Photo: Sarah777 · CC BY-SA 2.0Fewer single-sex secondaries around Drumshanbo than around Irish towns: 0%
In the comparison, Drumshanbo comes below Irish towns (39%). Drumshanbo Vocational School, with 509 pupils, is the only secondary school within 3 km. Ireland publishes no school results, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them, so these schools are described here, never 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.
What stands out about Drumshanbo’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 ↓
One school growing fast
Drumshanbo Vocational School has grown from 288 pupils in 2019/20 to 509, the fastest of the schools here. Getting a place ↓
From the Department of Education’s school lists: facts, not judgements of how well a school teaches.
Pupil numbers around Drumshanbo
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 Drumshanbo had 576 pupils in 2015/16 and 752 in 2025/26.
Pupils at schools in and around Drumshanbo
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.
The 2 schools in and around Drumshanbo
Each school in or within 3 km of Drumshanbo links to a page of its own. These schools carry no letter or result: Ireland doesn’t release them school by school.
Where the 2 schools in and around Drumshanbo 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 Drumshanbo’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 Drumshanbo
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
None of the 2 schools in and around Drumshanbo teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Drumshanbo’s schools serve
How the area’s pupils divide, against Co. Leitrim’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 Drumshanbo | Co. Leitrim | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 0% | 18% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 4% | 6% |
| Girls | 49% | 49% | 49% |
DEIS schools teach 0% of the pupils around Drumshanbo, a smaller share than Ireland’s 27% (Co. Leitrim: 18%). 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drumshanbo Vocational SchoolPost-primary · ETB | 509 | 48% | ||
| St Patricks N.S.Primary | 243 | 51% |
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 Drumshanbo’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
1 of Drumshanbo’s 2 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Mayo, Sligo & Leitrim ETB (1) and Bishop of Ardagh & Clonmacnoise (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 Drumshanbo
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, 2 of these 2 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.
Inspection reports for Drumshanbo’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 2 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Drumshanbo Vocational SchoolPost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Patricks 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 Drumshanbo
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
The only post-primary school within 10 km of Drumshanbo is Drumshanbo Vocational School, an ETB school. It takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drumshanbo Vocational SchoolETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 509 | 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 Drumshanbo
No special school is in or near Drumshanbo. 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.
Drumshanbo beside the 124 other Irish towns of 900 to 1,700 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tullyallen | 1,697 | 1 | 411 | 0 | 0% | 3.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Whitegate | 1,248 | 2 | 391 | 0 | 0% | 5.2 km |
| An Clochán Liath | 1,247 | 3 | 825 | 0 | 100% | 0.6 km |
| Kilmacanogue | 1,240 | 11 | 2,706 | 1 | 18% | 2.2 km |
| Croom | 1,240 | 2 | 990 | 0 | 100% | 1 km |
| Drumshanbo | 1,240 | 2 | 752 | 0 | 0% | 0.8 km |
| Askeaton | 1,236 | 2 | 426 | 0 | 50% | 0.5 km |
| Headford | 1,235 | 4 | 1,120 | 0 | 0% | 0.8 km |
| Carnew | 1,233 | 4 | 1,150 | 0 | 50% | 0.3 km |
| Castlebellingham-Kilsaran | 1,232 | 3 | 506 | 0 | 0% | 7.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Clarinbridge | 905 | 2 | 451 | 0 | 0% | 5.5 km |
Among the 124 other towns, 51 have more pupils at their schools than Drumshanbo does. 14 of the 125 towns have an all-Irish school within 3 km.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Schools in the towns around Drumshanbo
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drumshanbo | 2 | 752 | 0 | 0% | 0.8 km |
| Carrick-On-Shannon 11 km | 5 | 1,575 | 1 | 0% | 0.2 km |
| Ballinamore 15 km | 2 | 573 | 0 | 50% | 1.1 km |
| Mohill 18 km | 3 | 788 | 0 | 33% | 0.5 km |
| Boyle 19 km | 4 | 1,103 | 0 | 0% | 0.2 km |
Carrick-On-Shannon has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. Since 2019/20 the pupils around Drumshanbo changed by +46%; among its neighbours, Boyle’s grew most (+32%) and Carrick-On-Shannon’s least (+4%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Drumshanbo 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 Drumshanbo
How many schools are there in Drumshanbo?
In Drumshanbo or within 3 km of it: 1 primary school and 1 secondary school, with 752 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Drumshanbo that teach through Irish?
None in Drumshanbo 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 Drumshanbo?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Drumshanbo?
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 Drumshanbo?
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).