Internationally there is now a growing body of research on student school engagement. Much of this research highlights the association of school engagement with a range of social, behavioural and academic outcomes. Less attention is paid to factors predicting disaffection among young children across various dimensions using nationally representative data-sets. This paper addresses this gap in research by exploring factors that are related to school disaffection in Irish primary schools. Drawing on a nationally representative study of nine-year-olds, the multivariate analysis reveals that disaffection is associated with a number of personal and institutional factors. While the data relate to the Irish situation, the paper raises a number of issues also of interest to an international audience.