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Admission criteria for grammar schools in Northern Ireland for entrance in September 2025 may have changed.
Almost all grammar schools will be using the results in the SEAG Transfer Tests as one of many criteria used as part of the admissions policy for entry into year 8 (first form).
Grammar School admission criteria can vary greatly from school to school and you should make yourself aware of all the criteria details as they will determine which children will be admitted to that school in September 2025.
Make sure that you provide the school with all the information that they require as the school will use the information that you provide when making their decision about which children are admitted in September 2025.
Rathmore Grammar School
Rathmore Grammar School, Belfast- a brief history.
Rathmore Grammar School is built on a site at Finaghy, between Belfast and Lisburn. Rathmore Grammar began its life in a stately home, built by the wealthy businessman Victor Coates, for his family. Now the school is a very large Catholic co-educational grammar school with almost 1300 pupils. It has a reputation for obtaining excellent academic results with its pupils. In 2015 the school was awarded the Sunday Times “School of the year” award and the school continues to rank highly amongst all the grammar schools in Northern Ireland. Demand for places in year 8 is always very high and, in recent years, only pupils who score very highly in the GL Assessment Transfer Tests have been able to gain a place at the school for 8.
Rathmore Grammar School uses tthe new SEAG Single Entrance Transfer Test results as part of its intake criteria into year 8.