Photo: P L Chadwick · CC BY-SA 2.0Few schools around Woodford teach through Irish: 0%, below Co. Galway’s towns and Irish towns
Set beside other towns, Woodford comes out below both Co. Galway’s towns (15%) and Irish towns (8%). Its one secondary school within 3 km, Mercy College, has 157 pupils. Nothing here grades or ranks these schools: Ireland publishes no results school by school, 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.
Who runs Woodford’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
2 of Woodford’s 2 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: CEIST (1) and Bishop of Clonfert (1). 1 of the 2 are 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 2 schools in and around Woodford
Here are the schools in Woodford 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.
Where the 2 schools in and around Woodford 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 Woodford’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 Woodford
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
None of the 2 schools in and around Woodford teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Woodford’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 Woodford | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 25% | 21% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 14% | 6% |
| Girls | 47% | 49% | 49% |
The share of pupils at DEIS schools around Woodford, 25%, is close to Ireland’s 27% (Co. Galway: 21%). Set beside Ireland, pupils at all-Irish schools stand out most: 0% against 6%. The largest DEIS school here is St. Josephs N.S., with 53 pupils.
Each of the 2 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercy CollegePost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 157 | 52% | ||
| St. Josephs N.S.Primary | 53 | 34% | ✓ |
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 Woodford
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
1 schools here have grown by 5% or more since 2019/20, 1 have shrunk by as much, out of 2; across Ireland: +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.
Inspection reports for Woodford’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 |
|---|---|
| Mercy CollegePost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St. Josephs N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Woodford
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
The only post-primary school within 10 km of Woodford is Mercy College, a voluntary secondary school. It takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercy CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 157 | 0.8 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Woodford
No special school is in or near Woodford. 1 of the 1 primary schools has special classes for children who need more support. Their cards ↑
Special schools and primary schools with special classes as the Department lists them; the National Council for Special Education places pupils in special classes.
Woodford beside the 128 other Irish towns of 200 to 300 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gneevgullia | 300 | 1 | 131 | 0 | 0% | 4.8 km |
| … | ||||||
| Monard | 244 | 1 | 112 | 0 | 0% | 5.5 km |
| Turloughmore | 243 | 2 | 296 | 0 | 0% | 6.5 km |
| Gleneely | 243 | 1 | 118 | 0 | 100% | 7.7 km |
| Cheekpoint | 242 | 2 | 257 | 0 | 50% | 5.9 km |
| Woodford | 242 | 2 | 210 | 0 | 50% | 0.8 km |
| Ballintra | 242 | 2 | 161 | 0 | 100% | 7.4 km |
| Donard | 238 | 2 | 213 | 0 | 0% | 6.6 km |
| Kilbrittain | 238 | 1 | 211 | 0 | 0% | 7.9 km |
| Keshcarrigan | 238 | 1 | 142 | 0 | 100% | 7.4 km |
| … | ||||||
| Lahardane | 200 | 1 | 76 | 0 | 0% | 7.1 km |
Of these 128 other towns, 34 count more pupils at their schools than Woodford. Teaching through Irish is on offer within 3 km in 7 of the 129.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Woodford
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 Woodford had 229 pupils in 2015/16 and 210 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Woodford
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 Woodford
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woodford | 2 | 210 | 0 | 50% | 0.8 km |
| Portumna 13 km | 2 | 741 | 0 | 50% | 0.2 km |
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Woodford 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 Woodford
How many schools are there in Woodford?
In Woodford or within 3 km of it: 1 primary school and 1 secondary school, with 210 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Woodford that teach through Irish?
None in Woodford 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 Woodford?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Woodford?
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 Woodford?
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).