About the school
Ballymena Academy is a co-educational voluntary grammar school located on the Galgorm Road in the market town of Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. With approximately 1,300 pupils, it is one of the leading grammar schools in the area, set in 88 acres of mature grounds, with the motto ‘Tenax Propositi’, meaning ‘Steadfast in Purpose’.
Ballymena Academy was founded in 1828 as a small provincial school for children in the town and surrounding agricultural area, and has grown into a large and highly regarded grammar school. It has a strong academic record and a wide range of sporting and cultural achievements.
As a Northern Ireland grammar school, Ballymena Academy selects pupils through the SEAG (Schools’ Entrance Assessment Group) Entrance Assessment, set and marked by GL Assessment, with the post-primary transfer process coordinated by the Education Authority.
School type
Co-Educational Voluntary Grammar
Exam date
Paper 1: Saturday, 14th November 2026; Paper 2: Saturday, 21st November 2026
Exam board
SEAG Entrance Assessment (GL Assessment)
Address
89 Galgorm Road, Ballymena, County Antrim, BT42 1AJ
Age range
11–18 (Years 7–13)
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Admissions information
The Ballymena Academy entrance test is the SEAG Entrance Assessment, with Paper 1 on Saturday, 14th November 2026 and Paper 2 on Saturday, 21st November 2026. Here is everything you need to know about the admissions process and exam structure.
Ballymena Academy selects pupils through the SEAG (Schools’ Entrance Assessment Group) Entrance Assessment, set and marked by GL Assessment and used by grammar schools across Northern Ireland, so a child sits one common test that is accepted by all SEAG member schools. The assessment is made up of two papers covering English and Mathematics, drawn from the Key Stage 2 Northern Ireland curriculum, with questions in both multiple-choice and short written-answer formats.
The SEAG Entrance Assessment consists of two papers, each lasting around 60 minutes, sat on two separate Saturdays: Paper 1 on Saturday, 14th November 2026 and Paper 2 on Saturday, 21st November 2026. Each paper contains English and Maths questions. The raw marks are converted into a Total Standardised Age Score (TSAS) that accounts for the child’s age, so a younger pupil is not disadvantaged, and a Band is also reported.
Registration for the SEAG Entrance Assessment is completed online through the SEAG website when the child is in P7. For 2027 entry, registration opens on Monday, 18th May 2026 and closes on Friday, 18th September 2026; there is a £20 administration fee, from which families with Free School Meals Entitlement are exempt. Parents then list Ballymena Academy as a preference through the Education Authority’s post-primary transfer application process, which begins around February 2027.
Paper 1 is sat on Saturday, 14th November 2026 and Paper 2 on Saturday, 21st November 2026, with results released in the Statement of Outcomes on Saturday, 23rd January 2027. Each grammar school then applies its own published admissions criteria, which usually use the Total Standardised Age Score and Band. Parents are informed of their child’s allocated school by the Education Authority in May 2027.
Key admissions details
Ballymena Academy admits around 200 pupils into Year 8 each year.
Ballymena Academy does not operate a fixed catchment area, though it draws strongly from Ballymena and the surrounding County Antrim area. After applying any academic standard, the Board of Governors uses its published criteria, which typically prioritise factors such as siblings, feeder primary schools and other connections to the school, to allocate places when it is oversubscribed.
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Ballymena Academy was founded in 1828 as a small provincial school for children in the town and surrounding agricultural area. It is a co-educational voluntary grammar school in Ballymena, County Antrim, set in 88 acres of grounds.
Ballymena Academy admits around 200 pupils into Year 8 each year and has approximately 1,300 pupils in total. The school is popular and competitive, so thorough preparation for the SEAG Entrance Assessment is important.
Ballymena Academy uses the SEAG Entrance Assessment, set by GL Assessment. It consists of two papers, each around 60 minutes, covering English and Maths from the Key Stage 2 Northern Ireland curriculum. Paper 1 is on Saturday, 14th November 2026 and Paper 2 on Saturday, 21st November 2026.
Ballymena Academy does not operate a fixed catchment area, though it draws strongly from Ballymena and the surrounding County Antrim area. Its published admissions criteria prioritise factors such as siblings and feeder primary schools when it is oversubscribed.
For 2027 entry, SEAG registration opens on Monday, 18th May 2026 and closes on Friday, 18th September 2026, with a £20 fee (FSME families exempt). The two papers are sat on Saturday, 14th November 2026 and Saturday, 21st November 2026.
Yes. Ballymena Academy offers a wide extracurricular programme across sport, music, drama and clubs, making full use of its extensive 88-acre grounds and strong tradition of cultural and sporting achievement.
Yes, all our tuition is available both in-person at our Edgbaston, Birmingham centre and online via live video sessions. Online tuition gives families across County Antrim and the wider area access to our expert tutors without the need to travel. The quality and personalisation of sessions is identical in both formats.
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