What are the best secondary schools in Northern Ireland 2023? Sunday Times School Guide reveals Parent Power results

The 31st Sunday Times School Guide, the list is revealed by Parent Power and determines the highest-achieving schools in the Northern Ireland by recent exam results.

The comprehensive guide was released online today with Lumen Christi College in Londonderry named as the top school in Northern Ireland.

The next three top spots went to Lisburn’s Friends' School (Quaker), Our Lady and St Patrick's College in Knock and St Mary's Grammar School, Magherafelt taking second, third and fourth place respectively.

This year there are 20 top local secondary schools named in the Sunday Times School Guide.

The guide is widely acknowledged as the most authoritative survey of the country’s top schools.

Northern Ireland is well known for its high quality education, boasting more academically selective grammar schools than anywhere else in the UK, because of this many of the schools mentioned are no stranger to the list.

Welcoming the news, principal of Friends' School in Lisburn, Mr Moore said: “We are delighted that the hard work and dedication of teachers and pupils at Friends’ has once again been recognised in the Sunday Times Guide.

"It’s a privilege to work with the young people here and to see them do so well, not only in their exams, but also in all of the other activities in which they are involved. It has been a challenging time for schools recently, but as Friends’ approaches its 250th anniversary in 2024-25, we can look forward to the future with optimism.”

Helen Davies, editor of Parent Power, explained: “The educational landscape continues to be challenging across both the state and independent sectors, and this is the first true assessment of post-pandemic exam results. We believe these rankings – and all the additional information on offer in Parent Power – provide parents with a more reliable guide to academic achievement in schools today.

“The guide showcases academic excellence but also celebrates schools who may not be right at the top but are rising, innovating and helping pupils flourish. Being a teenager is hard enough, and the past few years since Covid have made life even harder. It is heartening to highlight the achievements of so many students and schools across the UK.

“This year Parent Power includes details on extracurricular clubs, wellbeing initiatives and school lunch menus – chicken katsu seems to be the dish of the day.”

The fully searchable national database of over 1,000 schools by name, local authority, town and postcode, is available online and as a print supplement with The Sunday Times on Sunday, December 3.

Top Secondary Schools in Northern Ireland:

1 Lumen Christi College, Londonderry

2 Friends' School Lisburn (Quaker), Lisburn

3 Our Lady and St Patrick's College, Belfast

4 St Mary's Grammar School, Magherafelt

5 St Dominic's Grammar School for Girls, Belfast

6 Strathearn School, Belfast

7 Sullivan Upper School, Holywood

8 St Louis Grammar School, Ballymena

9 Banbridge Academy, Banbridge

10 Rainey Endowed School, Magherafelt

11 Belfast Royal Academy, Belfast

12 Aquinas Diocesan Grammar School, Belfast

13 Dalriada School, Ballymoney

14 Ballymena Academy, Ballymena

15 Omagh Academy, Omagh

16 Ballyclare High School, Ballyclare

17 Royal School Armagh, Armagh

18 The Wallace High School, Lisburn

19 Methodist College Belfast, Belfast

20 Enniskillen Royal Grammar School (previously Portora Royal School), County Fermanagh