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Belfast Royal Academy

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5-17 Cliftonville Road, Belfast, BT14 6JL

Grammar · Boys · Voluntary · SEAG member

Pupils
1,454
Year 8
203
Council
Belfast

Open events

Your chances

against these criteria.

How it chooses when it has more applicants than places, in order:

  1. Admit candidates in strict rank order of TSAS, highest to lowest, up to the approved admissions number.
  2. Tie-break (i): present members of the Preparatory Department registered since 1 September 2025.
  3. Tie-break (ii): sibling currently in attendance at the Secondary Department.
  4. Tie-break (iii): candidates entitled to Free School Meals.
  5. Tie-break Method A: eldest first by age on birth certificate.
  6. Tie-break Method B: initial letter of surname in a fixed random-selection order.
  7. Tie-break Method C: computerised random selection.

The school's criteria

Getting in

32 of the 207 children who put it first were not offered a place in 2026/27.

Places depend mostly on the SEAG score, so how many apply says little on its own.

For September 2026 entry: places by SEAG score went to 194 and above. source

For September 2026 entry, 270 applications were considered for 200 places. Places ran out at criterion 3(a): Places were filled in descending TSAS rank order. EA statement

Applications per place (all preferences): 1.5 in 2024/25, 1.4 in 2025/26, 1.3 in 2026/27.

Results for its intake

Expected about 93%, got 98.1% (5+ GCSEs A* to C with English and maths, 2024/25).

0%50%100%0%20%40%Pupils on free school meals
Each dot is a grammar school with 30 or more Year 12 pupils. The dashed line is what schools usually get at each free school meals level.

Who applied

Applications by the preference families gave the school, and children admitted
YearPlacesPut it 1st2nd3rd or laterAdmitted
2024/252002484216200
2025/262002502610200
2026/272002073615200

In 2026/27, 175 of the 207 children who put it first got a place here.

Each child counts once, at the preference their family gave this school. Figures at the end of the admissions procedure, from the Education Authority's analysis of preferences.

Pupils (October 2025)

Free school meals
11.8%
Special educational needs
48 pupils (37 with a statement)
Has Years 13 and 14
Yes
Area
Urban

Religious background of pupilsProtestant 34%, Catholic 28.9%, other or none 37.1%

Exam results (2024/25)

5+ GCSEs A* to C, with English and maths
98.1%
5+ GCSEs A* to C
98.1%
3+ A-levels A* to C
83.8%
2+ A-levels A* to E
100%
Year 12 pupils counted
210
A-level pupils counted
198

Source: Department of Education, SAER 2024/25, Open Government Licence.

Admissions

From the school's admissions criteria for September 2026.

Year 8 places: 200 (whole school: 1,410)

Applications and admissions in recent years
YearPlacesApplications (all preferences)Admitted
2023/24200261209
2024/25200317210
2025/26200289203

Applications count every family that named the school at any preference, not only first preferences.

School's note: *Pupils in excess of the approved admissions number have been admitted via one of four routes: Statement of Educational Needs; Via the Education Authority Appeals Process; Via a temporary variation request from the School; or Via the Independent Exceptional Circumstances Board (ECB)

Uses transfer test results in its admissions criteria.

Sources

DENI reference 1420028

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