Fostering Opportunities for Young Learners to Excel

About

Foyle College traces its origins to 1617 and the establishment of the Free Grammar School at Society Street within the city walls of Derry by Mathias Springham of the Merchant Taylors' Company of London. The original building had the following Latin inscription over the main doorway: 'Mathias Springham, A.R. ad honorem dei et bonarum, literarum propogationem, hanc scholam fundavit anno salutis, M.D.C.XVII'. The Free School was built to "the honour of God and the spreading of good literature".

Following a relocation to a new £24M single campus, the school now sits on the Limavady Road at the site of the former US Naval Communications Station. This means for the first time in 50 years, all the pupils in Foyle College are on one site. As a grammar school it admits pupils based on academic selection. The school joined the Association for Quality Education (AQE) which requires prospective pupils to take the AQE Common Entrance exam in order to be admitted to the college from 2010.