Around Ballincar, only 0% of schools teach through Irish, fewer than around Irish towns
Set beside other towns, Ballincar comes out below Irish towns (8%). In or within 3 km of Ballincar, they have 2,181 pupils in all. 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 Ballincar’s schools
A wide choice at twelve
Within 10 km of the town there are 6 post-primary schools to choose from, of different kinds; each sets its own admission policy, and many families apply to several. The nearest: Ursuline College (3.7 km), Ballinode College (4.6 km) and Sligo Grammar School (4.9 km). Post-primary choices ↓
One school growing fast
The fastest-growing school here is St Brendans N.S.: 141 pupils in 2019/20, 177 now. Getting a place ↓
From the Department of Education’s school lists: facts, not judgements of how well a school teaches.
Where the 9 schools in and around Ballincar 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 Ballincar’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.
Teaching through Irish in and around Ballincar
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
None of the 9 schools in and around Ballincar teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Ballincar’s schools serve
How the area’s pupils divide, against Co. Sligo’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 Ballincar | Co. Sligo | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 29% | 24% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 2% | 6% |
| Girls | 60% | 48% | 49% |
| Post-primary pupils at single-sex schools | 70% | 10% | 29% |
| Post-primary pupils at fee-paying schools | 0% | 8% | 6% |
DEIS schools teach 29% of the pupils around Ballincar, much as across Ireland (27%; Co. Sligo: 24%). Where this area differs most from Ireland is post-primary pupils at single-sex schools, at 70% against 29%. Ballinode College, with 258 pupils, is the largest school here in DEIS.
Each of the 9 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Cecilia's SchoolSpecial | 93 | 31% | ||
| St Brendans N.S.Primary | 177 | 44% | ✓ | |
| St Josephs Special SchSpecial | 43 | 28% | ||
| Ursuline CollegePost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 603 | 100% | ||
| St Edwards N.S.Primary | 207 | 51% | ✓ | |
| Rathcormack N.S.Primary | 244 | 48% | ||
| S N Realt na MaraPrimary | 117 | 58% | ||
| S.N. UrsulaPrimary | 439 | 49% | ||
| Ballinode CollegePost-primary · ETB | 258 | 30% | ✓ |
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.
Who runs Ballincar’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
8 of Ballincar’s 9 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Elphin (5), Daughters of Wisdom (1) and North West Parents and Friends Association for persons with intellectual disability (1). 3 of the 9 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 5 patrons of Ballincar’s schools
Each school has a patron that owns it and sets its ethos; its board of management runs it.
5 patrons run the 9 schools around Ballincar; the largest, Bishop of Elphin, has 5 of them and 54% of the pupils. The local Education and Training Board runs one.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of ElphinS.N. Ursula, Rathcormack, St Edwards, St Brendans, S N Realt na Mara | Catholic | 5 | 1,184 |
| Le Chéile Schools TrustUrsuline College | Catholic | 1 | 603 |
| Mayo, Sligo & Leitrim ETBBallinode College | Multi-denominational | 1 | 258 |
| Daughters of WisdomSt. Cecilia's School | Catholic | 1 | 93 |
| North West Parents and Friends Association for persons with intellectual disabilitySt Josephs Special Sch | Catholic | 1 | 43 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Ballincar
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
4 schools here have grown by 5% or more since 2019/20, 1 have shrunk by as much, out of 7; across Ireland: +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 9 schools in and around Ballincar
Every school in Ballincar or within 3 km of its outline, each linked to its own page. Results by school aren’t published in Ireland, so the cards carry none.
Inspection reports for Ballincar’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 9 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| St. Cecilia's SchoolSpecial | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Brendans N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Josephs Special SchSpecial | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Ursuline CollegePost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Edwards N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Rathcormack N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S N Realt na MaraPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. UrsulaPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Ballinode CollegePost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Ballincar
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
Within 10 km of Ballincar there are 6 post-primary schools: 4 voluntary secondary schools and 2 ETB schools. Of these, one teaches only girls or only boys. One of them charges fees. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ursuline CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls | – | 603 | 3.7 km |
| Ballinode CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 258 | 4.6 km |
| Sligo Grammar SchoolVoluntary secondary · Church of Ireland | Girls and boys | Fee-paying, Boarding | 475 | 4.9 km |
| Summerhill CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 1,155 | 4.9 km |
| Mercy CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 718 | 5.2 km |
| Grange Post Primary SchoolETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 302 | 9.7 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Ballincar
2 special schools serve the area: St. Cecilia's School and St Josephs Special Sch, 136 pupils between them. 2 of the 5 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.
Ballincar beside the 217 other Irish towns of 300 to 600 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freshford | 593 | 2 | 244 | 0 | 50% | 10 km |
| … | ||||||
| Castlelyons | 428 | 2 | 626 | 0 | 0% | 5.5 km |
| Glenbeigh | 426 | 2 | 144 | 0 | 100% | 11 km |
| Drumconrath | 423 | 1 | 125 | 0 | 0% | 6.6 km |
| Newtown | 423 | 3 | 485 | 0 | 0% | 6.6 km |
| Ballincar | 423 | 9 | 2,181 | 0 | 33% | 3.7 km |
| Boherbue | 422 | 2 | 759 | 0 | 0% | 0.3 km |
| Gurteen | 421 | 1 | 116 | 0 | 0% | 11 km |
| Arvagh | 419 | 1 | 102 | 0 | 0% | 4.8 km |
| Athea | 418 | 1 | 171 | 0 | 0% | 7.8 km |
| … | ||||||
| Gneevgullia | 300 | 1 | 131 | 0 | 0% | 4.8 km |
Of the other 217 towns, 7 have more pupils at the schools around them than Ballincar. Teaching through Irish is on offer within 3 km in 19 of the 218.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Ballincar
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 Ballincar had 2,497 pupils in 2015/16 and 2,181 in 2025/26, fewer than before. St. Cecilia's School grew most: +63% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Ballincar
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 Ballincar
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballincar | 9 | 2,181 | 0 | 33% | 3.7 km |
| Sligo 4.6 km | 17 | 6,012 | 1 | 35% | 0.6 km |
| Strandhill 6.6 km | 1 | 252 | 0 | 0% | 7.1 km |
| Ballysadare 10 km | 4 | 806 | 0 | 25% | 0.2 km |
| Collooney 14 km | 3 | 580 | 0 | 33% | 3.4 km |
| Coolaney 16 km | 1 | 174 | 0 | 0% | 7.5 km |
Sligo has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. The roll around Ballincar moved +6% since 2019/20; nearby, Collooney grew most (+31%) and Coolaney least (−19%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Ballincar 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 Ballincar
How many schools are there in Ballincar?
In Ballincar or within 3 km of it: 5 primary schools, 2 secondary schools and 2 special schools, with 2,181 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Ballincar that teach through Irish?
None in Ballincar or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Ballincar?
No: all 2 secondary schools here are free.
What is the best school in Ballincar?
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 Ballincar?
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).