ST Mary’s all-girl secondary in Derry is the top performing urban school for GCSE results in 2014/15 across the North of Ireland, according to new figures.
And Luman Christi College in the city is among the five best grammars schools in Derry and Co Derry are also in the top 20 performing schools for A Level results across the North during the same period
Just three of the 50 schools with the best GCSE results in the North last year are located in Belfast, while only one is in Derry, St Mary’s on Northland Road.
Any school outside the cities of Derry and Belfast is classified as ‘rural’ by the Department of Education.
This week the annual non grammar performance list were published which featured the 50 schools with the highest proportion of pupils achieving five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C including English and maths.
Also published was a separate table for grammar schools based on their A-level results.
Improving literacy and numeracy is a key aim of the Executive’s Programme for Government.
The aim is to increase the overall proportion of pupils with at least five GCSEs at A*-C, including GCSEs in maths and English, by the time they leave school.
Non-grammar schools from rural Derry fetured prominently.
St Mary’s in Derry was the top performing urban school for GCSE results in 2014/15, in position 27.
Derry also performed well in the grammar schools, with five in the top 20 who had achieved three or more A Levels with grades A to C
They were:
- in fourth place is Lumna Christ College, Derry with 92 per cent
- in sixth place is St Mary’s College, Magherafelt; with 89 per cent;
- in eighth place is Thornhill College, Derry, with 88.9 per cent;
- Rainey Endowed College, Magherafelt is in 18th place with 82.9 per cent;
- and Foyle College, Derry with 79.5 was in 24th place.
In the report by the Irish News, the paper said the lists were not intend to suggest that one school is better than another.
It added that academic performance should not be the sole criterion for judging the quality of education on offer.
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