Photo: Sarah777 · Public domainAround Mountbellew, only 0% of schools teach through Irish, fewer than around Co. Galway’s towns or Irish towns
For Mountbellew, that is below both Co. Galway’s towns (15%) and Irish towns (8%). In or within 3 km of Mountbellew: 2 primary schools and 3 secondary schools. Ireland publishes no school results, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them, so these schools are described here, never 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 Mountbellew’s schools
More pupils every year
Pupil numbers at the schools here have grown faster than across Ireland (+5% since 2019/20), so classes and new places are a question worth asking. Pupils over time ↓
Facts from the Department of Education’s lists; nothing here judges how well a school teaches.
Pupil numbers around Mountbellew
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 Mountbellew had 1,195 pupils in 2015/16 and 1,503 in 2025/26. Coláiste an Chreagáin grew most: +47% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Mountbellew
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.
Where the 5 schools in and around Mountbellew 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 Mountbellew’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 Mountbellew
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
None of the 5 schools in and around Mountbellew teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Mountbellew’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.
DEIS by stage: pupils at DEIS schools
| Share of pupils | Around Mountbellew | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 0% | 21% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 14% | 6% |
| Girls | 47% | 49% | 49% |
| Post-primary pupils at single-sex schools | 0% | 9% | 29% |
| Post-primary pupils at fee-paying schools | 0% | 0% | 6% |
Fewer of the pupils around Mountbellew are at DEIS schools than across Ireland: 0% against 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 5 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holy Rosary CollegePost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 720 | 50% | ||
| Scoil Naomh MhuirePrimary | 180 | 39% | ||
| Coláiste an ChreagáinPost-primary · ETB | 116 | 39% | ||
| Castleblakeney N.S.Primary | 52 | 48% | ||
| St. Cuan's CollegePost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 435 | 49% |
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 Mountbellew’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
4 of Mountbellew’s 5 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: CEIST (1), Archbishop of Tuam (1) and Galway & Roscommon ETB (1). None of the 5 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.
The 5 patrons of Mountbellew’s schools
Patrons own the schools and set their ethos; boards of management run them day to day.
CEIST is patron of 1 of the 5 schools around Mountbellew, which teach 48% of their pupils; 5 patrons run them in all. An Education and Training Board runs one of them.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| CEISTHoly Rosary College | Catholic | 1 | 720 |
| Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh & KilfenoraSt. Cuan's College | Catholic | 1 | 435 |
| Archbishop of TuamScoil Naomh Mhuire | Catholic | 1 | 180 |
| Galway & Roscommon ETBColáiste an Chreagáin | Multi-denominational | 1 | 116 |
| Bishop of ElphinCastleblakeney | Catholic | 1 | 52 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Mountbellew
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, 3 of these 5 schools have grown by 5% or more and 0 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 5 schools in and around Mountbellew
Every school in Mountbellew or within 3 km of its outline, each linked to its own page. These schools carry no letter or result: Ireland doesn’t release them school by school.
Inspection reports for Mountbellew’s schools
The Inspectorate’s published reports for each school, linked, without ratings
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 5 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Holy Rosary CollegePost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil Naomh MhuirePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Coláiste an ChreagáinPost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Castleblakeney N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St. Cuan's CollegePost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Mountbellew
Post-primary schools within 10 km of the town; children move at about twelve, and families apply to each school
3 post-primary schools are within 10 km of Mountbellew: 2 voluntary secondary schools 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holy Rosary CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 720 | 1 km |
| Coláiste an ChreagáinETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 116 | 2.1 km |
| St. Cuan's CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 435 | 5.3 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Mountbellew beside the 187 other Irish towns of 500 to 1,000 people
Towns of a similar size, with the schools in or within 3 km of each; ordered by population, never ranked
| Town | People | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castletownbere | 999 | 3 | 524 | 0 | 67% | 0.4 km |
| … | ||||||
| Roosky | 787 | 1 | 160 | 0 | 0% | 11 km |
| Ardara | 785 | 5 | 167 | 2 | 80% | 8.6 km |
| Omeath | 778 | 2 | 136 | 0 | 50% | 11 km |
| Cappoquin | 778 | 1 | 189 | 0 | 100% | 6.6 km |
| Mountbellew | 774 | 5 | 1,503 | 0 | 0% | 1 km |
| Riverstick | 772 | 1 | 363 | 0 | 0% | 7.7 km |
| Robertstown | 771 | 3 | 618 | 0 | 0% | 4.8 km |
| Ardfert | 771 | 1 | 215 | 0 | 0% | 5.8 km |
| Donore | 767 | 4 | 2,427 | 0 | 75% | 3.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Stradbally | 500 | 2 | 134 | 0 | 0% | 8.7 km |
Of these 187 other towns, 12 count more pupils at their schools than Mountbellew. 16 of the 188 towns have an all-Irish school within 3 km.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Mountbellew 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 Mountbellew
How many schools are there in Mountbellew?
In Mountbellew or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools and 3 secondary schools, with 1,503 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Mountbellew that teach through Irish?
None in Mountbellew 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 Mountbellew?
No: all 3 secondary schools here are free.
What is the best school in Mountbellew?
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 Mountbellew?
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).