Belfast High School (BHS) is a

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

voluntary

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 ...

Jordanstown Jordanstown ( ga, Baile Mhic Shiúrtáin) is a townland (of 964 acres) and electoral ward in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is within the urban area of Newtownabbey and the Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council area. It is also situated i ...

Newtownabbey Newtownabbey ( ) is a large settlement in North Belfast in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is separated from the rest of the city by Cavehill and Fortwilliam golf course. It surrounds Carnmoney Hill, and was formed from the merging of severa ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

, Northern Ireland. It was established in 1854 and is within the North Eastern Region of the

Education Authority The Education Authority ( ga, Údarás Oideachais) is a non-departmental body sponsored by the Department of Education (Northern Ireland), Department of Education in Northern Ireland. It was established under the Education Act (Northern Ireland) ...

. In May 2007, it was awarded

Specialist Status Specialist schools in the United Kingdom (sometimes branded as specialist colleges in England and Northern Ireland) are schools with an emphasis or focus in a specific specialised subject area, which is called a specialism, or alternatively in t ...

Languages Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

Specialist School Status
, Belfast High School website. Retrieved 30 June 2012 and in March 2012, it has been recognised as one of only six post-primary schools in Northern Ireland to be in the top 10% for performance at both GCSE and A-level.

History

The institution now known as Belfast High School opened in 1854. In 1874, it moved to ne

at Glenravel Street,

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 ...

. Since the school was founded, there have been 7 head teachers: *(1854–1867) John Pyper, who established the school as Pyper Academy, before changing its name to the Belfast Mercantile Academy shortly thereafter. *(1867–1917) James Pyper, the school's longest-serving headmaster. He was responsible for the building of what the Ulster Star described as "Mr Pyper's splendid new seminary"The Witness, 4 September 1874 http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~econnolly/twextracts/tw18740900.html in Glenravel Street. *(1917–1937) Spring Pyper *(1938–1966) Dr Robert Harte, who changed the school's name to its current title. Under his headship the school purchased Ardilea House, a large 19th-century villa in Jordanstown, in 1953. Between then and 1963, when the entire school re-located from Glenravel Street, its then Vice-Principal, Harry Towell, headed a small suburban campus at the site. The house now forms the administration block, containing the staff room, sick bay, and offices of the principal, her secretary, the bursar and vice-principal. Dr Harte suffered a severe stroke in 1964 and his son acted as temporary head until the appointment of Mr Dunlop in 1966. Dr Harte was a Doctor of Philosophy and an eminent classical scholar. *(1966–1987) Samuel H Dunlop, who saw the building of a new science block (1970), the closure of Somerton House (the school's preparatory department) in 1981 and the enlargement of the school library (1980s) *(1987–2006) Stephen R Hilditch, who saw the Harte Building opened in the 1990s to house Home Economics, Careers, Technology, ICT and a science lab, the refurbishment of the science block (2001–2003) and the refurbishment and enlargement of the Music Department *(2006–2018) Lynn F Gormley, who saw the installation of a state-of-the-art sports and fitness building which was opened by Dame Mary Peters in 2016. *(2018–present) Charlotte Weir, who had previously served as Acting Head Teacher and Deputy Head Teacher.

Houses

The school has a

house system The house system is a traditional feature of schools in the United Kingdom. The practice has since spread to Commonwealth countries and the United States. The school is divided into subunits called "houses" and each student is allocated to o ...

. The tie a pupil wears is blue with a thick yellow band pattern, and a thinner band pattern of an additional colour representing the pupil's house. The houses and their colours are as follows: * Boyd (green) * Pyper (blue) * Storey (red) * Watson (yellow)

Sports

The four main sports at Belfast High are

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

and

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

Notable alumni

* Steve Aiken, Member of the Northern Irish Assembly * George Cassidy, former Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham *

Tommy Cassidy Thomas Cassidy (born 18 November 1950) is a former Northern Ireland international footballer who played as a midfielder. During his club career he played for Ards, Glentoran, Newcastle United, Burnley and APOEL Nicosia. He earned 24 caps for th ...

, Northern Ireland international footballer, who played for Newcastle United and Burnley * Edward Samuel Wesley de Cobain, MP, disgraced Conservative politician *

Fred Henderson James Frederick "Fred" Henderson (February 1867 – 18 July 1957) was an English socialist writer and journalist, and a Labour Party politician. Early life Born in Norwich, he was the son of James Alexander Henderson, a clothier. He was educated ...

, Socialist writer
George MacDowell Kane
Artist and sculptor

international footballer: Distillery and Cliftonville right-half and Captain of Ireland in 1880s and 1890s *

Jonny Evans Jonathan Grant Evans (born 3 January 1988) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Leicester City and the Northern Ireland national team. Evans started his career at Manchester United and progressed thr ...

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

and Northern Ireland international football player * Sir

Ronnie Flanagan Sir Ronald Flanagan (born 25 March 1949) is a retired senior Northern Irish police officer. He was the Home Office Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, Chief Inspector of Constabulary for the United Kingdom excluding Scotland. Sir Ronnie ...

, retired Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Northern Ireland *

Alan McNeill Alan Alexander McNeill (born 16 August 1945) is a former professional footballer, who played for Crusaders, Middlesbrough, Huddersfield Town, Oldham Athletic, Stockport County, Witton Albion and Macclesfield Town. Club career McNeill attended B ...

, professional football player *

Stephen Rea Stephen Rea ( ; born 31 October 1946) is an Irish film and stage actor. Rea has appeared in films such as ''V for Vendetta'', ''Michael Collins'', ''Interview with the Vampire'' and ''Breakfast on Pluto''. Rea was nominated for the Academy Award ...

, film actor *

Mark McCrea Mark McCrea (born 7 September 1987) is a rugby union player for Connacht in the Pro14 competition. He plays Normally on the wing but can play in the centre. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, McCrea signed a year and a half professional contra ...

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

rugby player *

Maurice Field Maurice Field (born Greenisland, County Antrim, 24 February 1964)Karl Johnston, "Maurice's Field of Dreams", ''Irish Press'', 11 February 1994 is a former Irish rugby union international player who played as a centre for North of Ireland, Malone ...

, former Ulster and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

rugby player *

Paul Stirling Paul Robert Stirling (born 3 September 1990) is an Irish cricketer. Stirling is the opening batsman for the Ireland cricket team and an occasional right arm off break bowler. He is one of the top 10 run scorers in T20 internationals. He was one ...

cricketer *

Sinéad Morrissey Sinéad Morrissey (born 24 April 1972 in Portadown, County Armagh) is a Northern Irish poet. In January 2014 she won the T. S. Eliot Prize for her fifth collection ''Parallax'' and in 2017 she won the Forward Prize for Poetry for her sixth coll ...

, poet * Harold Miller Church of Ireland Bishop of Down.

References

External links