Bangor Academy and Sixth Form College (''informally'' Bangor Academy) is an 11–18 co-educational,

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) ...

and

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

in Bangor,

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

, Northern Ireland. As of March 2023, the school is the largest in Northern Ireland with 1,835 pupils enrolled at the school.

History

The school was formed as part of a merger between the Bangor High for Girls school and Gransha Boys' High school. The name for the newly formed school was Bangor Academy and Sixth Form College. AWJ Hyndman was appointed to be the school's first principal. The motto of Gransha Boys' High school was ''Conando Progredimur'' ("endeavour to be better"). The school was eventually bulldozed and cleared in 2008. The schools officially merged in 2001, it was decided to locate the Junior year groups, years 8, 9, and 10 at the Gransha Road campus, the Senior year groups, years 11, 12 and Sixth Form were based at the Castle Street campus. It was announced on 1 March 2001 by the Department of Education for Northern Ireland that a new school campus was to be built to accommodate 1,650 pupils with an investment package totalling £21 million. All year groups moved into the new school building located on the Castle Park Road in 2008. In March 2023, the school announced its plans to "transform" into an integrated school. Its current stage is at the parent/guardian ballot, which will take place between 6 May and 6 June 2023.

School emblem

The Gryphon is the official emblem of the school which was adopted from the Gransha Boys' High school emblem. The old Gransha motto was dropped, however.

Staff

Staffing comprises 91 teachers and 24 non-teaching staff. With the addition of supervisory, school meals, facilities management and cleaning staff the school employs 160 people. The pupil to teacher ratios for 2012-2013 was 16:6 calculated by the Department of Education for Northern Ireland.

Status and awards

The school has been recognised for its work through awards including the status of

Specialist School Specialist schools, also known as specialised schools or specialized schools, are schools which specialise in a certain area or field of curriculum. In some countries, for example New Zealand, the term is used exclusively for schools specialis ...

Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

by the Department of Education, the International School Award by the British Council and both the Northern Ireland and National Training Awards by the Department of Employment and Learning. In 2011, it was recognised with the

ICT Mark The Self-review Framework is an online tool that schools in the United Kingdom can use to assess and benchmark their use of technology ( ICT). It enables schools to identify where they are and shows the practical steps they can take to improve thei ...

by Naace, the ICT Association, which confirmed the School's development work and achievement in ICT. This award was reconfirmed on the school in May 2014. The school has been recognised by the Chinese Institute as a hub for their

Confucius Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...

Classroom promotion. In January 2014, it was awarded the 3rd Millennium Learning Award from Naace for promoting the role of technology in advancing education, . Following April 2016, the students and staff had achieved a new

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

for the most persons doing sit-ups at the same time (827), overtaking the previous record of 503.

Curriculum

The school offers

Key Stage 3 Key Stage 3 (commonly abbreviated as KS3) is the legal term for the three years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9, when pupils are aged between 11 and 14. In Northern Ireland the ...

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

and

A level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

provision. It is part of both the North Down and Ards Learning Communities and is a member of the Bangor Learning Partnership. Through these relationships additional subjects become available to pupils and are provided depending on need. There are curriculum links with the South Eastern Regional College (SERC) which is directly across the road from the school.

Building

The school building was built following a Public Private Partnership scheme and opened in 2008.

Official opening

Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Forfar, (Edward Antony Richard Louis; born 10 March 1964) is a member of the British royal family. He is the youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the youngest sibl ...

officially opened the new building on Thursday 3 December 2009.

Notable alumni

Alex Easton Alex Easton MLA (born 19 May 1969) is an Independent Unionist politician from Northern Ireland who has been a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Down since 2003. A former member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Eas ...

MLA - Alex was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2003 for the constituency of North Down and returned again in 2007,2011,2016,2017 and again in 2023 where he topped the poll for North Down. * George Hamilton - Chief Constable of PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland), was a former pupil of the Gransha Boys High school, Bangor. *

Josh Magennis Joshua Brendan David Magennis (born 15 August 1990) is a Northern Irish footballer who plays as a striker for Wigan Athletic. Having spent the majority of his youth career as a goalkeeper, he switched to striker in 2008 before turning professio ...

- striker for Scottish Premiership club Aberdeen.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bangor Academy And Sixth Form College Secondary schools in County Down Bangor, County Down Educational institutions established in 2001 2001 establishments in Northern Ireland Specialist colleges in Northern Ireland