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Cookstown High School

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Coolnafranky Demesne, Cookstown, BT80 8PQ

Non-selective · Mixed · Controlled

Pupils
897
Year 8
167
Council
Mid Ulster

Your chances

against these criteria.

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

  1. Priority to pupils entitled to Free School Meals, in proportion to first preference FSME applications.
  2. Children attending one of the named feeder primary schools.
  3. Other children, considered after the feeder criterion.
  4. Sub-criterion (i): applicant has a sibling currently attending Cookstown High School.
  5. Sub-criterion (ii): applicant is the eldest child.
  6. Sub-criterion (iii): school is the nearest suitable school from the front door of the Morrison Building; also a deciding factor in other sub-criteria.
  7. Final tie-breaker: selection by initial letter of surname in a fixed order.

The school's criteria

Getting in

Usually has spare places

Everyone who put it first was offered a place in 2026/27 (154 children).

Applications per place (all preferences): 0.8 in 2024/25, 0.9 in 2025/26, 0.9 in 2026/27.

Results for its intake

Expected about 68%, got 75% (5+ GCSEs A* to C with English and maths, 2024/25).

0%50%100%0%40%80%Pupils on free school meals
Each dot is a non-selective 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
2024/2518013510136
2025/2618015300153
2026/2718015420156

In 2026/27, 154 of the 154 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
18.4%
Special educational needs
135 pupils (54 with a statement)
Has Years 13 and 14
Yes
Area
Urban

Religious background of pupilsProtestant 73.7%, Catholic 5.2%, other or none 21.1%

Exam results (2024/25)

5+ GCSEs A* to C, with English and maths
75%
5+ GCSEs A* to C
87.5%
3+ A-levels A* to C
69%
2+ A-levels A* to E
100%
Year 12 pupils counted
144
A-level pupils counted
58

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

Admissions

From the school's admissions criteria for September 2026.

Year 8 places: 180 (whole school: 1,100)

Applications and admissions in recent years
YearPlacesApplications (all preferences)Admitted
2023/24180140140
2024/25180140140
2025/26180164164

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

School's note: *The Total Admissions for year 2025/2026 includes all Year 8 children admitted to the school including those who have a statement of special educational needs and/or may be attending SPiMS. (SPiMS = Specialist Provision in Mainstream School)

Does not use transfer test results in its admissions criteria.

Sources

DENI reference 5210230

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