Photo: Mike Kinsella · CC BY-SA 4.0Most post-primaries around Crossmolina take girls and boys: 0% are single-sex, below Co. Mayo’s towns and Irish towns
On this, Crossmolina is below both Co. Mayo’s towns (33%) and Irish towns (39%). They have 1,029 pupils between them, in or within 3 km of Crossmolina. Ireland publishes no school results, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them, so these schools are described here, never graded or ranked.
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.
Where the 3 schools in and around Crossmolina 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 Crossmolina’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 Crossmolina
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
None of the 3 schools in and around Crossmolina teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Crossmolina’s schools serve
The pupils at the area’s schools by share, 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 Crossmolina | Co. Mayo | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 25% | 37% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 5% | 6% |
| Girls | 45% | 48% | 49% |
| Post-primary pupils at single-sex schools | 0% | 26% | 29% |
| Post-primary pupils at fee-paying schools | 0% | 0% | 6% |
Around Crossmolina, 25% of pupils attend a school in DEIS, near Ireland’s 27% and Co. Mayo’s 37%. Where this area differs most from Ireland is post-primary pupils at single-sex schools, at 0% against 29%. St. Tiernan's College, with 253 pupils, is the largest school here in DEIS.
Each of the 3 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Tiernan's CollegePost-primary · ETB | 253 | 28% | ✓ | |
| Crossmolina N.S.Primary | 235 | 49% | ||
| Jesus & Mary Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 541 | 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 Crossmolina’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
2 of Crossmolina’s 3 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Mayo, Sligo & Leitrim ETB (1), Bishop of Killala (1) and Le Chéile Schools Trust (1). 1 of the 3 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 3 patrons of Crossmolina’s schools
The patron owns the school and sets its ethos; a board of management runs it day to day.
Le Chéile Schools Trust is patron of 1 of the 3 schools around Crossmolina, which teach 53% of their pupils; 3 patrons run them in all. An Education and Training Board runs one of them.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Le Chéile Schools TrustJesus & Mary | Catholic | 1 | 541 |
| Mayo, Sligo & Leitrim ETBSt. Tiernan's College | Multi-denominational | 1 | 253 |
| Bishop of KillalaCrossmolina | Catholic | 1 | 235 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Crossmolina
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
Between 2019/20 and now, 1 of the 3 grew by 5% or more and 1 shrank as much, while Ireland’s pupil numbers moved +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 Crossmolina
Here are the schools in Crossmolina 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.
Inspection reports for Crossmolina’s schools
Reports from the Department of Education’s Inspectorate, every school’s linked and none rated
Inspectors visit every kind of school. Whole-school evaluations look at teaching and learning, leadership and management; subject inspections look at one subject; follow-through inspections check whether earlier advice was taken. Each report is published 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 3 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| St. Tiernan's CollegePost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Crossmolina N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Jesus & Mary Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Crossmolina
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
Within 10 km of Crossmolina there are 2 post-primary schools: one ETB school and one voluntary secondary school. Every one of them takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Tiernan's CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 253 | 0.8 km |
| Jesus & Mary Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 541 | 1.5 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Crossmolina
No special school is in or near Crossmolina. 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.
Crossmolina beside the 131 other Irish towns of 800 to 1,500 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rochfortbridge | 1,498 | 2 | 1,343 | 0 | 0% | 0.5 km |
| … | ||||||
| Aghada-Rostellan | 1,159 | 3 | 574 | 0 | 0% | 5.5 km |
| Straffan | 1,158 | 2 | 730 | 0 | 0% | 3.8 km |
| Coolaney | 1,155 | 1 | 174 | 0 | 0% | 7.5 km |
| Ennistimon | 1,137 | 5 | 1,088 | 0 | 60% | 0.6 km |
| Crossmolina | 1,134 | 3 | 1,029 | 0 | 33% | 0.8 km |
| Drumlish | 1,124 | 1 | 215 | 0 | 100% | 10 km |
| Milltown | 1,118 | 4 | 1,193 | 0 | 25% | 0.2 km |
| Borrisokane | 1,117 | 2 | 862 | 0 | 50% | 1 km |
| Ballyragget | 1,116 | 1 | 163 | 0 | 0% | 8 km |
| … | ||||||
| Ballon | 801 | 1 | 239 | 0 | 0% | 7.5 km |
Of these 131 other towns, 29 count more pupils at their schools than Crossmolina. Within 3 km, 15 of these 132 towns have a school teaching through Irish.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Crossmolina
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 Crossmolina had 927 pupils in 2015/16 and 1,029 in 2025/26. St. Tiernan's College grew most: +22% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Crossmolina
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 Crossmolina
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crossmolina | 3 | 1,029 | 0 | 33% | 0.8 km |
| Ballina 11 km | 14 | 2,979 | 1 | 50% | 0.5 km |
| Foxford 19 km | 2 | 753 | 0 | 0% | 0.3 km |
| Enniscrone 19 km | 2 | 381 | 0 | 0% | 0.3 km |
Ballina has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. Of Crossmolina’s neighbours, Ballina saw the most growth in pupils since 2019/20 (+10%) and Enniscrone the least (−13%); Crossmolina itself: +1%.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Crossmolina 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 Crossmolina
How many schools are there in Crossmolina?
In Crossmolina or within 3 km of it: 1 primary school and 2 secondary schools, with 1,029 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Crossmolina that teach through Irish?
None in Crossmolina 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 Crossmolina?
No: all 2 secondary schools here are free.
What is the best school in Crossmolina?
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 Crossmolina?
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).