Lumen Christi College wins Secondary School of the Year award

Derry’s Lumen Christi College has been named as the leading secondary school in Northern Ireland.

The grammar school appears in The Sunday Times' Parent Power Guide, and is ranked 17th in the UK in the annual league table of the top-performing schools.

All the schools in the list were ranked according to the first true set of post-pandemic examination results.

The latest guide is the 31st edition and is available online from Friday and in print this Sunday.

Lumen Christi, a co-educational Catholic grammar school that opened in 1997, rose to the top of the table after placing seventh in the last list, which was topped by St Mary’s, Magherafelt.

Lumen Christi claimed the honour in the year before.

The top 10 was filled out by St Mary’s Magherafelt, St Dominic’s Grammar and Strathearn School (both in Belfast), Sullivan Upper in Holywood, St Louis’ Grammar in Ballymena, Banbridge Academy and the Rainey Endowed in Magherafelt.

Parent Power Guide editor Helen Davies said she hoped the league table would prove a useful tool for parents.

She added: “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.

“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.”