AN all-girls school where more than a quarter of pupils are eligible for free meals is again the north's best performing grammar at A-level.
For the fourth year in a row, St Dominic's Grammar School in west Belfast has produced the best results.
Securing three or more A-levels at grades A* to C is considered a reasonable expectation of grammar pupils, especially as most are geared towards taking these exams.
Using newly-published statistics for the 2015/16 academic year, The Irish News today lists the proportion of pupils at schools achieving that mark.
The list does not intend to suggest that one school is better than another, or that academic performance should be the sole criterion for judging the quality of education on offer.
However, it has been argued that grammars can usefully be compared on the basis of exam performance.
The Irish News performance lists are anticipated annually and some schools advertise their positions on their websites.
Again, Catholic grammar schools are racking up the most As, Bs and Cs - accounting for eight of the top 10 spots.
St Dominic's is the top performing grammar. A school for girls on Falls Road with 1,000 pupils, its A-level results have been improving steadily over the past decade.
It serves an area of significant deprivation and has one of the highest proportions of pupils entitled to free schools meals (FSM) - the most common measure of social disadvantage in schools - within the grammar sector.
Free lunches are usually provided to children whose parents receive benefits or whose family income is less than £16,190.
Schools with high numbers of FSM children typically do not do as well in public exams as those in more wealthy areas.
Principal Carol McCann said she was delighted with the pupils' performance.
"The staff and students do work extremely hard and give their best always. We put a lot of additional support in place to support pupils who are struggling," she said.
"It isn't all plain sailing and like all schools, we encounter many challenges along the way but when pupils and their parents support us in our work, we can guarantee success.
"As a school, we value the girls' academic successes but more important always is that the girls feel fulfilled and develop at a personal level because that will stand to them in the longer term.
"We focus on developing resilience, personal responsibility and reaching out to others. The school provides a wide range of enrichment/extra-curricular activities and aims to cater for the uniqueness of each student."
Last year, St Dominic's pupils achieved first place in Northern Ireland in English, Irish, Spanish and art A-level subjects. In 2015, its students also achieved first place in art, English and Irish.
"Like coming first overall at A-level, this requires enormous commitment on the part of everyone," Ms McCann said.
The top three on the list is the same as last year, although second and third swapped positions - St Louis' in Ballymena and Rathmore in Belfast.
As well as good A-level results, like many of the top schools, St Louis' had 100 per cent of its pupils achieve five or more good GCSEs including English and maths.
David Byrne from Larne was recently acknowledged by CCEA as its highest ever GCSE achiever. He achieved 10 A* grades and attained the highest scores in four subjects - English, further maths, history and ICT.
St Louis' principal Sean Rafferty said: "David's outstanding performances are simply superb and are unlikely to be equalled by many students in NI, never mind the school community."
He added: "The entire St Louis school community are thrilled with our superb academic outcomes from last year at both GCSE/GCE stages.
"As far as we are concerned these outstanding grades, across all subject areas, are a product of the collegial energies of our students, teachers and parents and the unique ethos of our school."
No results were made available for Portora Royal and Collegiate Grammar in Co Fermanagh, which were merged to form the new Enniskillen Royal Grammar School.
