A bid by a school in Clare to enrol four pupils to save it from closure next year, has fallen short.
Furglan National School has seven pupils but needed four more to meet the Department of Education's threshold of 11 to guarantee that it stays open beyond the school year.
The deadline was midnight last night and it passed without the names of four more children being added to the roll book for September 2026.
"Unfortunately, despite a tremendous effort over the past week, we have been unable to secure the additional four students by the Department of Education’s 30 September deadline," Principal Patricia Vaughan said.
Located between Ennistymon and Inagh, the school boasts what might be the best student teacher ratio in the country, with two teachers, a part-time special needs teacher and an SNA for seven pupils.
Ms Vaughan has taught at the school for 30 years and been principal for 25.
She confirmed the school will make an appeal to keep the doors open next year.
The school has been advised by the Department’s Primary Allocations Unit to submit a "Small School Appeal" to the Primary Staffing Appeals Board to retain the school’s status and current staffing levels.
"We will be submitting this appeal in February/March 2026, once the Department has issued the updated national guidelines on the staffing schedule for primary education in Ireland," she said.
"Our efforts to boost enrolment numbers continue," she said.
Read more: Race against time to save Clare school from closure
