With five schools in the top 50 state schools in the UK, Northern Ireland continues to excel on a national level despite the buffeting climate of educational change. The Independent Review of Education, a root-and-branch rethink of Northern Irish schooling, continues to tackle challenges, including curriculum development, disadvantage and funding.

It hasn’t stopped Friends’ School in Lisburn, which tops the Parent Power league table and wins State Secondary School of the Year for Academic Excellence in Northern Ireland 2025. The school motto, “Seek those things that are above”, serves it well.

The only Quaker school in Northern Ireland, Friends’ School has dropped 11 places from last year but still ranks 32 in the UK table. It is the alma mater of the crime writer Michael Dibdin, the late creator of the maverick Italian detective Aurelio Zen, who credited the school with imbibing his love of a good yarn.

• School league tables 2025: the best UK secondary schools revealedAt A-level 91.3 per cent of students achieved three or more passes at grades A*-C this year, with 21.4 per cent of these passes A* and 52.5 per cent achieving an A. Every single student at GCSE achieved five or more passes at grades 9-4, with 98.6 per cent gaining seven or more passes at this level.“This is the third time we’ve featured in Parent Power; we’ve appeared in 2011 and 2018, but this is the first time we’ve been at the top of the academic table,” Stephen Moore, the principal, says. “We’ve had a focus on learning and teaching in the past six years or so. Our results have stayed well above pre-pandemic standards.”With more than a thousand pupils, the school, established by the Religious Society of Friends for just 30 boys and girls in 1774, celebrated its 250th anniversary this year.“We’ve been thinking a lot about the Quaker heritage and our ethos,” Moore says. “I suppose that as a Quaker school we have appeal across the community, and this is seen in an increasingly diverse school population.”Just behind Friends’ School, and second in Northern Ireland, comes Aquinas Diocesan Grammar School, Belfast. The 970-strong Catholic co-ed climbed 34 places to tie with another Belfast school, the all-girls grammar Strathearn School, at 34 in the UK table.With 59.4 per cent A*-A grades at A-levels in 2024, the best results in the region, Aquinas Diocesan is our State Secondary School of the Year in Northern Ireland 2025. GCSE performance was equally stellar; 72.4 per cent of passes achieved 9-7 grades.“We are both honoured and delighted to receive this award as recognition of the outstanding achievements of our pupils, the dedication of our staff and governors and the incredible partnership that exists between our school and parents,” Dr Marie Dowling, the principal, says.“We work closely with the other schools in our area and have strong links to local universities. Around 50 per cent of our students this year have gone on to Queen’s University Belfast or Ulster University.”Friends’ School in Lisburn is our State Secondary School of the Year in Northern Ireland for Academic Excellence 2025CHRIS SEMPLE PHOTOGRAPHYThey are pitch perfect when it comes to football too. In November Sophie Kelly-Bradley, an Aquinas girl who has already played for her country at Under-17 level, was named in the Northern Ireland Women’s squad for three upcoming qualifiers for the 2025 Uefa Women’s Under-19 Championship.Our Lady and St Patrick’s College, a co-ed Catholic grammar in Knock, is next in the UK honour roll, at 41 (although dropping 17 places), with another all-girls school, St Dominic’s Grammar School for Girls, Belfast, at 50 (down from 27 last year).Just two spots behind at 52 in the national table is Rathmore Grammar School, in Dunmurry, south Belfast. The percentage of its pupils achieving three of more A*-C grades at A-level was 91.4 per cent this summer, representing one of the highest sets of results for a year group over the past ten years.“Results are important, and while As and A*s are brilliant, I’m just as pleased with a child who has struggled achieving grades to be proud of,” Arthur Donnelly, the principal of the 1,260-strong co-ed grammar, says.“We are strong on pastoral care. We are very aware of where the children are, we listen to their experiences. We’re still a Catholic school, but the school is in no way selective,” he says. Indeed, the school is increasingly diverse. “We have a big pool of 30 to 40 primary schools from Belfast and the surrounding countryside. Sometimes they may send 60 children to us, sometimes just the one — we do our best to make them all welcome.”School league tables 2025Search for the best secondary schools and get tips for how to choose a good school