Photo: Zxcode · CC BY-SA 3.0The schools around Coolaney have fewer pupils than in 2019/20: −19%, below Irish towns
In the comparison, Coolaney comes below Irish towns (+4%). Rockfield N.S. is a primary with 174 pupils. Ireland publishes no school results, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them, so these schools are described here, never graded or ranked.
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 Coolaney’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 Coolaney 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 Coolaney’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 Coolaney
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 Coolaney had 187 pupils in 2015/16 and 174 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Coolaney
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 Coolaney
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
None of the 1 schools in and around Coolaney teaches every subject through Irish.
Who runs Coolaney’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
1 of Coolaney’s 1 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. Their patron: Bishop of Achonry (1). None of the 1 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.
How children get a place in Coolaney
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 Coolaney
Every school in Coolaney or within 3 km of its outline, each linked to its own page. Ireland publishes no results school by school, so these cards carry no letters or results.
Inspection reports for Coolaney’s schools
Reports from the Department of Education’s Inspectorate, every school’s linked and none rated
The Inspectorate inspects schools in several ways: a whole-school evaluation covers teaching, learning and how the school is led; a subject inspection looks at one subject; a follow-through checks on earlier advice. Reports go on gov.ie with the school’s reply.
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 |
|---|---|
| Rockfield 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 Coolaney
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
The only post-primary school within 10 km of Coolaney is St Marys College, a voluntary secondary school. It takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Marys CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 264 | 7.5 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Coolaney beside the 136 other Irish towns of 800 to 1,600 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kilbeggan | 1,575 | 2 | 966 | 0 | 0% | 1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Ballylinan | 1,167 | 3 | 435 | 0 | 0% | 7.2 km |
| Raphoe | 1,161 | 4 | 1,792 | 0 | 100% | 0.2 km |
| Aghada-Rostellan | 1,159 | 3 | 574 | 0 | 0% | 5.5 km |
| Straffan | 1,158 | 2 | 730 | 0 | 0% | 3.8 km |
| Coolaney | 1,155 | 1 | 174 | 0 | 0% | 7.5 km |
| Ennistimon | 1,137 | 5 | 1,088 | 0 | 60% | 0.6 km |
| Crossmolina | 1,134 | 3 | 1,029 | 0 | 33% | 0.8 km |
| Drumlish | 1,124 | 1 | 215 | 0 | 100% | 10 km |
| Milltown | 1,118 | 4 | 1,193 | 0 | 25% | 0.2 km |
| … | ||||||
| Ballon | 801 | 1 | 239 | 0 | 0% | 7.5 km |
More pupils attend the schools around 132 of the other 136 towns than around Coolaney. Within 3 km, 15 of these 137 towns have a school teaching through Irish.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Schools in the towns around Coolaney
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coolaney | 1 | 174 | 0 | 0% | 7.5 km |
| Collooney 7.3 km | 3 | 580 | 0 | 33% | 3.4 km |
| Ballysadare 7.5 km | 4 | 806 | 0 | 25% | 0.2 km |
| Ballymote 11 km | 3 | 694 | 0 | 67% | 0.5 km |
| Strandhill 11 km | 1 | 252 | 0 | 0% | 7.1 km |
| Sligo 14 km | 17 | 6,012 | 1 | 35% | 0.6 km |
| Tubbercurry 16 km | 4 | 1,130 | 0 | 25% | 1.7 km |
Sligo has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. Of Coolaney’s neighbours, Collooney saw the most growth in pupils since 2019/20 (+31%) and Strandhill the least (−2%); Coolaney itself: −19%.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Coolaney 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 Coolaney
How many schools are there in Coolaney?
In Coolaney or within 3 km of it: 1 primary school, with 174 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Coolaney that teach through Irish?
None in Coolaney or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Coolaney?
Not in Coolaney or within 3 km of it; the nearest is St Marys College, 7.5 km away.
What is the best school in Coolaney?
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 Coolaney?
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).