Photo: Royalcanalrunner · CC BY-SA 4.0Around Ballynacargy, 100% of schools get DEIS support, more than around Co. Westmeath’s towns or Irish towns
The DEIS programme includes 100% of the schools around Ballynacargy, above both Co. Westmeath’s towns (17%) and Irish towns (35%). Ballynacargy Mixed N.S. is a primary with 55 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.
Where the school in or near Ballynacargy 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 Ballynacargy’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 Ballynacargy
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
None of the 1 schools in and around Ballynacargy teaches every subject through Irish.
Who runs Ballynacargy’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
1 of Ballynacargy’s 1 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. Their patron: Bishop of Meath (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 Ballynacargy
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 Ballynacargy
Here are the schools in Ballynacargy or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. Without school-level results from Ireland, the cards show no letters.
Inspection reports for Ballynacargy’s schools
Reports from the Department of Education’s Inspectorate, every school’s linked and none rated
Each school is visited by inspectors from time to time, for a whole-school evaluation of teaching, learning and leadership, for one subject, or to follow up earlier advice, and every report is posted on gov.ie with the school’s response.
The reports describe what inspectors saw and what the school should do next. They give no overall grade, so none is shown here; the school below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Ballynacargy 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 Ballynacargy
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
The only post-primary school within 10 km of Ballynacargy is Wilson's Hospital School, a voluntary secondary school. It takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wilson's Hospital SchoolVoluntary secondary · Church of Ireland | Girls and boys | Boarding | 453 | 8.5 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Ballynacargy beside the 128 other Irish towns of 200 to 300 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gneevgullia | 300 | 1 | 131 | 0 | 0% | 4.8 km |
| … | ||||||
| Rathcoole | 218 | 1 | 76 | 0 | 0% | 7.4 km |
| Ballycumber | 216 | 1 | 110 | 0 | 100% | 5.1 km |
| Ballydesmond | 216 | 1 | 104 | 0 | 0% | 11 km |
| Beaulieu | 215 | 12 | 6,561 | 1 | 17% | 2 km |
| Ballynacargy | 215 | 1 | 55 | 0 | 100% | 8.6 km |
| Dunderrow | 213 | 2 | 270 | 0 | 0% | 5.1 km |
| Knocknagree | 213 | 1 | 83 | 0 | 0% | 5.5 km |
| Quigleys Point | 213 | 1 | 199 | 0 | 0% | 12 km |
| Ballyhack | 211 | 4 | 388 | 0 | 25% | 3.3 km |
| … | ||||||
| Lahardane | 200 | 1 | 76 | 0 | 0% | 7.1 km |
More pupils attend the schools around 118 of the other 128 towns than around Ballynacargy. An all-Irish school is within 3 km of 7 of the 129.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Ballynacargy
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 Ballynacargy had 66 pupils in 2015/16 and 55 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Ballynacargy
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 Ballynacargy
Schools in or within 3 km of each neighbouring town; distances in a straight line.
| Town | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballynacargy | 1 | 55 | 0 | 100% | 8.6 km |
| Edgeworthstown 14 km | 3 | 423 | 0 | 33% | 11 km |
| Mullingar 14 km | 18 | 6,384 | 2 | 33% | 0.4 km |
| Ballymahon 15 km | 5 | 1,663 | 0 | 40% | 0.3 km |
| Castlepollard 19 km | 3 | 512 | 0 | 67% | 1 km |
Mullingar has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 2.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Ballynacargy 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 Ballynacargy
How many schools are there in Ballynacargy?
In Ballynacargy or within 3 km of it: 1 primary school, with 55 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Ballynacargy that teach through Irish?
None in Ballynacargy or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Ballynacargy?
Not in Ballynacargy or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Wilson's Hospital School, 8.6 km away.
What is the best school in Ballynacargy?
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 Ballynacargy?
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).