Photo: Bangers at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Fewer single-sex secondaries around Balla than around Co. Mayo’s towns or Irish towns: 0%
That puts Balla below both Co. Mayo’s towns (33%) and Irish towns (39%). All 2 of its schools are Catholic: there is no other kind 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.
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 Balla’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
The fastest-growing school here is Balla Secondary School: 335 pupils in 2019/20, 476 now. Getting a place ↓
Facts from the Department of Education’s lists; nothing here judges how well a school teaches.
Pupil numbers around Balla
Every school in or within 3 km of the town each September, counted where it stands today.
The schools in and around Balla had 409 pupils in 2015/16 and 678 in 2025/26.
Pupils at schools in and around Balla
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.
Who runs Balla’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
2 of Balla’s 2 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. Their patron: Archbishop of Tuam (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.
The 2 schools in and around Balla
Every school in Balla or within 3 km of its outline, each linked to its own page. Ireland publishes no school-by-school results, which is why these cards have no letters.
Where the 2 schools in and around Balla 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 Balla’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 Balla
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
None of the 2 schools in and around Balla teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Balla’s schools serve
Shares of the pupils at the area’s schools, beside Co. Mayo’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 Balla | Co. Mayo | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 0% | 37% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 5% | 6% |
| Girls | 49% | 48% | 49% |
Fewer of the pupils around Balla are at DEIS schools than across Ireland: 0% against 27% (Co. Mayo: 37%). Furthest from Ireland’s mix is the share of pupils at all-Irish schools: 0% here against 6%.
Each of the 2 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balla Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 476 | 49% | ||
| Scoil Naisiunta Balla AluinnPrimary | 202 | 49% |
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 Balla
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 Balla’s schools
The Department of Education’s Inspectorate: every school’s reports linked, none rated
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 |
|---|---|
| Balla Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil Naisiunta Balla AluinnPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Balla
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
2 post-primary schools are within 10 km of Balla: one voluntary secondary school and one community school. Every one of them takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balla Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 476 | 0.6 km |
| St Louis Community SchoolCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 701 | 9.7 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Balla
No special school is in or near Balla. 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.
Balla beside the 178 other Irish towns of 600 to 1,200 people
Towns of a similar size, with the schools in or within 3 km of each; ordered by population, never ranked
| Town | People | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Urlingford | 1,196 | 2 | 882 | 0 | 100% | 3.1 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 |
| Scarriff-Tuamgraney | 854 | 4 | 720 | 0 | 0% | 0.5 km |
| Newtownforbes | 851 | 2 | 606 | 0 | 50% | 5 km |
| … | ||||||
| Na Dúnaibh | 601 | 2 | 202 | 1 | 100% | 14 km |
More pupils attend the schools around 47 of the other 178 towns than around Balla. 16 of the 179 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 Balla
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balla | 2 | 678 | 0 | 0% | 0.6 km |
| Kiltimagh 10 km | 2 | 963 | 0 | 0% | 0.3 km |
| Claremorris 12 km | 3 | 1,120 | 0 | 0% | 0.7 km |
| Castlebar 12 km | 12 | 4,272 | 1 | 17% | 0.3 km |
| Knock 14 km | 1 | 152 | 0 | 100% | 7.8 km |
Castlebar has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. Of Balla’s neighbours, Kiltimagh saw the most growth in pupils since 2019/20 (+17%) and Claremorris the least (−6%); Balla itself: +30%.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Balla 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 Balla
How many schools are there in Balla?
In Balla or within 3 km of it: 1 primary school and 1 secondary school, with 678 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Balla that teach through Irish?
None in Balla 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 Balla?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Balla?
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 Balla?
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).