Gort na Móna Secondary School was a private Catholic secondary school for boys aged 11–16, located in Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It opened in September 1971 with 120 pupils. In 1988, the school amalgamated with St Thomas's Secondary School, St Peter's Secondary School, and St Paul's Secondary School to become Corpus Christi College, Belfast. The first school premises were located at the current

Gort na Móna GAC Gort na Móna is a Gaelic Athletic Association club in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. A member of Antrim GAA, it competes in Gaelic football, hurling, camogie and handball. The Irish-language name means "turf field". The club currently co ...

site in Turf Lodge and consisted of a series of wooden huts while construction of the main building took place. In 2019, Corpus Christi College amalgamated with St Rose's Dominican College and the Christian Brothers School, Glen Road. The new school is called All Saints College / Coláiste na Naomh Uile.

Facilities

Purpose-built buildings were opened in 1973, on a green field site with space for sports pitches and playing fields. Three open-air handball courts were added to the side of the building at the Dermott Hill entrance. The school continued to expand and in 1980 there were 36 teachers and 550 pupils. One building housed the classrooms where Science, Irish language, Maths, Geography, Religion, English, Music, Art, Technology and Design were taught. The Sports Halls was located in the other building. Today the buildings are now used by St Gerard's Education Centre.

Uniform

The uniform policy consisted of a black blazer, grey shirt, grey jumper, maroon tie with thin saffron line, black trousers and black shoes; however, this policy was lightly enforced by staff and after pupils entered their second year they could wear almost any attire except jeans.Facebook profile
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Sport

As a school run by the Congregation of Christian Brothers it had strong Gaelic Athletic Association ties.

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

and

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

were encouraged and developed, leaving a legacy in the surrounding housing estates of Dermott Hill,

New Barnsley The Springfield Road ( ga, Bóthar Chluanaí) is a residential area and road traffic thoroughfare adjacent to the Falls Road in west Belfast. The local population is predominantly Irish nationalist and republican. Parts of the road form an int ...

and

Turf Lodge The Springfield Road ( ga, Bóthar Chluanaí) is a residential area and road traffic thoroughfare adjacent to the Falls Road in west Belfast. The local population is predominantly Irish nationalist and republican. Parts of the road form an int ...

. Brother T.F. Moroney was responsible for the development for the teams and choose the dominant maroon colour of

Galway GAA The Galway County Boards of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael Coiste Chontae na Gaillimhe) or Galway GAA are one of the 32 county boards in Ireland; they are responsible for Gaelic games in County Galway, and f ...

as well as sky blue and saffron for the school team colours. Funding for the school kits and hurly sticks came from profits gained from the school tuck shop. Moroney later helped found

in 1974.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gort Na Mona Secondary School Defunct Catholic schools in Northern Ireland 1971 establishments in Northern Ireland Educational institutions established in 1971 1988 disestablishments in Northern Ireland Educational institutions disestablished in 1988 Boys' schools in Northern Ireland Secondary schools in Belfast Congregation of Christian Brothers secondary schools in Northern Ireland