I sent my kids to a smallish local school, 250 kids. Absolutely brillant and loved the fact that everybody knew each other and small and friendly and kids got same teachers. My youngest is now called by the eldest's name by the teacher who doesn't even realise it.
For secondary Leper is right about the leaving cert being a priority. Not sure why you all need a vast amount of subjects though. 3 subjects are zero choice for most, (Irish, Eng, Maths) so a school that is getting good results at getting kids into college is important but it is not the only priority, I've chose a small school again that is good at that but is also good at sports and other extra curricular activities and gives a more rounded individual. There is life outside of the Leaving certificate and there are ways around college if you don't succeed at first.
With the Dail full of teachers, and Enda backtracking, and Jan not up to tackling the unions, what chance your school closing !