Strangford College

Strangford College, also known as Strangford Integrated College, is a school in Carrowdore, Newtownards, County Down, Northern Ireland. It is an integrated co-educational secondary school with a grammar stream with around 870+ students. Mrs Clare Foster is the school's current principal.

Context

is a Northern Ireland phenomenon, where traditionally schools were sectarian, either Catholic or Protestant. On parental request, a school could apply to 'transition' to become grant-maintained and offer 30% of the school places to students from the minority community. Lagan College was the first integrated school to open in 1981.
As of 2025, students at Strangford College were 39% Protestant, 19% Roman Catholic and 42% other.

History

Strangford College opened 1 September 1997, with 64 students and 7 staff. It was awarded grant-maintained status in September 1999.
A new build was approved by the Department of Education in April 2016 and a contractor appointed in 2021.
In 2021, the college applied to raise its official enrolment number from 670 to 760; the minister at first refused the request, but on appeal, reversed his decision. This allows the college to accept 130 year 8 students a year.
The college applied unsuccessfully in 2019 to use transfer tests to select the 35% of pupils it admits to the grammar stream in Year 8. It reapplied in January 2022.