Photo: Kenneth Allen · CC BY-SA 2.0The schools around Portrush get lower GCSE results than 58% of Northern Ireland towns
No post-primary school is inside Portrush; the School Grade uses the 6 grammar and non-grammar schools in or within 10 km of the town, since children here travel, most of all to grammar schools. Portrush grades C+ for schools against Northern Ireland’s towns, #4 of 7 in Causeway Coast and Glens.
Figures for the area are pupil-weighted across the schools the grade uses; Northern Ireland’s are the average school.
What stands out about Portrush’s schools
More mixed than most; one integrated school
1 of Portrush’s 3 mainstream schools are mostly one community, at least 90% Catholic or under 10% (across Northern Ireland, 74% of schools). Mill Strand Integrated Primary School teaches pupils from both communities together. St Patrick's PS also has a mix, with 10% to 90% Catholic pupils. Every school’s mix ↓
Room in most schools
43 places are free across Portrush’s schools this year. The fullest is Mill Strand Integrated PS (89%). How full ↓
Special needs
13% of pupils in Portrush’s mainstream schools are on the special educational needs register, against 19% across Northern Ireland. Special needs ↓
Written from the Department of Education’s school census and exam results on this page.
Portrush grades C+ for schools
Against Northern Ireland’s towns only: Northern Ireland sets its own exams and selects at 11, so its schools are never ranked against England’s.
Northern Ireland chooses at 11. Most grammar schools admit on a transfer test, and their results show it: on average 94% of their pupils get five good GCSEs including English and maths, against 60% at other schools. A grammar school’s pupils also come from well beyond its own town, so grading only the schools inside a boundary would reward a town simply for hosting one.
So Portrush’s grade takes the schools its children can reach: every post-primary school in the town or within 10 km of it, grammar and non-grammar together, each counted by its Year 12 pupils. For Portrush that is the 6 within 10 km of it, since no post-primary school is inside the town. The result is ranked against Northern Ireland’s towns only, never England’s, because Northern Ireland sets its own exams. Primary schools don’t count: Northern Ireland publishes no primary results.
Each dot’s colour is the school’s letter against its own kind, grammar or non-grammar, so a grammar school can sit high on the scale and still not be green.
Where Portrush’s 3 schools are
Each school where OpenStreetMap places it (or, for a school not mapped there, in its Census data zone), coloured by how it is run and sized by pupils. Squares are post-primary schools, triangles special and nursery schools. The dashed shape is Portrush’s settlement boundary.
The 3 schools in Portrush
Portrush has 3 schools inside its settlement boundary, from the Department of Education’s school census. A post-primary school’s letter compares it with its own kind, grammar schools with grammars and the others with non-grammar schools, on 2024/25 GCSEs. Primary schools have no letter: Northern Ireland publishes no primary results. Each school’s page has its pupils, results, religious mix and special needs.
The mix of pupils in Portrush’s schools
Pupils by religion at each mainstream school, October 2025.
Most of Northern Ireland’s children go to a school mostly of their own community: controlled schools are mostly Protestant, Catholic maintained schools mostly Catholic. Integrated schools set out to teach both together. In Portrush, 1 of 3 mainstream schools are at least 90% Catholic or under 10% Catholic. The census records each pupil’s religion as given by their family; “other” includes no religion.
Department of Education, school enrolment, school level data 2025/26: pupils by religion. DE leaves out a group under 5 pupils; where only one group is left out, it is the remainder.
Room in Portrush’s schools
Places taken as a share of each school’s approved enrolment, 2025/26. The black tick is 100%.
Department of Education, available places 2025/26: a school’s approved enrolment is the number of pupils it is allowed; places free are what DE counts as left.
Special educational needs in Portrush’s schools
On the special educational needs register: 13% of the pupils at Portrush’s mainstream schools (Northern Ireland: 19%). Most are supported by their school (stages 1 and 2 of the Code of Practice); 18 have a statement, the third stage, which the Education Authority writes after an assessment and which can name a school.
The bars show each school’s share on the register; the black tick is Northern Ireland’s average for the phase (primary 20%, post-primary 17%).
Department of Education, school enrolment, school level data 2025/26: SEN (Code of Practice stages 1 to 3) and specialist provision in mainstream.
How children get a place in Portrush
Starting primary school
Children who are 4 by 1 July start Primary 1 that September. Families apply to the Education Authority in the January before, listing schools in order of preference. A school with more applicants than places admits on its published criteria, often brothers and sisters, the parish or a feeder nursery, and where the family lives. Portrush’s primary schools have 43 places free between them; the tightest is Mill Strand Integrated PS, with 43 of 385.
Moving up at 11
Families apply for a post-primary place in Primary 7, again through the Education Authority. Most grammar schools admit on the transfer test, which children can choose to sit in Primary 7; Portrush has none of its own.
Education Authority admissions · each school’s criteria are on its own website.
Pupil numbers at schools in Portrush
The same schools in each census, 2016/17 to 2025/26.
Primary pupil numbers fell from 268 in 2016/17 to 196 in 2025/26.
Department of Education school censuses. Primary totals include nursery classes; totals include specialist provision where DE includes it.
8th of 14 Northern Irish towns of 4,000 to 8,000
Ranked by School Grade, best first: the towns either side of Portrush, and the top and bottom of the group.
| # | Town | Schools | 5+ GCSEs incl. E&M |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crumlin Antrim and Newtownabbey | A+ | 86% |
| … | |||
| 4 | Ballycastle Causeway Coast and Glens | A− | 80% |
| 5 | Dromore Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | A− | 78% |
| 6 | Coalisland Mid Ulster | B+ | 77% |
| 7 | Portstewart Causeway Coast and Glens | B | 76% |
| 8 | Portrush Causeway Coast and Glens | C+ | 74% |
| 9 | Randalstown Antrim and Newtownabbey | C | 73% |
| 10 | Greenisland Mid and East Antrim | C | 71% |
| 11 | Ballynahinch Newry, Mourne and Down | C− | 68% |
| 12 | Moira Lisburn and Castlereagh | C− | 68% |
| … | |||
| 14 | Donaghadee Ards and North Down | D | 67% |
Portrush and the places around it
Coloured by School Grade.
| Town | Schools | 5+ GCSEs incl. E&M |
|---|---|---|
| Portrush 3 schools | C+ | 74% |
| Portstewart area schools · 2.7 mi | B | 76% |
| Coleraine area schools · 4.5 mi | C+ | 74% |
| Ballymoney area schools · 10.1 mi | C | 73% |
Portstewart has the best-graded schools nearby (B). Neighbouring towns can share area schools.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- A* to C, not 9 to 1. The GCSE figure is Northern Ireland’s headline measure: the share of Year 12 pupils, aged 15 to 16, with five or more GCSEs at A* to C including English and maths. Northern Ireland grades GCSEs A* to G, not England’s 9 to 1, so its figures don’t compare with English schools’, and the School Grade ranks a town only against Northern Ireland’s 63 towns. A Northern Ireland B and an English B both mean “better than most towns at home”, not the same exam results.
- A-levels shown, not graded. A-level results are shown on each school’s page but not graded. Only pupils who stay on are counted, and under selection those are mostly at grammar schools, so the A-level figure says more about which schools have big sixth forms than about the town.
- Pupil numbers over time. The trend follows the same schools with published enrolments in all ten years. Historic references and postcodes are matched to schools located in the town today; closed schools without a reliable location, new schools and missing counts are excluded. It describes pupils attending those schools, not children living in the town. Primary counts include nursery classes. DE separated specialist provision in mainstream classes in later workbooks; combined totals are used where published.
Questions about schools in Portrush
Are schools in Portrush good?
The schools around Portrush earn a C+ against Northern Ireland’s towns: 74% of their Year 12 pupils got 5 or more GCSEs at A* to C including English and maths in 2024/25, against 72% at the average Northern Ireland school. The grade weights each school by its pupils and takes grammar and non-grammar schools together.
How many schools are in Portrush?
Portrush has 3 primary schools, with 609 pupils in October 2025. 6 graded post-primary schools are in or within 10 km of it. Northern Ireland publishes no primary results, so primary schools are listed but not graded.
Are there grammar schools near Portrush?
Yes: Dominican College, Portstewart (2.8 km), Coleraine Grammar School (5.5 km) and Loreto College, Coleraine (5.8 km). Most admit pupils on a transfer test taken in Primary 7.
How do I get a school place in Portrush?
Through the Education Authority, in Primary 7. Most grammar schools select on the transfer test; other schools use their published criteria, such as siblings, feeder primaries and where you live.
Sources: Department of Education examination performance at post-primary schools 2024/25 and school-level enrolment data 2025/26 · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.