During the beginning era of William Moles, as headmaster, this became an outstanding school that…read moretaught students to be good caring citizens as well as cultivating their academic talents. Since then it has only grown better.

Great school. Helped me get to where I am todayread more

Belfast Royal Academy is situated on Cliftonville Road, just off the Antrim Road which is a short…read morefive minutes walk from Belfast city centre. B.R.A. is a large co-educational, non-denominational grammar school which mainly focuses its interests on academic, sporting, and musical talents. There are currently around 1400 pupils at the grammar school which also has a Preparatory Department called Ben Madigan, which has 165 pupils. In stead of the 11+ the school now requires pupils to sit a 'Common Entrance Assessment' in which pupils need to score 95+ (based on last years figures) B.R.A. was founded in 1785 by Rev. Dr. James Crombie and was originally located near St. Anne's Cathedral on Academy Street. It moved to the Cliftonville Road in 1880, when the current building was erected. For the first hundred years the school was known simply as Belfast Academy however in 1888 Queen Victoria granted permission for the school to name itself Belfast Royal Academy. The school motto is 'per vias sapientiae' which translates from Latin as "by the ways of wisdom". The School Crest is made up of a rose, thistle and shamrock, with the Royal Arms, the Belfast Arms and the Ulster Arms incorporated in to it. The three significant dates surrounding the design commemorate the foundation of the school in 1785, the transfer to the present site in 1880 and the Royal designation of Belfast Royal Academy in 1888. The school boasts a number of high quality facilities including an impressive sports hall which is used for a number of sports such as netball, basketball, badminton, football, indoor athletics, cricket, hockey and volleyball. The hall is also used for rugby training, and has a full- size tennis court. Upstairs in the hall there's a new state-of-the-art fitness suite; which includes running machines, aerobics machines, cross-trainers, step-machines and bike-trainers. There's also a 25-metre indoor heated Swimming Pool which is used by pupils from B.R.A. and Ben Madigan as well as local community groups and swimming clubs. Continuing with the sports theme B.R.A. own the playing fields at Roughfort Sports Grounds where there are a number of pitches for rugby, cricket and hockey. The school also has a lease with Cavehill Tennis Courts allowing them to play freely on the courts. As you can see, sports are very much encouraged at B.R.A. though they also have a thriving music club and drama club which hold annual concerts regarded in high merit. Pupils can also participate in the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme from 3rd year onwards. B.R.A. is a great school with a great teaching staff. I attended this school from 1999 - 2006 (Seems likes aeons ago now!) and I had a brilliant time here. I scored well in my GCSEs, AS & A Levels and this was all down to the commitment and quality of the staff here, I couldn't have done it without them. Although I wasn't the sporty type the school still encouraged and promoted my own individual talents, which is a very important quality. I would recommend this school highly to any parent who is indecisive about where to send their child. I have many, many fond memories of this school and the times I spent here.

Academy till i dieeeeee!!!!! B B B R A , we are the bestt hooooo raaaaaaaa , atid, best school…read moreeverrrrr ay ay ayyyyy

University just wasn't like this in my day! Lucky are the postgraduate students at Queen's…read moreUniversity Belfast! Had a private tour yesterday of Queen's new Graduate School and it's stunning. It's full of beautiful gothic arches and is bright and filled with light. Lots of student meeting rooms and computers with comfy chairs. It's a breathtakingly beautiful building - makes me wish I was a student again!

This is a brilliant, sport-mad, musical school and its exam results speak for themselves. The staff…read moreare great people, committed to their pupils' learning and to combatting bullying. I'll be very sad to leave Inst!

I was unfortunate enough to have to attend saintfield high school. It was a perfectly good building…read moreand good facilities. The teachers had no control or interest though. Most of my classmates were either bullies, crazy and in some cases creepy. Id suffered stress and depression at school and the then headmasters advice was "grow up!" found out he later had to step down with suffering stress and depression. There wasn't really many good teachers and I still believe I would have had a better education if id gone to one of the other schools that I could have chosen. On a good note the school has had a lot of money spent on it in recent years and hopefully the teaching team now will be more capable of getting the best out of young people and be able to teach in an interesting and motivational way rather than copying notes as they read from a book.

An excellent educational establishment with good track record for providing pupils with a wide…read morerange of subjects and extra-curricular activities. Excellent sporting traditions and facilities.

This school is currently having a new building built and will be even better than before…read more Prevouisly a school with a bit of bad publicity it is now a great school with great results every year for exams. Also a great range of extra corricular activities!