Ballymena Academy

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Ballymena Academy

Mottoes	Tenax Propositi
Established	1828
Type	Grammar
Headteacher	Ronald Hassard
Location	89 Galgorm Rd Ballymena County Antrim BT42 1AJ
Staff	93
Students	1200
Website	Website
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Ballymena Academy (founded 1828) is a 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.

The school currently has approximately 1200 pupils and 93 members of teaching staff. The school has 88 acres of mature grounds situated on the Galgorm Road, just west of the town centre.

The school motto is Tenax Propositi meaning Steadfast in Purpose.

Its current headmaster is Ronnie Hassard who joined the school in 2004 after the retirement of Mr. Martin.

[edit] Coat of arms

The red hands are borrowed from the Adair family arms, who gave the one acre of ground on which the original school was built, itself represented by the blue rectangle below. The 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 or academic achievement is recognized by the award of a similar but distinctive coat of arms worn on the school blazer. If a pupil has had a great achievement or an award they get a different badge on their blazer.

[edit] Notable alumni

John Alderdice, Liberal Democrat peer, first Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly and now a member of the Independent Monitoring Commission
Sir Roger Casement, Knight, British diplomat, and campaigner for the Congolese natives, turned Irish revolutionary, hanged in 1916 under the Treason Act
Steven Davis, Fulham and Northern Ireland footballer
Edgar Graham, Northern Irish Unionist political figure, assassinated by the IRA in 1983 at the age of 29
David Humphreys, Irish rugby union star
Peter Johnston (BBC) Controller of BBC Northern Ireland (November 2006-present)
Willie John McBride, Rugby Player. Captain of the Irish International Team and British & Irish Lions Rugby Team
Alan Montgomery Jones, prominent Ulster architect and Vice President of the Royal Society of Ulster Architects, 2002-06
Sir George Quigley, Permanent Secretary of four departments the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) : Manpower Services (1974-76), Commerce (1976-79), Finance (1979-82) and, Finance and Personnel (1982-89); subsequently Chairman of the Ulster Bank, Bombardier Aerospace Shorts, and the Northern Ireland Economic Council (1994-98)
Augus Gibson, He recently left school to pursue his live long passing of "MERKING"