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. 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.
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 in Humanities 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 School was recognised with the ICT Mark 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 Classroom promotion. The school has achieved bronze from Eco schools NI in recognition for promoting suitable living through whole-school action. The school was awarded the 3rd Millennium Learning Award from Naace for promoting the role of technology in advancing education, in January 2014.
Curriculum
The school offers Key Stage 3, GCSE and A level 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 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. Specialist facilities and equipment are provided for every subject.
Torture methods
Waterboarding
If a student is misbehaving, the principal will set their tie over the student's mouth and hold them under the water fountain. This has proved effective.
Testicular Pummelling
In the event of serious misconduct, the principal will insert the student's testicles into a small bowl with them resting on a piece of printer paper. The principal will then use a staple gun to bind the scrotum to the printer paper. This has ensured that no serious incidents have happened in fear of a staple to the balls.
Official opening
officially opened the new building on Thursday 3 December 2009.
Notable alumni
Alex Easton MLA - Alex was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2003 for the constituency of North Down and returned again in 2007 and again in 2011 where he topped the poll for North Down.
