Loreto College is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

grammar school situated in the Castlerock Road area of

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, No ...

County Londonderry County Londonderry (Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry (), is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty-two Counties of Ireland, count ...

, on the north coast of

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. Loreto College educates both girls and boys between the age of 11 and 18.

History

In 1906, the Ursuline Order took control of an all-girls school, setting up a smaller boys' primary school nearby. In 1922, when the new Northern Ireland Educational Authority was set up, certain qualifications were needed to teach in secondary schools. The

nuns A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of Evangelical counsels, poverty, chastity, and obedience in the Enclosed religious orders, enclosure of a monastery or convent.' ...

, being

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

, did not have these qualifications so they decided to withdraw from Northern Ireland. The Loreto nuns in

Omagh Omagh (; from , meaning 'the virgin plain') is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers River Drumragh, Drumragh and Camowen River, Camowen meet to form the River Strule, Strule. Northern Ireland's c ...

were asked to take over the schools, both primary and secondary. On August 13, 1930, four Loreto Sisters, a congregation founded by Mary Ward, arrived. The Ursulines stayed with them for two weeks to help them settle into their new home. The original four

sisters A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

- M. Rose, M. Colmcille, M. Aidan and M. Kevin - were joined by M. Peter, M. Benedict and M. Gertrude as first members of the new community. The school was later extended, and has adapted to changes in the educational system . The school became co-educational in 1977. is owned and maintained by the Loreto Education Trust. In 2005, the school celebrated its 75th anniversary, culminating in an open day including a museum, and finally Mass in St. John's Church nearby. In April 2014, after 83 years of living in the convent house attached to the school, the Loreto Sisters left as the home did not meet fire regulations.

Facilities

The college was awarded over £30 million in 2022 for a substantial building of new facilities.

Academic performance

The college offers instruction in a comprehensive range of subjects with departments of art and design, business studies, careers, child development, computing, drama, economics, English, English literature, geography, health and social care, history, home economics, government and politics, ICT, library, mathematics, modern languages (French, Irish and Spanish), music, PE, religious education, science (biology, chemistry and physics), technology and theatre studies. In the 2018 Belfast Telegraph School League Table, the college was ranked 4th out of 192 schools in Northern Ireland in its A-level exam performance in 2016/17 with 92.3% of entrants being awarded A*-C grades. In 2018 it was ranked 12th in Northern Ireland for its GCSE performance with 99.2% of its entrants in 2016/17 receiving five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C, including the core subjects English and Maths. In the 2019 League Table, 84.0% of its GCSE entrants were awarded grades of A* to C on five or more exams and the college was ranked 64 out of 188 schools. In 2007, the school was awarded

specialist school Specialist schools, also known as specialised schools or specialized schools, are schools which specialise in a certain area or field of curriculum. In some countries, for example New Zealand, the term is used exclusively for schools specialis ...

status for science and this has been celebrated in a variety of ways.

Sport

The following sports are played in the school:

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

camogie Camogie ( ; ) is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and worldwide, largely among Irish communities. A variant of the game "hurling" (which is played by men only), it is organised ...

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

, and

rounders Rounders is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams. Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a wooden, plastic, or metal bat that has a cylindrical end. The players score b ...

. Loreto College, Coleraine has for many years achieved consistently outstanding public examination results, with pupils often attaining recognition for top scores across Northern Ireland.

Extra-curricular

Activities include the

Duke of Edinburgh's Award The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (commonly abbreviated DofE) is a youth awards programme founded in the United Kingdom in 1956 by the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, which has since expanded to 144 nations. The awards recognise adolescents and ...

scheme, St Vincent de Paul Group, Christian Life Community (CLC), debating, choir, orchestra and quizzing. Loreto have reached several national quiz finals in recent years ( UK: 2007, 2009; Ireland, 2006, 2008-9, 2011).

Notable former pupils

Monica McWilliams Monica Mary McWilliams (born 28 April 1954) is a Northern Irish academic, peace activist, human rights defender and former politician. In 1996, she co-founded the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition (NIWC) political party and was elected as a ...

(born 1954) - politician and academic *

Caoimhe Archibald Caoimhe Archibald (born 20 February 1981) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician, who has served as the Minister for the Economy in Northern Ireland since February 2025. She previously served as Minister for Finance, and has been a Member of the N ...

(born 1981) -

Member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

for East Londonderry * Barry McGoldrick (born 1985) -

er * Sean Leo McGoldrick (born 1987) -

er *

Stephen Dooley Stephen Paul Dooley (born 19 October 1991) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays as a winger for club Harrogate Town. Early life and education Born in Ballymoney, Dooley grew up in Portstewart and attended Loreto College, Col ...

(1991) - footballer

References

External links

Loreto College website
{{authority control Grammar schools in County Londonderry Catholic secondary schools in Northern Ireland Coleraine *

Specialist colleges in Northern Ireland