Photo: David Haworth · CC BY-SA 2.0DEIS support is less common around Annagassan: 0% of schools, below Co. Louth’s towns and Irish towns
Set beside other towns, Annagassan comes out below both Co. Louth’s towns (39%) and Irish towns (35%). All 3 of its schools are Catholic: there is no other kind within 3 km. 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.
Where the 3 schools in and around Annagassan 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 Annagassan’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 Annagassan’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
3 of Annagassan’s 3 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Archbishop of Armagh (2) and Archbishop of Armagh & St John of God Hospitaller Order (1). None of the 3 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.
Teaching through Irish in and around Annagassan
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
None of the 3 schools in and around Annagassan teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Annagassan’s schools serve
Shares of the pupils at the area’s schools, beside Co. Louth’s and Ireland’s, 2025/26
Each bar is the area’s share; the tick marks Ireland’s.
| Share of pupils | Around Annagassan | Co. Louth | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 0% | 36% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 1% | 6% |
| Girls | 42% | 50% | 49% |
Fewer of the pupils around Annagassan are at DEIS schools than across Ireland: 0% against 27% (Co. Louth: 36%). The biggest difference from Ireland is in girls: 42% here, 49% there.
Each of the 3 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S.N. Naomh FhionainPrimary | 100 | 52% | ||
| S.N. Chill SarainPrimary | 161 | 43% | ||
| St Marys Special SchSpecial | 111 | 31% |
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 2 patrons of Annagassan’s schools
Patrons own the schools and set their ethos; boards of management run them day to day.
2 patrons run the 3 schools around Annagassan; the largest, Archbishop of Armagh, has 2 of them and 70% of the pupils.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archbishop of ArmaghS.N. Chill Sarain, S.N. Naomh Fhionain | Catholic | 2 | 261 |
| Archbishop of Armagh & St John of God Hospitaller OrderSt Marys Special Sch | Catholic | 1 | 111 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Annagassan
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
0 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.
The 3 schools in and around Annagassan
Here are the schools in Annagassan or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. No school here carries a letter or a result: Ireland publishes neither for individual schools.
Inspection reports for Annagassan’s schools
Reports from the Department of Education’s Inspectorate, every school’s linked and 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 3 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| S.N. Naomh FhionainPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. Chill SarainPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Marys Special SchSpecial | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Annagassan
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 Annagassan is Scoil Ui Mhuiri, an ETB school. It takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scoil Ui MhuiriETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 644 | 6.7 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Annagassan
St Marys Special Sch is the special school here, with 111 pupils. 2 of the 2 primary schools have 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.
Pupil numbers around Annagassan
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 Annagassan had 371 pupils in 2015/16 and 372 in 2025/26. St Marys Special Sch grew most: +56% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Annagassan
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 Annagassan
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annagassan | 3 | 372 | 0 | 0% | 6.7 km |
| Castlebellingham-Kilsaran 3.5 km | 3 | 506 | 0 | 0% | 7.7 km |
| Dromiskin 6.1 km | 1 | 234 | 0 | 0% | 6.8 km |
| Dunleer 6.9 km | 5 | 1,205 | 0 | 20% | 0.8 km |
| Clogherhead 12 km | 2 | 568 | 0 | 0% | 9.1 km |
| Dundalk 13 km | 31 | 11,625 | 1 | 39% | 0.8 km |
| Ardee 13 km | 5 | 2,252 | 0 | 60% | 0.8 km |
Dundalk has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. The roll around Annagassan moved +4% since 2019/20; nearby, Ardee grew most (+19%) and Clogherhead least (−7%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Annagassan 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 Annagassan
How many schools are there in Annagassan?
In Annagassan or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools and 1 special school, with 372 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Annagassan that teach through Irish?
None in Annagassan or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Annagassan?
Not in Annagassan or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Scoil Ui Mhuiri, 6.7 km away.
What is the best school in Annagassan?
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 Annagassan?
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).