Photo: Ian Hawfinch · CC BY-SA 2.0In and around Na Forbacha, every school teaches through Irish
Around Na Forbacha, 100% of schools teach through Irish, above both Co. Galway’s towns (15%) and Irish towns (8%). No secondary school is in or within 3 km of Na Forbacha; the nearest, Coláiste na Coiribe, is 6.3 km away. Ireland publishes no school results, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them, so these schools are described here, never graded or ranked.
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 Na Forbacha’s schools
Taught through Irish
Every school here is in the Gaeltacht and teaches through Irish; across Ireland, 8% of schools teach only through it. They are S N na bhForbacha (229) and S N Seamus Naofa (221). Language ↓
A wide choice at twelve
6 post-primary schools lie within 10 km, so families here have a real choice at twelve; each admits on its own policy. The nearest: Coláiste na Coiribe (6.2 km), Colaiste Chroi Mhuire (6.4 km) and Jesus & Mary Secondary School (8.3 km). Post-primary choices ↓
One school growing fast
The fastest-growing school here is S N na bhForbacha: 180 pupils in 2019/20, 229 now. Getting a place ↓
Facts from the Department of Education’s lists; nothing here judges how well a school teaches.
Teaching through Irish in and around Na Forbacha
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
2 of Na Forbacha’s 2 schools teach every subject through Irish, 2 of them in the Gaeltacht: S N na bhForbacha and S N Seamus Naofa.
Where the 2 schools in and around Na Forbacha 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 Na Forbacha’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 Na Forbacha’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
2 of Na Forbacha’s 2 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. Their patron: Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh & Kilfenora (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.
Who Na Forbacha’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.
| Share of pupils | Around Na Forbacha | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 0% | 21% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 100% | 14% | 6% |
| Girls | 49% | 49% | 49% |
Fewer of the pupils around Na Forbacha are at DEIS schools than across Ireland: 0% against 27% (Co. Galway: 21%). Furthest from Ireland’s mix is the share of pupils at all-Irish schools: 100% here against 6%.
Each of the 2 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S N na bhForbachaPrimary | 229 | 52% | ✓ | |
| S N Seamus NaofaPrimary | 221 | 47% | ✓ |
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 Na Forbacha
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, 1 of the 2 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 2 schools in and around Na Forbacha
Here are the schools in Na Forbacha or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. These schools carry no letter or result: Ireland doesn’t release them school by school.
Inspection reports for Na Forbacha’s schools
The Inspectorate’s published reports for each school, linked, without ratings
Reports come from whole-school evaluations (teaching, learning, leadership and management), subject inspections and follow-through visits that check earlier advice; gov.ie publishes each one with the school’s response.
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 |
|---|---|
| S N na bhForbachaPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S N Seamus NaofaPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Na Forbacha
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
Families in Na Forbacha have 6 post-primary schools within 10 km: 5 voluntary secondary schools and one ETB school. 2 teach girls and boys apart: 2 girls’ and 0 boys’ schools. Every subject is taught through Irish at 2 of them.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coláiste na CoiribeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | Gaeltacht school | 711 | 6.2 km |
| Colaiste Chroi MhuireVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | Gaeltacht school | 270 | 6.4 km |
| Jesus & Mary Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 658 | 8.3 km |
| Coláiste EindeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | DEIS | 808 | 8.3 km |
| Dominican CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 564 | 9.2 km |
| Coláiste Muire MáthairVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 738 | 9.9 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Na Forbacha beside the 178 other Irish towns of 600 to 1,200 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Urlingford | 1,196 | 2 | 882 | 0 | 100% | 3.1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Parteen | 889 | 21 | 7,682 | 2 | 57% | 1.6 km |
| Kilmacrennan | 888 | 1 | 231 | 0 | 0% | 7.7 km |
| Bruff | 887 | 1 | 219 | 0 | 0% | 7.3 km |
| Rosses Point | 883 | 2 | 210 | 0 | 0% | 5.6 km |
| Na Forbacha | 868 | 2 | 450 | 2 | 0% | 6.3 km |
| Collon | 864 | 1 | 190 | 0 | 0% | 8.6 km |
| Balla | 860 | 2 | 678 | 0 | 0% | 0.6 km |
| Doneraile | 857 | 2 | 434 | 0 | 50% | 0.6 km |
| Ballyboghil | 855 | 2 | 563 | 0 | 0% | 5.6 km |
| … | ||||||
| Na Dúnaibh | 601 | 2 | 202 | 1 | 100% | 14 km |
Of the other 178 towns, 72 have more pupils at the schools around them than Na Forbacha. Within 3 km, 16 of these 179 towns have a school teaching through Irish.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Na Forbacha
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 Na Forbacha had 460 pupils in 2015/16 and 450 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Na Forbacha
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 Na Forbacha
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Na Forbacha | 2 | 450 | 2 | 0% | 6.3 km |
| Bearna 3.7 km | 10 | 4,172 | 4 | 10% | 2.8 km |
| Knocknacarra 7 km | 29 | 10,407 | 5 | 17% | 0.9 km |
| Salthill 9 km | 30 | 10,795 | 4 | 23% | 0.6 km |
| Rahoon 9.1 km | 29 | 10,562 | 5 | 21% | 1.6 km |
| Taylor's Hill 9.2 km | 30 | 10,795 | 4 | 23% | 0.4 km |
| Maigh Cuilinn 9.7 km | 3 | 542 | 1 | 0% | 8.3 km |
Knocknacarra has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 5. Pupils around Na Forbacha: +1% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Salthill led (+5%) and Maigh Cuilinn trailed (−5%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Na Forbacha 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 Na Forbacha
How many schools are there in Na Forbacha?
In Na Forbacha or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools, with 450 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Na Forbacha that teach through Irish?
Yes, 2: S N na bhForbacha and S N Seamus Naofa teach every subject through Irish.
Is there a secondary school in Na Forbacha?
Not in Na Forbacha or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Coláiste na Coiribe, 6.3 km away.
What is the best school in Na Forbacha?
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 Na Forbacha?
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).