Aquinas Diocesan Grammar School is a co-educational Catholic Maintained

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

situated on the Ravenhill Road,

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. It teaches a range of subjects. Its main education board of choice is

CCEA The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment (CCEA) is a Non-departmental public body (NDPB) of the Department of Education (Northern Ireland). Its function and purpose is described in Part VIII of the Education (NI) Order 1998. CCE ...

, but the school also uses AQA and

Edexcel Edexcel (also known since 2013 as Pearson Edexcel) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational education and examination body formed in 1996 and wholly owned by Pearson plc since 2005. It is the only privately owned examination board ...

for certain subjects.

History

Aquinas was established by the

Diocese of Down and Connor The Diocese of Down and Connor, ( ga, Deoise an Dúin agus Chonaire) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Northern Ireland. It is one of eight suffragan dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of the me ...

as a co-educational voluntary Grammar School. It admitted the first 110 pupils in September 1993. The current building for which the school occupies finished construction in January 2003.

Motto and crest

The school's motto is ''Veritas Liberabit'' which is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for "

The truth will set you free "The truth will set you free" (Latin: ''Vēritās līberābit vōs'' (biblical) or ''Vēritās vōs līberābit'' (common), Greek: ἡ ἀλήθεια ἐλευθερώσει ὑμᾶς, trans. ''hē alḗtheia eleutherṓsei hūmâs'') is a sta ...

". The school crest is a circle half-surrounded by a 'mane' (representing the

Evangelist Evangelist may refer to: Religion * Four Evangelists, the authors of the canonical Christian Gospels * Evangelism, publicly preaching the Gospel with the intention of spreading the teachings of Jesus Christ * Evangelist (Anglican Church), a c ...

Mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fi ...

), and inside the circle in one half there is half of an ox (symbolising

St Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...

) and the symbol of the lamb and the keys.

Academics

It teaches a range of subjects. Its main education board of choice is

, but the school also uses AQA and

for certain subjects. In 2018 it was ranked joint first in Northern Ireland for its GCSE performance with 100% of its entrants receiving five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C, including the core subjects English and Maths. In 2019 the school was ranked 11th out of 159 secondary schools in Northern Ireland with 88.4% of its A-level students who entered the exams in 2017/18 being awarded three A*-C grades. In 2022 the school was ranked 2nd out of the top 10 performing schools in Northern Ireland and ranked 35th state and independent school in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in Parent Power, The Sunday Times Schools Guide 2023.

References

External links

Aquinas Grammar School website
{{authority control Grammar schools in Belfast Catholic secondary schools in Northern Ireland 1993 establishments in Northern Ireland Educational institutions established in 1993

History

Motto and crest

Academics

See also

References

External links