Photo: Sarah777 at English Wikipedia · Public domainDEIS support is widespread around Ballinlough: 100% of schools, above Irish towns
100% of the schools around Ballinlough are DEIS schools, above Irish towns (35%). DEIS, the extra support for schools in disadvantaged areas, reaches 2 of its 2 schools; across Ireland, 30%. With no school results published in Ireland, and the Education Act 1998 restricting comparisons of them, these schools are described, not graded or ranked.
Every school in the town or within 3 km of its outline, from the Department of Education’s lists for 2025/26; Ireland’s figures are every school in the lists.
What stands out about Ballinlough’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: Carrick Mixed N.S. (80) and Ballinlough N.S. (35). Who runs them ↓
Drawn from the Department of Education’s lists; none of it judges how well a school teaches.
Where the 2 schools in and around Ballinlough 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 Ballinlough’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 Ballinlough’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
1 of Ballinlough’s 2 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Kilmore Elphin & Ardagh COI (1) and Archbishop of Tuam (1). 2 of the 2 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 2 schools in and around Ballinlough
Here are the schools in Ballinlough or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. Without school-level results from Ireland, the cards show no letters.
Teaching through Irish in and around Ballinlough
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
None of the 2 schools in and around Ballinlough teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Ballinlough’s schools serve
The pupils at the area’s schools by share, beside Co. Roscommon’s and Ireland’s, 2025/26
Each bar is the area’s share; the tick marks Ireland’s.
| Share of pupils | Around Ballinlough | Co. Roscommon | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 100% | 29% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 1% | 6% |
| Girls | 50% | 48% | 49% |
100% of the pupils around Ballinlough are at a DEIS school, more than the 27% across Ireland (29% in Co. Roscommon). Furthest from Ireland’s mix is the share of pupils at all-Irish schools: 0% here against 6%. The biggest school in DEIS is Carrick Mixed N.S. (80 pupils).
Each of the 2 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballinlough N.S.Primary | 35 | 54% | ✓ | |
| Carrick Mixed N.S.Primary | 80 | 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 Ballinlough
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.
Inspection reports for Ballinlough’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 2 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Ballinlough N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Carrick 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 Ballinlough
Post-primary schools within 10 km of the town; children move at about twelve, and families apply to each school
No post-primary school is within 10 km of Ballinlough; the nearest is Castlerea Community School, 10 km away.
Ballinlough beside the 297 other Irish towns of 200 to 500 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stradbally | 500 | 2 | 134 | 0 | 0% | 8.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Legan | 346 | 1 | 69 | 0 | 100% | 11 km |
| Ballyporeen | 346 | 1 | 135 | 0 | 100% | 11 km |
| Ballydehob | 345 | 2 | 107 | 0 | 50% | 7.4 km |
| Bangor Erris | 344 | 1 | 61 | 0 | 100% | 16 km |
| Ballinlough | 343 | 2 | 115 | 0 | 100% | 10 km |
| Murntown | 342 | 2 | 468 | 0 | 0% | 4.7 km |
| Tinryland | 338 | 2 | 675 | 1 | 0% | 3.7 km |
| Emly | 338 | 1 | 122 | 0 | 100% | 5.6 km |
| Ballylanders | 337 | 2 | 151 | 0 | 50% | 8.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Lahardane | 200 | 1 | 76 | 0 | 0% | 7.1 km |
Of the other 297 towns, 190 have more pupils at the schools around them than Ballinlough. Teaching through Irish is on offer within 3 km in 23 of the 298.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Ballinlough
Every school in or within 3 km of the town each September, counted where it stands today.
The schools in and around Ballinlough had 102 pupils in 2015/16 and 115 in 2025/26.
Pupils at schools in and around Ballinlough
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 Ballinlough
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballinlough | 2 | 115 | 0 | 100% | 10 km |
| Ballyhaunis 9.5 km | 2 | 1,102 | 0 | 100% | 0.7 km |
| Castlerea 9.8 km | 5 | 959 | 0 | 80% | 0.3 km |
| Ballaghaderreen 18 km | 2 | 968 | 0 | 100% | 0.3 km |
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Ballinlough 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 Ballinlough
How many schools are there in Ballinlough?
In Ballinlough or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools, with 115 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Ballinlough that teach through Irish?
None in Ballinlough or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Ballinlough?
Not in Ballinlough or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Castlerea Community School, 10 km away.
What is the best school in Ballinlough?
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 Ballinlough?
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).