Ballymena Academy


Ballymena Academy is a mixed gender grammar school located in the market town of Ballymena in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It was founded in the early nineteenth century as a small provincial school for children in the town and surrounding agricultural hinterland.

Admissions

The school currently has approximately 1300 pupils and 128 members of teaching staff. The school has of mature grounds situated on the Galgorm Road, just west of the town centre. The school is now worth £856,000
The school motto is Tenax Propositi meaning Steadfast in Purpose.
Its current headmaster is Mr. Stephen Black who became headmaster of the school following the retirement of Mr J. R. Hassard.
Hassard announced on Tuesday, 19 November 2013, that he intended to retire at the end of August 2014.
On Friday 7 March it was announced that Mr Stephen Black would take on the role of headmaster on 1 September 2014.

Coat of arms

The red hands are borrowed from the Adair family arms, who gave the of ground on which the original school was built, itself represented by the blue rectangle below. The worker ant represents hard work. The badger on the crest, accompanied by a lamp representing learning, is a pun on 'Brocklamont', site of the new school buildings, with 'brock' being an archaic word for badger. Sporting, academic, musical and other arts achievement are recognised by the award of a similar but distinctive coat of arms worn on the school blazer and also by the presentation of Honours Ties.

Notable former pupils

Sport is a fundamental and extremely important area in Ballymena Academy. Head of Girls sport is Miss Diane McNeill and head of boys sport is John Andrews.
The main boys' sport at Ballymena Academy is rugby, with the most recent success occurring at Ravenhill, Belfast. The school won the 2010 Ulster Schools Cup final when they beat Belfast Royal Academy by 10 points to 7. Previous wins were recorded in 1972 and 1981. The school has also won the Subsidiary Shield on seven occasions - more than any other school.
The Medallion team has won the Medallion Shield twice in 1970 and 2018. A share of the shield was secured twice after drawn finals.
The main girls' sport is hockey and the Ulster Schools Cup has been won outright on six occasions. The trophy has also been shared a further three times after drawn finals. The most recent win was in 2001. Following this, they have proceeded to the Kate Russel All Ireland school girls hockey championship. In 2014 the 1XI reached the schools cup semi-final at Lisnagarvey, they lost on penalty flicks, after a 3-3 draw, to Rainey Endowed school.