Calasanctius College has been added to a national pilot project to facilitate online applications for the 2026/2027 academic year.
Oranmore's only secondary school, with more than 900 pupils, was added to the ApplyToSchool.ie pilot by Minister for Education and Youth, Hildegarde Naughton, this week. It becomes the fourth school in County Galway where parents may apply through a centralised, online system for their school planning district.
“I am expanding the scheme to include Oranmore, amongst others,” said Naughton, speaking to the Advertiser. “Given that parents from Oranmore send their children to secondary school in Athenry and vice versa, it makes sense to have Oranmore in the programme also,” she added.
Calasanctius has had a number of admissions issues over recent years, with oversubscription and catchment area disputes driven by Oranmore's rapid population growth. In December it was granted planning permission for 10 new classrooms, and a range of specialised facilities for lab work, technology, art, engineering, textiles and construction studies. ApplyToSchool.ie was first introduced in 2025 across 15 schools in Athenry, Celbridge, Greystones, Clonakilty and Tullamore, with the intention of replacing individual, online application systems administered through schools’ own websites. It is now being rolled out to 22 schools for 2026.
Athenry’s Clarin College, Coláiste an Eachréidh and Presentation College were selected for the project last September, alongside 12 schools across Kildare, Cork and Wicklow.
Naughton, an Oranmore native, said the admissions system will now also be extended to new areas outside Galway, in Rosscarbery, Kilcoole, Maynooth, and Kilbeggan.
“I am delighted to see the expansion of the Apply to School system to more schools in Galway, building on the success of last year’s pilot programme. This initiative is already making the admissions process simpler, more transparent and less stressful for families, and this next phase will make the system even easier for parents to use.”
“By listening to feedback from schools and parents, we have continued to improve the system so that it works better for everyone involved. This is an important step towards a streamlined, national approach to school admissions, reducing administrative burdens for schools while providing a more user-friendly experience for families.”
In total, 22 post-primary schools will take part in the next phase of the Apply to School system. The enhanced online process is expected to directly benefit around 2,600 families applying for first-year places in 2026.
?The expansion comes after a comprehensive review of the existing pilot programme, originally designed to simplify and modernise the admissions process. Feedback from parents and schools has prompted officials to make improvements, designed to “support clearer communication between schools and families, help align admissions timelines, and streamline aspects of the admissions process” for mainstream and special education placements, according to an official statement.
