Photo: Mike Searle · CC BY-SA 2.0DEIS support is widespread around Ballycumber: 100% of schools, above Co. Offaly’s towns and Irish towns
100% of the schools around Ballycumber are DEIS schools, above both Co. Offaly’s towns (71%) and Irish towns (35%). St Ciarans Mixed N.S. is a primary with 110 pupils. 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 Ballycumber’s schools
Fewer pupils than before
Pupil numbers at the schools here have fallen since 2019/20, against +5% across Ireland. Pupils over time ↓
Facts from the Department of Education’s lists; nothing here judges how well a school teaches.
Where the school in or near Ballycumber is
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 Ballycumber’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.
Pupil numbers around Ballycumber
Every school in or within 3 km of the town each September, counted where it stands today.
The schools in and around Ballycumber had 119 pupils in 2015/16 and 110 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Ballycumber
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.
Teaching through Irish in and around Ballycumber
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
None of the 1 schools in and around Ballycumber teaches every subject through Irish.
Who runs Ballycumber’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
1 of Ballycumber’s 1 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. Their patron: Bishop of Ardagh & Clonmacnoise (1). 1 of the 1 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.
How children get a place in Ballycumber
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.
The school in and around Ballycumber
Here are the schools in Ballycumber or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. Without school-level results from Ireland, the cards show no letters.
Inspection reports for Ballycumber’s schools
The Inspectorate’s published reports for each school, linked, without ratings
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 the school should do next. They give no overall grade, so none is shown here; the school below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| St Ciarans Mixed 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 Ballycumber
Post-primary schools within 10 km of the town; children move at about twelve, and families apply to each school
Families in Ballycumber have 3 post-primary schools within 10 km: one ETB school, one community 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ardscoil Chiaráin NaofaETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 333 | 5.1 km |
| Moate Community SchoolCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 913 | 8.1 km |
| Killina Presentation Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 759 | 8.6 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Ballycumber
No special school is in or near Ballycumber. 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.
Ballycumber beside the 128 other Irish towns of 200 to 300 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gneevgullia | 300 | 1 | 131 | 0 | 0% | 4.8 km |
| … | ||||||
| Rosegreen | 219 | 1 | 152 | 0 | 0% | 4.3 km |
| Crossakeel | 218 | 2 | 145 | 0 | 0% | 8.9 km |
| Glassan | 218 | 1 | 293 | 0 | 0% | 6.6 km |
| Rathcoole | 218 | 1 | 76 | 0 | 0% | 7.4 km |
| Ballycumber | 216 | 1 | 110 | 0 | 100% | 5.1 km |
| Ballydesmond | 216 | 1 | 104 | 0 | 0% | 11 km |
| Beaulieu | 215 | 12 | 6,561 | 1 | 17% | 2 km |
| Ballynacargy | 215 | 1 | 55 | 0 | 100% | 8.6 km |
| Dunderrow | 213 | 2 | 270 | 0 | 0% | 5.1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Lahardane | 200 | 1 | 76 | 0 | 0% | 7.1 km |
Of these 128 other towns, 75 count more pupils at their schools than Ballycumber. Within 3 km, 7 of these 129 towns have a school teaching through Irish.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Schools in the towns around Ballycumber
For each nearby town, its schools in or within 3 km of its outline, with straight-line distances.
Tullamore has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. Pupils around Ballycumber: −12% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Kilcormac led (+24%) and Clara trailed (−5%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Ballycumber 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 Ballycumber
How many schools are there in Ballycumber?
In Ballycumber or within 3 km of it: 1 primary school, with 110 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Ballycumber that teach through Irish?
None in Ballycumber or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Ballycumber?
Not in Ballycumber or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Ardscoil Chiaráin Naofa, 5.1 km away.
What is the best school in Ballycumber?
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 Ballycumber?
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).