Lumen Christi College

Lumen Christi College is a co-educational Catholic grammar school on Bishop Street in Derry, taking children from eleven to eighteen. It is a young school in old buildings. It opened in September 1997, but it occupies a nineteenth century site inside the city walls, overlooking the Foyle, with a chapel and library from that era and an interior listed for conservation. The Long Tower, the oldest structure in Derry, stands behind the lawns in front. Entry is at Year 8 through the SEAG assessment.

The most distinctive thing about how the school works is written into its aims. It says most of its awards for achievement go to groups rather than to individuals, which is a structural choice rather than a slogan, and it shows up in the reward system: alongside personal points there is an award for class of the term. A child can earn up to five points a week, one a day, for behaviour, homework, being prepared and being on time, with certificates handed out at five points in the year. Each form elects a captain and a vice-captain.

The other tradition worth knowing runs every November. Year 8 holds an inter-class cross country race over two thousand metres around the school grounds, with three boys and three girls from every class. The first day of Year 8 is theirs alone: new pupils meet their form tutor and their class while their parents sit an information session, and the morning ends with both together at a Mass. The head of Year 8 meets them at the door each morning after that. The school calls itself a listening college, and Mandarin is on the Year 8 timetable.