Cambridge House Grammar School is a mixed

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 ...

in the

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 ...

town of

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from ga, an Baile Meánach , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is part of the Borough of Mid and East Antrim. The town is built on land given to the Adair family by King Charles I i ...

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 ...

, 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) ...

General

The school is located in the Galgorm Road area of the town at a mature site surrounded by gardens and playing fields comprising almost. The main school buildings are contemporary and the campus was refurbished in 2001 prior to the opening of the new school. The Technology and Design Suite building is the most recent addition to the school. The school also includes a separate Drama and Media annexe and a self-contained, Sixth Form Centre complete with both private and communal study areas, a

common room A common room is a type of shared lounge, most often found in halls of residence or dormitories, at (for example) universities, colleges, military bases, hospitals, rest homes, hostels, and even minimum-security prisons. They are generally con ...

and a coffee shop.

The House System

Cambridge House Grammar School (CHGS) is split into five houses (there having previously been four in the former Cambridge House Boy's Grammar School- Adair, Eaton, Raphael and Chichester), and the pastoral care of each pupil is enforced by this system. The

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 ...

is based on patrons who are successful in a wide range of expertise, such as

sport Sport pertains to any form of Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

and

the Arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

. The ethos behind the house system is that each pupil can relate to a smaller unit within the school and have a sense of identity in such a large school. Each house is allocated a Senior Teacher, and a team of seven group tutors. Houses foster the development of leadership skills in the pupils, as House

Prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

s are elected in year 11. Each house has a separate colour, house charity and house ties, with the house crest emblazoned in the middle. The houses, and their original patrons, are listed below. *Jones House:

Marie Jones Sarah Marie Jones (born 1951) is a Belfast-based actress and playwright. Born into a working-class Protestant family, Jones was an actress for several years before turning her hand to writing. Her plays have been staged on Broadway theatre, Br ...

, Belfast born playwright. *Burnell House:

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell Dame Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell (; Bell; born 15 July 1943) is an astrophysicist from Northern Ireland who, as a postgraduate student, discovered the first radio pulsars in 1967. The discovery eventually earned the Nobel Prize in Physics in ...

, physicist. *Abercorn House: Sacha, Duchess of Abercorn, OBE *Patton House: David Patton, local businessman. *Robinson House: Brian Robinson, former

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 ...

and Ireland

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 ...

player and past pupil.

Notable former pupils

Adrian McCoubrey Adrian George Agustus Matthew McCoubrey (born 3 April 1980 in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland) is an Irish cricketer. A right-handed batsman and right-arm fast-medium bowler, he has played 43 times for the Ireland cricket team since ...

, professional cricketer, held the office of Deputy Head Boy 1997/98 * Brian Robinson, rugby player, Irish international * Jamie Smith, Current Ulster Rugby Full-back, Jamie completed five years at the school *

Carol Graham Carol Graham (born January 29, 1962) is the Leo Pasvolsky Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, a College Park professor at the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of La ...

, contemporary artist.

References

{{authority control Grammar schools in County Antrim * 2001 establishments in Northern Ireland Educational institutions established in 2001