 4 patrons of Loughrea’s schools
Each school has a patron that owns it and sets its ethos; its board of management runs it.
Bishop of Clonfert is patron of 3 of the 6 schools around Loughrea, which teach 29% of their pupils; 4 patrons run them in all. An Education and Training Board runs one of them.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of ClonfertS.N. Ide Naofa, St Brendans, S.N. Cillini Dioma | Catholic | 3 | 691 |
| Galway & Roscommon ETBSt Brigids College | Multi-denominational | 1 | 751 |
| CEISTSt Raphaels College | Catholic | 1 | 749 |
| An Foras PátrúnachtaGaelscoil Riabhach | Multi-denominational | 1 | 170 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Loughrea
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
Between 2019/20 and now, 3 of the 6 grew by 5% or more and 1 shrank as much, while Ireland’s pupil numbers moved +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 6 schools in and around Loughrea
Here are the schools in Loughrea 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 Loughrea’s schools
Reports from the Department of Education’s Inspectorate, every school’s linked and none rated
Each school is visited by inspectors from time to time, for a whole-school evaluation of teaching, learning and leadership, for one subject, or to follow up earlier advice, and every report is posted 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 6 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| St Brigids CollegePost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Raphaels CollegePost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. Ide NaofaPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Brendans N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Gaelscoil RiabhachPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. Cillini DiomaPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Loughrea
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
2 post-primary schools are within 10 km of Loughrea: one voluntary secondary school and one ETB school. Every one of them takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Raphaels CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 749 | 0.7 km |
| St Brigids CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 751 | 1 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Loughrea beside the 99 other Irish towns of 4,400 to 8,500 people
Each town’s schools in or within 3 km, listed by population: Ireland publishes no results, so none is ranked
| Town | People | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Canal Dock | 8,320 | 121 | 32,703 | 6 | 43% | 0.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Ballinasloe | 6,597 | 6 | 2,019 | 1 | 50% | 1.8 km |
| Ballytruckle | 6,563 | 32 | 12,776 | 3 | 41% | 1 km |
| Roscommon | 6,555 | 7 | 2,589 | 1 | 29% | 0.7 km |
| Castleknock | 6,355 | 77 | 27,912 | 3 | 51% | 0.1 km |
| Loughrea | 6,322 | 6 | 2,361 | 1 | 0% | 0.7 km |
| Marino | 6,272 | 117 | 32,982 | 9 | 51% | 0.2 km |
| Sallins | 6,269 | 9 | 5,832 | 1 | 0% | 2.3 km |
| Dock | 6,258 | 45 | 15,206 | 5 | 49% | 0.3 km |
| Lisduggan | 6,216 | 29 | 11,782 | 1 | 45% | 0.2 km |
| … | ||||||
| Tivoli | 4,449 | 76 | 23,233 | 10 | 45% | 1 km |
Of these 99 other towns, 80 count more pupils at their schools than Loughrea. Within 3 km, 87 of these 100 towns have a school teaching through Irish.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Loughrea
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 Loughrea had 1,901 pupils in 2015/16 and 2,361 in 2025/26. S.N. Cillini Dioma grew most: +71% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Loughrea
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 Loughrea
Each town’s schools in or within 3 km of its outline; distances as the crow flies.
| Town | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loughrea | 6 | 2,361 | 1 | 0% | 0.7 km |
| Craughwell 11 km | 2 | 426 | 0 | 0% | 7.1 km |
| Athenry 17 km | 5 | 3,133 | 2 | 0% | 0.4 km |
Athenry has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 2. Pupils around Loughrea: +10% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Athenry led (+20%) and Craughwell trailed (−11%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Loughrea 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 Loughrea
How many schools are there in Loughrea?
In Loughrea or within 3 km of it: 4 primary schools and 2 secondary schools, with 2,361 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Loughrea that teach through Irish?
Yes, 1: Gaelscoil Riabhach teach every subject through Irish.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Loughrea?
No: all 2 secondary schools here are free.
What is the best school in Loughrea?
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 Loughrea?
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).