Lumen Christi College is a

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

Catholic

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

in Bishop Street,

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

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 ...

. The school was founded in September 1997 and is located at the site of the old

St Columb's College St Columb's College is a Roman Catholic boys' grammar school in Derry, Northern Ireland. Since 2008, it has been a specialist school in mathematics. It is named after Saint Columba, the missionary monk from County Donegal who founded a monast ...

Academics

The college offers the full Northern Ireland Curriculum at Key Stages 3 and 4. At Key Stage 4 all students usually take a minimum of nine GCSEs while, at Sixth Form, all students take at least three A-Levels. The college is a member of the Foyle Learning Community which links twelve post-primary providers in the area allowing access for post-16 students to a range of subjects in addition to those taught on site. In the 2017 Sunday Times Parent Power survey of UK schools, the college was ranked first in Northern Ireland and 22nd in the UK. 81.6% of its students who sat the A-level exams in 2017/18 were awarded three A*-C grades. In 2016/17, 96% of its entrants achieved five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C, including the core subjects English and Maths. In 2017/18, 100% of its entrants achieved five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C and the college was ranked joint first in the 2019

Belfast Telegraph The ''Belfast Telegraph'' is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media, which also publishes the Irish Independent, the Sunday Independent and various other newspapers and magazines in Ireland. Its e ...

league table.

Notable alumni

* Seán Doherty (born 1987) - composer and musicologist * Damian McGinty (born 1992) - singer and actor * Skruff - four-piece rock band

Controversy

In April 2008, both Dr Séamus Hegarty ( Roman Catholic Bishop of Derry and a senior trustee of the college) and

Caitríona Ruane Caitríona Ruane (born 1962) is a Sinn Féin politician who served as the Principal Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly from 2016 to 2017, and was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Down from 2003 to 2017. ...

, the

Minister for Education An education minister (sometimes minister of education) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with educational matters. Where known, the government department, ministry, or agency that develops policy and deli ...

, along with the

Irish National Teachers' Organisation The Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) (), founded in 1868, is the oldest and largest teachers' trade union in Ireland. It represents teachers at primary level in the Republic of Ireland, and at primary and post-primary level in Nor ...

(I.N.T.O.)

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

, criticised the

Board of Governors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulations ...

of Lumen Christi College for announcing their intention to continue academic selection after the abolition of the 11-plus examination. The school's then-principal, Patrick O'Doherty, responded that the school intended to go ahead with its testing plans, and that the education minister had no legal authority to stop them. Regarding accusations in 2012 of Sinn Féin infiltrating Catholic schools, by placing Sinn Féin activists as school governors, Alliance Party MLA

Trevor Lunn Trevor Lunn (born 29 June 1946) is a former Northern Irish politician who served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valley from 2007 to 2022. Formerly a member of the Alliance Party, Lunn resigned from the party in 2020, ...

said, "In the context of Lumen Christi as a highly successful grammar school which has taken a public stance on the question of academic selection, in defiance of the minister's instruction and indeed the view of the Catholic Church, it is hard to see these appointments as anything other than a means of infiltration of the school's board of governors, with the aim of influencing the stance taken by the present board."

References

{{authority control Grammar schools in Derry (city) Catholic secondary schools in Northern Ireland Educational institutions established in 1997 1997 establishments in Northern Ireland