Photo: Eric Jones · CC BY-SA 2.0More children at the schools around Cliffony: +31% since 2019/20, above Irish towns
That puts Cliffony above Irish towns (+4%). Its schools have 131 pupils, 31% more than in 2019/20. 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 Cliffony’s schools
More pupils every year
Pupil numbers at the schools here have grown faster than across Ireland (+5% since 2019/20), so classes and new places are a question worth asking. Pupils over time ↓
One school growing fast
Of the schools here, Cliffoney N.S. has grown fastest, from 67 in 2019/20 to 96. Getting a place ↓
Facts from the Department of Education’s lists; nothing here judges how well a school teaches.
Where the 2 schools in and around Cliffony 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 Cliffony’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 Cliffony
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 Cliffony had 90 pupils in 2015/16 and 131 in 2025/26.
Pupils at schools in and around Cliffony
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.
Who runs Cliffony’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
2 of Cliffony’s 2 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. Their patron: Bishop of Elphin (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 Cliffony
Schools by the language they teach in; the black tick is Ireland’s share.
None of the 2 schools in and around Cliffony teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Cliffony’s schools serve
The pupils at the area’s schools by share, beside Co. Sligo’s and Ireland’s, 2025/26
Each bar is the area’s share; the tick marks Ireland’s.
| Share of pupils | Around Cliffony | Co. Sligo | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 0% | 24% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 2% | 6% |
| Girls | 40% | 48% | 49% |
DEIS schools teach 0% of the pupils around Cliffony, a smaller share than Ireland’s 27% (Co. Sligo: 24%). Furthest from Ireland’s mix is the share of girls: 40% here against 49%.
Each of the 2 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cliffoney N.S.Primary | 96 | 43% | ||
| S.N. BhridePrimary | 35 | 34% |
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 Cliffony
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
2 schools here have grown by 5% or more since 2019/20, 0 have shrunk by as much, out of 2; 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 2 schools in and around Cliffony
Each school in or within 3 km of Cliffony links to a page of its own. Ireland publishes no results school by school, so these cards carry no letters or results.
Inspection reports for Cliffony’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; each of the 2 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Cliffoney N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. BhridePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Cliffony
Post-primary schools within 10 km of the town; children move at about twelve, and families apply to each school
The only post-primary school within 10 km of Cliffony is Grange Post Primary School, an ETB school. It takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grange Post Primary SchoolETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 302 | 6.2 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Cliffony beside the 166 other Irish towns of 400 to 700 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shanagarry | 700 | 2 | 201 | 0 | 0% | 11 km |
| … | ||||||
| Oldtown | 523 | 2 | 435 | 0 | 0% | 5.1 km |
| Ballyoulster | 523 | 24 | 10,718 | 1 | 0% | 3.1 km |
| Mullinahone | 523 | 2 | 169 | 0 | 50% | 9 km |
| Rivermeade | 521 | 5 | 1,862 | 0 | 20% | 3.1 km |
| Cliffony | 521 | 2 | 131 | 0 | 0% | 6.2 km |
| Kildrum | 518 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 16 km |
| Knockraha | 517 | 1 | 147 | 0 | 0% | 4.3 km |
| Kildimo | 512 | 1 | 138 | 0 | 0% | 4.2 km |
| Foynes | 512 | 1 | 99 | 0 | 0% | 6.9 km |
| … | ||||||
| Oilgate | 401 | 2 | 152 | 0 | 100% | 6.2 km |
Among the 166 other towns, 133 have more pupils at their schools than Cliffony does. Teaching through Irish is on offer within 3 km in 12 of the 167.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Schools in the towns around Cliffony
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cliffony | 2 | 131 | 0 | 0% | 6.2 km |
| Kinlough 11 km | 3 | 898 | 0 | 33% | 3.2 km |
| Bundoran 12 km | 3 | 898 | 0 | 33% | 0.2 km |
| Sligo 18 km | 17 | 6,012 | 1 | 35% | 0.6 km |
| Ballyshannon 19 km | 6 | 1,236 | 1 | 83% | 0.6 km |
Sligo has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. Of Cliffony’s neighbours, Sligo saw the most growth in pupils since 2019/20 (+10%) and Bundoran the least (+1%); Cliffony itself: +31%.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Cliffony 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 Cliffony
How many schools are there in Cliffony?
In Cliffony or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools, with 131 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Cliffony that teach through Irish?
None in Cliffony or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Cliffony?
Not in Cliffony or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Grange Post Primary School, 6.2 km away.
What is the best school in Cliffony?
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 Cliffony?
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).