Looking for your nearest high performing Northern Ireland School?
Welcome to our Top Northern Ireland Schools Guide.
Best Northern Ireland Schools
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These are the most highly rated state and grammar schools in Northern Ireland 2023.
1 St Mary’s Grammar School, Magherafelt
2 Aquinas Diocesan Grammar School, Belfast
3 Our Lady and St Patrick’s College, Knock, Belfast
4 Strathearn School, Belfast
5 Friends’ School, Lisburn (Quaker)
6 St Dominic’s School, Belfast
7 Lumen Christi College, Londonderry
8 Sullivan Upper School, Holywood
9 Rainey Endowed School, Magherafelt
10 Banbridge Academy
11 Omagh Academy
12 Ballymena Academy
13 Methodist College Belfast
14 Ballyclare High School
15 Dalriada School, Ballymoney
16 Limavady Grammar School
17 The Wallace High School, Lisburn
18 Royal School Armagh
19 Enniskillen Royal Grammar School (previously Portora Royal School)
20 Portadown College
How to get your child into the top nearby school?
Getting your child into the best Northern Ireland school for them is all about:
- Researching which are the highest rated schools in your local area.
- Planning alternatives in advance – since there is of course no guarantee of your first choice working out.
- Realistically assessing your current financial situation.
Here’s our popular Passed Papers You Tube channel.
Ask ROB your Northern Ireland education questions by emailing passedpapers@gmail.com
An Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, Rob Williams is a Chartered Psychologist with over 25 years of experience working and designing tests.
Rob has worked for the school entrance test publishers ISEB, Hodder and GL Assessment.
How do I interpret the Top schools’ league tables?
The Northern Ireland school league table rankings are based on the latest exam results.
These are usually the previous independent school year group’s GCSE exam results and A-Level exam results.
Ofsted Reports
What are Ofsted reports?
Plus, how well performance standards have been met across the independent school. There are three possible outcomes: under-achieving; achieving; or outstanding.
Well firstly these are something that you must check for each independent school of interest.
Each Ofsted report is an analysis of that school’s teachers’ professional competence.
Looking for your best local schools?
- Firstly, the best schools in the North based on 2024 league table schools in the North.
- Best East Anglia schools and also the best schools in Scotland.
- Then next the best schools in Wales and also the best Northern Ireland schools.
- Plus, the London private schools league tables and also the best north east schools.
- Best Yorkshire secondary schools and the best grammar schools.
- Top private schools uk and best comprehensive schools uk.
- The best southeast schools and top southwest schools
- Best northwest schools, top east midlands schools and best west midlands schools
- Finally, the best 2024 schools league tables and the best sixth forms nearby.