SEAGReady

Thornhill College, Derry

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142 Culmore Road, Londonderry, BT48 8JF

Grammar · Girls · Voluntary · SEAG member

Pupils
1,362
Year 8
203
Council
Derry City and Strabane

Your chances

against these criteria.

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

  1. Applicants resident in Northern Ireland at the proposed admission are considered before all other applicants.
  2. Applicants awarded SEAG BAND 1, plus those with accepted special circumstances or provision of comparable ability.
  3. Applicants awarded SEAG BAND 2, plus those with accepted special circumstances or provision of comparable ability.
  4. Applicants awarded SEAG BAND 3, plus those with accepted special circumstances or provision of comparable ability.
  5. Applicants awarded SEAG BAND 4, plus those with accepted special circumstances or provision of comparable ability.
  6. Applicants awarded SEAG BAND 5, plus those with accepted special circumstances or provision of comparable ability.
  7. Applicants awarded SEAG BAND 6, plus those with accepted special circumstances or provision of comparable ability.
  8. Where a band is oversubscribed: applicants with a child of the family currently enrolled or starting in the coming year.
  9. Where a band is oversubscribed: applicants who are the eldest child of the family eligible to apply.
  10. Where a band is oversubscribed: applicants who are a Child Looked After.
  11. Remaining ties after criterion 7 sub-criteria: selection by initial letter of surname in the order printed.
  12. Applicants other than those meeting criteria 1 to 8 (no SEAG band) are considered next.
  13. Within criterion 9: applicants with a child of the family currently enrolled or starting in the coming year.
  14. Within criterion 9: applicants who are the eldest child of the family eligible to apply.
  15. Within criterion 9: applicants who are a Child Looked After.
  16. Remaining ties after criterion 9 sub-criteria: selection by initial letter of surname in the order printed.

The school's criteria

Getting in

Usually has spare places

Everyone who put it first was offered a place in 2026/27 (162 children).

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

Applications per place (all preferences): 0.9 in 2024/25, 1 in 2025/26, 0.9 in 2026/27.

Results for its intake

Expected about 83%, got 96% (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.

Getting there

The school runs its own buses. See routes

School life

  • School day 9.15am to 3.40pm source

Who applied

Applications by the preference families gave the school, and children admitted
YearPlacesPut it 1st2nd3rd or laterAdmitted
2024/2520015659170
2025/26200174242200
2026/272001621413188

In 2026/27, 162 of the 162 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
22.1%
Special educational needs
93 pupils (24 with a statement)
Has Years 13 and 14
Yes
Area
Rural

Religious background of pupilsProtestant 0.4%, Catholic 95.1%, other or none 4.5%

Exam results (2024/25)

5+ GCSEs A* to C, with English and maths
96%
5+ GCSEs A* to C
98%
3+ A-levels A* to C
75.9%
2+ A-levels A* to E
100%
Year 12 pupils counted
199
A-level pupils counted
187

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
2023/24207213211
2024/25200184184
2025/26200206203

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

School's note: * Includes figures exceeding the school’s approved admissions number due to either statemented children or successful appeals.

Uses transfer test results in its admissions criteria.

Sources

DENI reference 2420052

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