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Aquinas Diocesan Grammar School: Year 8 entry

518 Ravenhill Road, Belfast, BT6 0BY

Facts checked 19 October 2026By ExamKind Editorial TeamSchool website

Some details are being re-checked

We check every fact against the official source on a schedule, and some details on this page are due their next check (last verified 19 October 2026). We'll update the page if anything has changed. How we check facts

Can we apply, and what did it take?

For September 2027 entry

  • Score to qualify

    Not published yet

    SEAG Entrance Assessment (the NI transfer test)

  • Year 8 places

    Not published yet
  • Last distance offered

    Not publishedWe have no checked figure for how far offers reached.

Your next deadlines

  1. Next: Re-mark requests close

    in about 15 weeks

    Only if you want the test papers marked again

  2. Coming up: Appeal deadline

    in about 30 weeks

Can we get in?

How places are given

Northern Ireland grammar schools give Year 8 places using their own admissions criteria, often in order of transfer test result. Aquinas Diocesan Grammar School's criteria are under Admission rules on this page.

Qualifying is not the same as being offered a place.

Reaching the school's standard means your child can be considered. If more children qualify than there are places, the school gives places using its admission rules, in order. The figures below show how far those rules reached in past years. They are history, not a prediction: they change every year with who applies.

Checked, source: Department for Education (GOV.UK), checked

Most Northern Ireland schools do not publish how far places reached. Read the school's admissions criteria to see how it ranks applicants, and what transfer test results mean.

At a glance

Aquinas Diocesan Grammar School in brief

Entrance test
SEAG Entrance Assessment (the NI transfer test)
The test children sit to be considered.

Key dates

Dates for September 2027 entry

For children in P7 in 2026/27.

SEAG (Schools' Entrance Assessment Group)

3 earlier steps, all doneShow
  1. Done: Test registration opens

  2. Done: Test registration closes

  3. Done: Admission cards sent for the test

  1. Next: Test day

  2. Coming up: Transfer test, paper 1

  3. Coming up: Transfer test, paper 2

  4. Coming up: Results

  5. Coming up: Re-mark requests open

  6. Coming up: Re-mark requests close

    in about 15 weeks

    Only if you want the test papers marked again

  7. Coming up: Appeal deadline

    in about 30 weeks

    Source: nidirect (NI Government), checked
  8. Not published yet: Transfer application deadline (to the Education Authority)

    Not yet published, checked 17 Oct 2026

  9. Not published yet: School place outcomes

    Not yet published, checked 9 Oct 2026

Year 5 now? Dates for September 2028 entryNone of these dates are published yet.
  1. Not published yet: Test day

    Not yet published, checked 9 Oct 2026

  2. Not published yet: Results

    Not yet published, checked 9 Oct 2026

  3. Not published yet: Appeal deadline

    Not yet published, checked 9 Oct 2026

  4. Not published yet: Transfer application deadline (to the Education Authority)

    Not yet published, checked 9 Oct 2026

How places are given

Admission rules and catchment
Admission rules not checked yetWe add the school's rules from its determined admission policy.
More detail from our guide

The school's Year 8 admissions page links to its criteria as a Word file. That file, and the special circumstances guide beside it, are marked on the website as off limits to automated tools, so we did not open them. That means we cannot yet give the admissions number, the ranking method, or any sibling or free school meals rule. We are working to add them.

In the meantime, read the criteria on the Aquinas website before you apply. Schools publish their criteria for Year 8 September 2027 entry during the 2026-27 school year, before the transfer application process begins.Northern Ireland: Criteria publication timingChecked 9 Oct 2026 against SEAG (Schools' Entrance Assessment Group).The source says: Each Board of Governors has a responsibility to publish its Admissions Criteria for Year 8 September 2027 Entry. These Criteria are published in the 2026-27 school year before Parents/Guardians begin the Post Primary Transfer Application Process.View the official source

The test

SEAG Entrance Assessment (the NI transfer test)
Test
SEAG Entrance Assessment (the NI transfer test)
Test date, 2027 entry
Saturday 14 November 2026

Aquinas has no test of its own. P7 children sit the two SEAG papers, and each school then makes its own choices: each school decides how to use the resultsSEAG (Northern Ireland): Schools decide useChecked 9 Oct 2026 against SEAG (Schools' Entrance Assessment Group).The source says: Decisions relating to the Year 8 Admissions Criteria such as whether to use Total Standardised Age Score, Band, a combination of both or by some other method are entirely a matter for the Board of Governors of each SEAG school.View the official source. Whether Aquinas works from the TSAS, the band or both is one of the things we have still to confirm. Our SEAG transfer test guide and results explained cover both measures.

How the Northern Ireland test works

Open days

All this year's events have passed
  1. Done: SEAG Information Afternoon (passed)

    4:00pm

Source: Aquinas Diocesan Grammar School, checked

If you are refused a place

Reviews, appeals and the waiting list

General information, not legal advice.

This is general information, not legal advice. If Aquinas cannot offer a place, your application passes to your next preference, and you can appeal. An independent admissions appeal tribunal set up by the EA; its decisions are binding.Northern Ireland: BodyChecked 9 Oct 2026 against nidirect (NI Government).The source says: If you think that a school has not applied, or not correctly applied its admissions criteria, you have the right of appeal to an independent tribunal. These tribunals are set up by the EA and their decisions are binding.View the official source The deadline for 2027 entry is 4pm, Thursday 20 May 2027Northern Ireland transfer: Appeal deadlineChecked 17 Oct 2026 against nidirect (NI Government).The source says: The deadline for receipt of appeal forms against Year 8 decisions by post-primary schools is Thursday 20 May 2027, no later than 4.00 pm.View the official source.

Official documents and sources

8 sources, each kept as an archived copy

ExamKind is independent. We are not connected with Aquinas Diocesan Grammar School, its council or any test provider, and nobody pays to appear on this page. How we check facts · Report an error on this page