St Patrick's Grammar School, Armagh: admissions and open evenings

Cathedral Road, Armagh, BT61 7QZ

Grammar · Boys · Voluntary · Not a SEAG member

against these criteria.

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

Applicants who normally reside in the named parishes (Armagh, Aghaloo, Clonfeacle and others) at the date of application.
Applicants who attend any maintained, controlled or integrated primary school within the boundaries of the criterion 1 parishes.
Applicants who moved into a criterion 1 parish by 1 September 2025 and are the eldest male child in the family.
Applicants who live closest to the school, measured from the mid-point of the postcode by the most direct route.
Applicants with a brother enrolled at St Patrick’s Grammar or St Brigid’s High School (or past), or who are the eldest boy in the family.
Applicants who are sons of permanent members of staff.
Tie-break: applicants selected by a rank order of the initial letter of the surname, using a randomised letter order printed in the document.

Uses a parish list: check it in the criteria.

Usually has spare places

Everyone who put it first was offered a place in 2026/27 (115 children).

Applications per place (all preferences): 0.7 in 2024/25, 0.7 in 2025/26, 0.7 in 2026/27.

Expected about 84%, got 54% (5+ GCSEs A* to C with English and maths, 2024/25).

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.

Applications by the preference families gave the school, and children admitted
Year	Places	Put it 1st	2nd	3rd or later	Admitted
2024/25	180	110	7	3	120
2025/26	180	118	0	1	119
2026/27	180	115	8	1	124

In 2026/27, 115 of the 115 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.

Religious background of pupilsProtestant hidden (fewer than 5 pupils), Catholic 91%, other or none not published

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

From the school's admissions criteria for September 2026.

Year 8 places: 180 (whole school: 1,240)

Applications and admissions in recent years
Year	Places	Applications (all preferences)	Admitted
2023/24	180	141	141
2024/25	180	130	130
2025/26	180	124	124

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

Does not use transfer test results in its admissions criteria.

DENI reference 5420268

St Patrick's Grammar School