Photo: The Banner · CC BY-SA 3.0Around Gob an Choire, 33% of schools teach every subject through Irish, more than around Co. Mayo’s towns or Irish towns
That leaves Gob an Choire above both Co. Mayo’s towns (4%) and Irish towns (8%). One of its 3 schools teaches every subject through Irish, against 8% of schools across Ireland. 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 Gob an Choire’s schools
Extra support for many schools
Many schools here are in DEIS, which gives schools in disadvantaged areas more teachers, money and help; across Ireland, 30% of schools are. In DEIS: Coláiste Pobail Acla (232), S.N. Naomh Padraig Saile (65) and Achill Sound Convent N.S. (20). Who runs them ↓
More all-Irish schools than most places
Families here have more choice of a school that teaches every subject through Irish than in most of Ireland, where 8% of schools do. The school is S.N. Naomh Padraig Saile (65). Language ↓
Drawn from the Department of Education’s lists; none of it judges how well a school teaches.
Who runs Gob an Choire’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
2 of Gob an Choire’s 3 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Archbishop of Tuam (2) and Mayo, Sligo & Leitrim ETB (1). 3 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.
Teaching through Irish in and around Gob an Choire
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
1 of Gob an Choire’s 3 schools teach every subject through Irish, 1 of them in the Gaeltacht: S.N. Naomh Padraig Saile.
The 3 schools in and around Gob an Choire
Every school in Gob an Choire 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 3 schools in and around Gob an Choire 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 Gob an Choire’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 Gob an Choire’s schools serve
How the area’s pupils divide, against 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 Gob an Choire | Co. Mayo | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 100% | 37% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 21% | 5% | 6% |
| Girls | 55% | 48% | 49% |
More of the pupils around Gob an Choire are at DEIS schools than across Ireland: 100% against 27% (Co. Mayo: 37%). Set beside Ireland, pupils at all-Irish schools stand out most: 21% against 6%. The largest DEIS school here is Coláiste Pobail Acla, with 232 pupils.
Each of the 3 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Achill Sound Convent N.S.Primary | 20 | 55% | ✓ | |
| Coláiste Pobail AclaPost-primary · ETB | 232 | 54% | ✓ | |
| S.N. Naomh Padraig SailePrimary | 65 | 58% | ✓ | ✓ |
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 Gob an Choire’s schools
Each school has a patron that owns it and sets its ethos; its board of management runs it.
The schools around Gob an Choire answer to 2 patrons, and Archbishop of Tuam leads with 2 of the 3 schools and 27% of their pupils. One is an ETB school.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archbishop of TuamS.N. Naomh Padraig Saile, Achill Sound Convent | Catholic | 2 | 85 |
| Mayo, Sligo & Leitrim ETBColáiste Pobail Acla | Multi-denominational | 1 | 232 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Gob an Choire
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 2 grew by 5% or more and 0 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.
Inspection reports for Gob an Choire’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 |
|---|---|
| Achill Sound Convent N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Coláiste Pobail AclaPost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. Naomh Padraig SailePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Gob an Choire
Post-primary schools within 10 km of the town; children move at about twelve, and families apply to each school
The only post-primary school within 10 km of Gob an Choire is Coláiste Pobail Acla, an ETB school. It takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coláiste Pobail AclaETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 232 | 2.1 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Gob an Choire
No special school is in or near Gob an Choire. 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.
Gob an Choire beside the 224 other Irish towns of 200 to 400 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crossbarry | 399 | 2 | 184 | 0 | 0% | 8.4 km |
| … | ||||||
| Kernanstown | 269 | 5 | 2,556 | 2 | 20% | 2.6 km |
| Newtown | 269 | 4 | 181 | 0 | 75% | 9.5 km |
| Galbally | 269 | 1 | 135 | 0 | 0% | 12 km |
| Drumsna | 268 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 5.7 km |
| Gob an Choire | 265 | 3 | 317 | 1 | 100% | 2.1 km |
| Milford | 264 | 3 | 714 | 0 | 0% | 3.3 km |
| Kilgarvan | 264 | 1 | 99 | 0 | 0% | 10 km |
| Clongeen | 263 | 1 | 95 | 0 | 0% | 11 km |
| Kilteel | 262 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 5.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Lahardane | 200 | 1 | 76 | 0 | 0% | 7.1 km |
Among the 224 other towns, 35 have more pupils at their schools than Gob an Choire does. Within 3 km, 17 of these 225 towns have a school teaching through Irish.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Gob an Choire
Every school in or within 3 km of the town each September, counted where it stands today.
The schools in and around Gob an Choire had 295 pupils in 2015/16 and 317 in 2025/26.
Pupils at schools in and around Gob an Choire
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.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Gob an Choire 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 Gob an Choire
How many schools are there in Gob an Choire?
In Gob an Choire or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 317 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Gob an Choire that teach through Irish?
Yes, 1: S.N. Naomh Padraig Saile teach every subject through Irish.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Gob an Choire?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Gob an Choire?
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 Gob an Choire?
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).