Photo: Sarah777 at English Wikipedia · Public domainAround Cloonfad, 100% of schools get DEIS support, more than around Irish towns
DEIS, the extra support for schools serving disadvantaged areas, reaches 100% of the schools around Cloonfad, above Irish towns (35%). Cloonfad N.S. is a primary with 125 pupils. These schools are described rather than graded, because Ireland publishes no school results and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them.
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 Cloonfad’s schools
Fewer pupils than before
Pupil numbers at the schools here have fallen since 2019/20, against +5% across Ireland. Pupils over time ↓
Drawn from the Department of Education’s lists; none of it judges how well a school teaches.
Where the school in or near Cloonfad 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 Cloonfad’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 Cloonfad
Pupils every September at the schools in or within 3 km of the town, each counted at today’s site.
The schools in and around Cloonfad had 146 pupils in 2015/16 and 125 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Cloonfad
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 Cloonfad
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
None of the 1 schools in and around Cloonfad teaches every subject through Irish.
Who runs Cloonfad’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
1 of Cloonfad’s 1 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. Their patron: Archbishop of Tuam (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 Cloonfad
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 Cloonfad
Here are the schools in Cloonfad or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. You won’t find letters or results below: Ireland publishes none for single schools.
Inspection reports for Cloonfad’s schools
The Department of Education’s Inspectorate: every school’s reports linked, 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; the link below opens the school’s own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Cloonfad 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 Cloonfad
Post-primary schools within 10 km of the town; children move at about twelve, and families apply to each school
Families in Cloonfad have 2 post-primary schools within 10 km: 2 community schools. Every one of them takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dunmore Community SchoolCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 367 | 8.1 km |
| Ballyhaunis Community SchoolCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 717 | 8.7 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Cloonfad beside the 169 other Irish towns of 300 to 500 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stradbally | 500 | 2 | 134 | 0 | 0% | 8.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Gormanston | 380 | 7 | 2,680 | 1 | 14% | 0.3 km |
| Turlough | 379 | 1 | 45 | 0 | 0% | 5.6 km |
| Newtownsandes | 378 | 1 | 78 | 0 | 0% | 8.6 km |
| Glencullen | 376 | 3 | 683 | 0 | 0% | 4.4 km |
| Cloonfad | 376 | 1 | 125 | 0 | 100% | 8.1 km |
| Narraghmore | 375 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 8.9 km |
| Gort An Choirce | 375 | 5 | 813 | 4 | 100% | 2.2 km |
| Moneygall | 374 | 1 | 108 | 0 | 0% | 11 km |
| Carney | 373 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 5.9 km |
| … | ||||||
| Gneevgullia | 300 | 1 | 131 | 0 | 0% | 4.8 km |
Of the other 169 towns, 109 have more pupils at the schools around them than Cloonfad. 16 of the 170 towns have an all-Irish school within 3 km.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Schools in the towns around Cloonfad
Each town’s schools in or within 3 km of its outline; distances as the crow flies.
| Town | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloonfad | 1 | 125 | 0 | 100% | 8.1 km |
| Ballyhaunis 8.3 km | 2 | 1,102 | 0 | 100% | 0.7 km |
| Knock 16 km | 1 | 152 | 0 | 100% | 7.8 km |
| Claremorris 17 km | 3 | 1,120 | 0 | 0% | 0.7 km |
Pupils around Cloonfad: −22% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Ballyhaunis led (+11%) and Claremorris trailed (−6%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Cloonfad 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 Cloonfad
How many schools are there in Cloonfad?
In Cloonfad or within 3 km of it: 1 primary school, with 125 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Cloonfad that teach through Irish?
None in Cloonfad or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Cloonfad?
Not in Cloonfad or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Dunmore Community School, 8.1 km away.
What is the best school in Cloonfad?
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 Cloonfad?
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).