Photo: Kenneth Allen · CC BY-SA 2.0Around Smithborough, only 0% of schools teach through Irish, fewer than around Co. Monaghan’s towns or Irish towns
On this, Smithborough is below both Co. Monaghan’s towns (17%) and Irish towns (8%). Every one of its 2 schools within 3 km has a Catholic ethos. These schools are described rather than graded, because Ireland publishes no school results 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.
Where the 2 schools in and around Smithborough 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 Smithborough’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 Smithborough’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
2 of Smithborough’s 2 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. Their patron: Bishop of Clogher (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.
Teaching through Irish in and around Smithborough
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
None of the 2 schools in and around Smithborough teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Smithborough’s schools serve
How the area’s pupils divide, against Co. Monaghan’s and Ireland’s, 2025/26
Each bar is the area’s share; the tick marks Ireland’s.
| Share of pupils | Around Smithborough | Co. Monaghan | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 0% | 33% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 9% | 6% |
| Girls | 43% | 48% | 49% |
Around Smithborough, 0% of pupils attend a school in DEIS; across Ireland it is 27%, and 33% in Co. Monaghan. Set beside Ireland, pupils at all-Irish schools stand out most: 0% against 6%.
Each of the 2 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scoil MhuirePrimary | 99 | 53% | ||
| Threemilehouse N.S.Primary | 141 | 37% |
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 Smithborough
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
Of these 2 schools, 1 have grown by at least 5% since 2019/20 and 1 have lost as much; Ireland’s 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.
The 2 schools in and around Smithborough
Here are the schools in Smithborough or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. Results by school aren’t published in Ireland, so the cards carry none.
Inspection reports for Smithborough’s schools
The Department of Education’s Inspectorate: every school’s reports linked, 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 2 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Scoil MhuirePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Threemilehouse N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Smithborough
Post-primary schools within 10 km of the town; children move at about twelve, and families apply to each school
Within 10 km of Smithborough there are 3 post-primary schools: 2 ETB schools and one voluntary secondary school. One of them is single-sex. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Louis Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 532 | 8.6 km |
| Beech Hill CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 897 | 9.2 km |
| Largy CollegeETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 505 | 9.4 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Smithborough
No special school is in or near Smithborough. 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.
Smithborough beside the 263 other Irish towns of 300 to 700 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shanagarry | 700 | 2 | 201 | 0 | 0% | 11 km |
| … | ||||||
| Glenville | 501 | 1 | 134 | 0 | 0% | 7.7 km |
| Stradbally | 500 | 2 | 134 | 0 | 0% | 8.7 km |
| Nurney | 497 | 1 | 183 | 0 | 0% | 8.5 km |
| Tievebane | 495 | 2 | 407 | 0 | 0% | 7.5 km |
| Smithborough | 495 | 2 | 240 | 0 | 0% | 8.7 km |
| Suncroft | 491 | 2 | 222 | 0 | 50% | 4.9 km |
| Drimoleague | 486 | 3 | 121 | 0 | 0% | 12 km |
| Blackwater | 485 | 1 | 218 | 0 | 0% | 8.9 km |
| Cluain Bú | 484 | 2 | 410 | 1 | 0% | 7.2 km |
| … | ||||||
| Gneevgullia | 300 | 1 | 131 | 0 | 0% | 4.8 km |
Of these 263 other towns, 96 count more pupils at their schools than Smithborough. An all-Irish school is within 3 km of 22 of the 264.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Smithborough
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 Smithborough had 229 pupils in 2015/16 and 240 in 2025/26.
Pupils at schools in and around Smithborough
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 Smithborough
Each town’s schools in or within 3 km of its outline; distances as the crow flies.
Monaghan has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 2. Since 2019/20 the pupils around Smithborough changed by −1%; among its neighbours, Cootehill’s grew most (+13%) and Ballybay’s least (+2%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Smithborough 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 Smithborough
How many schools are there in Smithborough?
In Smithborough or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools, with 240 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Smithborough that teach through Irish?
None in Smithborough or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Smithborough?
Not in Smithborough or within 3 km of it; the nearest is St. Louis Secondary School, 8.7 km away.
What is the best school in Smithborough?
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 Smithborough?
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).