Belfast Royal Academy

The Belfast Royal Academy was founded in 1785 and is the oldest school in the city. Originally situated near St. Anne’s Cathedral in what is now Academy Street, it was transferred to the Cliftonville Road in 1880, when the present building was erected.

For more than a century the school was named Belfast Academy. In 1888 Queen Victoria granted permission for the school to style itself the Belfast Royal Academy. The School Crest comprises the rose, the thistle and the shamrock, along with the Royal Arms, the Arms of the City of Belfast and those of the Province of Ulster. The three significant dates mark the foundation of the school in 1785, the transfer to the present site in 1880 and the approval by Queen Victoria of the designation Belfast Royal Academy in 1888.

Belfast Royal Academy is a voluntary grammar school and its management is vested in a Board of Governors on which parents and teachers are represented, along with Governors elected by Members of the Academy and nominees of the Minister of Education.

Former pupils include Lord Cairns (Lord Chancellor in the nineteenth century), and in the modern era, the diplomat Sir Francis Evans, the jurist Sir Donald Murray, the rugby footballer Jack Kyle, the journalist John Cole, and the former Minister for Sport, Kate Hoey M.P. Two former pupils, who are both distinguished scientists, were elected on the same day to Fellowships of the Royal Society: Professor Denis Weaire of Trinity College, Dublin and Professor James Stirling of the University of Cambridge. In addition, Professor Ian White is Master of Jesus College, Cambridge.

It is our aim to encourage an enthusiastic interest in the study of the past, while developing in our pupils the ability to think critically about causation and sources of evidence. We also seek to develop the pupils’ skill of empathy, the ability to understand the motives, experiences and reactions of different individuals or groups within an historical situation. Pupils will also be encouraged to communicate information, arguments and conclusions clearly and coherently in writing and orally.

Belfast Royal Academy exists to serve the interests of its pupils. It seeks to ensure that:

• Pupils are well taught and develop through their work self-discipline, self-confidence and a respect for knowledge: that they are well prepared for the requirements of tertiary education and employment.
• Pupils are afforded the opportunity, through participation in a wide range of extra-curricular activities, to establish their individuality, develop skills and interests and enjoy working successfully with others.
• Pupils are taught (or confirmed in) decent standards of behaviour: that they should have respect for others and be willing to accept responsibility both in school and in the community.
• Whatever their faith or social background, pupils are happy, with a proper sense of personal worth and achievement.

The School is a happy, stimulating and challenging environment, as is appropriate for the place where young people spend some of the most important years of their lives. Our ambition is to ensure that, by providing support, encouragement and inspiration, in the classroom and across a wide range of extra-curricular activities, each pupil fulfils his or her potential.

Those who wish to come, or to have their children educated here, share the value which we place upon an ethos which nurtures civility and mutual respect, a concern for others and an appreciation of diversity, a tradition which has allowed pupils from all religious and social backgrounds to work together in harmony for generations.

They value good teaching, of a sort which has enabled talented pupils of the School to achieve the top place in the Province, in Music, French, Business Studies, Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Physics, English Literature and Chemistry in the last three years: twice in the case of French, Chemistry and Business Studies.

They understand the value also of a wealth of extra-curricular opportunity: our pupils find confidence, make friends, have fun and face up to the challenges which forge maturity on the concert platform, in a kayak canoe on Lough Erne, in Malawi, playing into the rain at Roughfort or in the cramped seat of an ATC glider 2000 metres above the ground.