Photo: Andrew McMahon · CC BY-SA 2.0Around Baltray, only 0% of schools are in DEIS, fewer than around Co. Louth’s towns or Irish towns
That leaves Baltray below both Co. Louth’s towns (39%) and Irish towns (35%). Drogheda Grammar School, with 557 pupils, is the only secondary school within 3 km. Nothing here grades or ranks these schools: Ireland publishes no results school by school, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them.
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 Baltray’s schools
One fee-paying secondary school
One secondary school within reach charges fees; the others are free. The fee-paying one: Drogheda Grammar School (557). Every school ↓
A wide choice at twelve
Within 10 km of the town there are 9 post-primary schools to choose from, of different kinds; each sets its own admission policy, and many families apply to several. The nearest: Drogheda Grammar School (3 km), Laytown & Drogheda Educate Together Secondary School (3.7 km) and Our Lady's College (4.2 km). Post-primary choices ↓
Drawn from the Department of Education’s lists; none of it judges how well a school teaches.
The 3 schools in and around Baltray
Here are the schools in Baltray or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. Ireland publishes no school-by-school results, which is why these cards have no letters.
Where the 3 schools in and around Baltray 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 Baltray’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 Baltray
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
None of the 3 schools in and around Baltray teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Baltray’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.
DEIS by stage: pupils at DEIS schools
| Share of pupils | Around Baltray | Co. Louth | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 0% | 36% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 1% | 6% |
| Girls | 45% | 50% | 49% |
0% of the pupils around Baltray are at a DEIS school, fewer than the 27% across Ireland (36% in Co. Louth). Set beside Ireland, pupils at all-Irish schools stand out most: 0% against 6%.
Each of the 3 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scoil Náisíunta Naomh FeichínPrimary | 307 | 48% | ||
| Drogheda Grammar SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 557 | 40% | ||
| Le Cheile Educate Together NSPrimary | 383 | 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 Baltray’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
1 of Baltray’s 3 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Archbishop of Armagh (1), Drogheda Grammar School Ltd (1) and Educate Together (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.
The 3 patrons of Baltray’s schools
Patrons own the schools and set their ethos; boards of management run them day to day.
The schools around Baltray answer to 3 patrons, and Drogheda Grammar School Ltd leads with 1 of the 3 schools and 45% of their pupils. Educate Together runs one.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drogheda Grammar School LtdDrogheda Grammar School | Quaker | 1 | 557 |
| Educate TogetherLe Cheile Educate Together NS | Multi-denominational | 1 | 383 |
| Archbishop of ArmaghScoil Náisíunta Naomh Feichín | Catholic | 1 | 307 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Baltray
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. The fee-paying school here sets its own fees and admissions.
Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018; each school’s admission policy and notice are on its own website.
Which schools are growing
2 schools here have grown by 5% or more since 2019/20, 1 have shrunk by as much, out of 3; 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 Baltray’s schools
Reports from the Department of Education’s Inspectorate, every school’s linked and none rated
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 3 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Scoil Náisíunta Naomh FeichínPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Drogheda Grammar SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Le Cheile Educate Together NSPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Baltray
Post-primary schools within 10 km of the town; children move at about twelve, and families apply to each school
9 post-primary schools are within 10 km of Baltray: 6 voluntary secondary schools, 2 ETB schools and one community school. 3 of them are single-sex, 2 for girls and 1 for boys. One of them charges fees. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drogheda Grammar SchoolVoluntary secondary · Quaker | Girls and boys | Fee-paying | 557 | 3 km |
| Laytown & Drogheda Educate Together Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 520 | 3.7 km |
| Our Lady's CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 965 | 4.2 km |
| St. Joseph's C.B.S.Voluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 1,128 | 4.2 km |
| Ballymakenny CollegeCommunity school · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 998 | 4.9 km |
| Colaiste na hInseETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 1,021 | 5.3 km |
| Sacred Heart Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 717 | 5.6 km |
| St Mary's Diocesan SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Boys | – | 917 | 6 km |
| St Oliver's Community CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 1,422 | 7.6 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Baltray
No special school is in or near Baltray. 1 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 Baltray
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 Baltray had 1,001 pupils in 2015/16 and 1,247 in 2025/26. Drogheda Grammar School grew most: +43% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Baltray
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 Baltray
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baltray | 3 | 1,247 | 0 | 0% | 3 km |
| Termonfeckin 2.8 km | 2 | 508 | 0 | 0% | 5.4 km |
| Laytown-Bettystown-Mornington-Donacarney 4.1 km | 11 | 5,783 | 1 | 0% | 1.4 km |
| Drogheda 5.6 km | 29 | 14,360 | 2 | 28% | 0.5 km |
| Clogherhead 6.3 km | 2 | 568 | 0 | 0% | 9.1 km |
| Tullyallen 9.5 km | 1 | 411 | 0 | 0% | 3.7 km |
| Stamullen 12 km | 3 | 1,043 | 0 | 0% | 2.1 km |
Drogheda has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 2. Since 2019/20 the pupils around Baltray changed by +12%; among its neighbours, Drogheda’s grew most (+7%) and Stamullen’s least (−20%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Baltray 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 Baltray
How many schools are there in Baltray?
In Baltray or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 1,247 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Baltray that teach through Irish?
None in Baltray 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 Baltray?
One of the 1: Drogheda Grammar School. The others are free.
What is the best school in Baltray?
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 Baltray?
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).