Despite the strong link between socioeconomic status and academic achievement, some children at risk of poverty have been found to be successful in school. The available literature calls these children resilient. The phenomenon of resilience, in the field of education and elsewhere, has become more popular in recent times both as a research topic and an area of policy interest. However, while many studies examine specific aspects of academic resilience few bring together the resilience literature in a more comprehensive way to develop and test a holistic model of academic resilience. This study aims to develop a multi-dimensional model of academic resilience based on the literature and to examine if the same predictors of academic resilience (and the associated processes between them) apply at difference time points in a child’s development. Using data from the nine- and 13-year-old child cohorts of the Growing Up in Ireland study, logistic regression analyses were used to identify unique predictors of academic resilience from seven key areas of a child’s life associated with academic resilience: background characteristics; relationships with family, teachers and peers; educational expectations; attitudes towards school; parental involvement in their child’s education; engagement and meaningful participation; and the personal attributes of the child. The pathways between these predictors were then tested separately for each age group, using structural equation modelling. Results indicate that, while there is partial support for the model of academic resilience at age 13, the results are inconclusive at age nine. A test of a nested model supported the hypothesis that a child’s psychological adjustment, intellectual self-concept and gender were all directly related to academic resilience at age 13, while a similar model at age nine was not supported by the data. The findings are considered in terms of their relevance for policy. Limitations of the current study and areas for future research are also addressed.