Balmoral High School was a

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

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 was established by a merger of Deramore High School and Larkfield High School (founded in 1946). The school was managed by the

Belfast Education and Library Board Education in Northern Ireland differs from education systems elsewhere in the United Kingdom (although it is relatively similar to Wales), but is similar to the Republic of Ireland in sharing in the development of the ''national school'' syste ...

(BELB). The school opened in September 1996 ( The new building was opened in January 2002, not the school) and closed in August 2008, due to falling pupil numbers. It had been built as an education 'pathfinder' for the

private finance initiative The private finance initiative (PFI) was a United Kingdom government procurement policy aimed at creating "public–private partnerships" (PPPs) where private firms are contracted to complete and manage public projects. Initially launched in 199 ...

(PFI). The school's design was almost identical to

Wellington College Belfast Wellington College Belfast (better known as Wellington College or WCB) is a co-educational, grammar school located in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The most recent principal is David Castles. The school was formed when, in 1989, the all-boys' Ann ...

, however the shape of the building was slightly different. The old Larkfield building was situated adjacent to the new building occupied by Balmoral. The PFI was structured so that the old school site and land was used to build a large housing development and building the new school next to this site. The BELB are tied to a 25-year contract, which was inflation-proofed, and in 2006 the BELB paid more than £370,000 to use the school. Even discounting inflation, a minimum of £7.4m will have to be paid out over the remaining period of the contract, whether the school remains empty or not. At present, their Regional Training Unit occupies part of the Balmoral building. The project was described, by the

Belfast Telegraph The ''Belfast Telegraph'' is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media. Its editor is Eoin Brannigan. Reflecting its unionist tradition, the paper has historically been "favoured by the Protestant po ...

, as "botched".

References

Secondary schools in Belfast Educational institutions established in 2002 Educational institutions disestablished in 2008 2002 establishments in Northern Ireland 2008 disestablishments in Northern Ireland Defunct schools in Northern Ireland {{NorthernIreland-school-stub