Royal Belfast Academical Institution
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The Royal Belfast Academical Institution, commonly known as Inst., is a voluntary state grammar school for boys, founded in 1810, in College Square, Belfast, Northern Ireland. The school occupies an 8-acre site in the centre of the city on which its first buildings were erected; major additions in 1953, 1957, 1960, 1964, 1983, 1991, 2000 and 2003 provide modern and specialised facilities and account for half the present accommodation. In addition to 40 classrooms, there are 16 science laboratories, 2 lecture rooms, 2 gymnasia, Art and Music departments, Sixth Form Centre, Common Hall, Dining Hall and an indoor heated swimming pool. A new sports hall has been added and Christchurch, a state of the art facility containing a new library, careers suite and 3 IT suites, has recently been opened.
For the first three years boys normally follow a common curriculum: in the fourth year the curriculum is still general but certain options are introduced, and at the end of the 5th Form, boys sit the examination for the Northern Ireland GCSE. Subjects studied at AS/A2 level in the sixth form include English, Modern History, Geography, Economics, French, German, Spanish, Greek, Latin, Technology, Mathematics, Physics, Politics, Chemistry, Biology, Music and Art.
Rugby football and hockey are played in the winter; athletics, cricket and tennis occupy the summer months; badminton, fencing, shooting, rowing, squash and swimming (including water polo and life-saving) take place throughout the year. Teams representing the school take part not only in matches and activities within Northern Ireland, but also in events open to all schools in the United Kingdom.
There are numerous clubs and societies, a school orchestra, choir and band, a contingent of the Combined Cadet Force, Scout and Venture Scout units and a Community Service Group.
Over two-thirds of each year's leavers go on to university or to full-time courses in other institutions of higher and further education.
In addition to a large number of prizes throughout the school, endowed scholarships offered in the sixth form are tenable for travel or at university.
Candidates for admission to the Main School should be under 12 on July of the year of admission and applications must be received by mid-February. Boys who are regarded by the Department of Education for Northern Ireland as qualified for grammar school education have their tuition fee paid by their local Education and Library Board. There is an annual capital fee for the 2005/06 academic year of £690 and £45 stationery. For new pupils there is also an insurance charge of £15.75 and a refundable book deposit of £65. Scholarships are awarded to the school boys whose work shows outstanding progress during their school career.
The school motto is "Quaerere Verum" - To seek the truth.
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[edit] Senior staff
- Principal - Michael Ridley (Soon to be replaced by Janet Williamson, from Antrim Grammar School)
- Vice Principals - Alan McKinstry and Brian Todd
- Dean (Head of Pastoral Care) - Eamon Foster
[edit] Houses
- Dill - (Housemaster: Douglas Madill)
- Jones - (Housemaster: David Wilson)
- Kelvin - (Housemaster: Raymond Pattison)
- Pirrie - (Housemaster: Jonathan Peak)
- Stevenson - (Housemaster : Innes Gray)
- Larmor - (Housemaster: Robert Meek)
[edit] Distinguished alumni
- Lembit Öpik, Liberal Democrat MP and Spokesperson on Northern Ireland and Wales.
- Stephen Nolan, BBC radio and television presenter.
- Lord Kelvin, physicist. (Kelvin house is named after him.)
- Thomas Andrews, Chief designer at Harland and Wolff shipyards and RMS Titanic architect.
- Lord Carswell of Killeen, Law Lord and former Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland.
- Lord Lowry, former Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland.
- John Miller Andrews, 2nd Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.
- Paul Smith, Founder of Celador, he was the creator of the popular game-show 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'.
- Mark Pollock, blind international rower and entrepreneur.
- Sir Joseph Larmor-Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, Cambridge University 1903-1933
- Baron Mawhinney of Peterborough, a member of the Cabinet until 1997 and a Member of Parliament until 2005, currently Chairman of the Football League.
- Dawson Stelfox, the leader of the 1993 Irish Expedition to Mount Everest and the first Irishman to reach the summit.
- Paul Rankin, television chef and owner of a chain of cafes in Belfast.
- Tim Collins, Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment in 2001 during Operation Telic. After his service in the Iraq war, he was promoted to a full Colonel. His "eve-of-battle" speech is rumoured to be hanging in the White House. He has recently retired.
- Sam Lee, Between 1891 and 1898 he won nineteen international caps for Ireland. Captained Ireland in the 1892-1893 season again in 1895-1896. In 1894 he was a member of Ireland's first Triple Crown triumph. 1904 he refereed the Scotland v England match.
[edit] Sports
The school has a reputation for offering a wide selection of sports. Rugby Union is taken seriously throughout the school, and is the dominant sport. Inst. have won the Ulster Schools Cup 28 times. The school's coaches are Richard Hedley and Gavin Monteith.
The school hockey team also has an excellent reputation, with the 1st XI consistently featuring in the finals of all three competetions they enter (The Irish Schools Tournament, The McCullough Cup and the Ulster Schools Burney Cup). It is coached to a high standard throughout the school by dedicated staff.
In recent times other school sports have also been more frequently making headlines. Inst. is one of only four schools in Northern Ireland to participate in competitive rowing. Rowing has become increasingly popular sport within the school, and in 2005 the first ever Inst. crew travelled to the Henley Royal Regatta in England, and participated in various regattas throughout Ireland and abroad.
The school has a strong swimming team. The team regularly go to competitions within Northern Ireland and abroad. In 2005, 3 of the team qualified for the Irish International Schools Squad. In the same year the Senior team came 3rd in the Bath Cup competition held in London. Recently the team picked up a number of medals in the Irish Schools, held in the NAC in Dublin on the 4th February 2006. Again one swimmer qualified for the International Schools Squad, while the Senior Relay Team became Irish champions in both the medley and freestyle relays, breaking both Irish Schools records in the process. On the May 12, 2006 the senior team again won the prestigious Bath Cup competition, in a new record time.
Water polo another popular school sport, has competed in various events and tours, the most recent to Barcelona in 2004.
Unlike most grammar schools in Ireland, which play Gaelic or Rugby to the exclusion of soccer, soccer is played at Inst with 3 senior teams regularly competing in league and cup competitions.
[edit] Music
Music is largely overseen by Phillip Bolton, who in his time at the school has managed to create a highly regarded, award winning musical community.
Musical groups include the choir, which won the UTV choir of the year competition in 1999, the orchestra, the jazz band led by past pupil David Howell, and the string group.
Along with the many music tutors, other notable figures in the music department are Mrs A McMichael, Miss J Wilson, and Mrs A Reid.
The music performed is of all varieties and styles. In one concert, a listener could be treated to choral, jazz, gospel, classical, modern classical, rock and alternative in the space of 2 hours. Concerts have a reputation of being incredibly different to other school performances, with plenty of visual aspects and also frequent light hearted humour.
Among public performances and TV recordings, the music department have two major concerts a year in November and March, along with the annual Carol Service.
[edit] Other
The school's debating society, more properly known as the Royal Academical Debating Society, is the oldest continuously extant body of its kind in Ireland.
The school has an "old boys" club known casually as Instonians and formally as the Belfast Old Instonians Association.
Currently the sports side of the club is open to anyone who wants to join and has teams in three main sports: rugby; hockey and golf. Originally set up as an old boys only club, the sports club was opened up to the public in response to the notable flow of Instonians to Great Britain for further education, many of whom did not return to Northern Ireland. This led to fears that the club would die out as current members grew older but were by less and less 'new blood' as the number of Instonians choosing to remain at in Northern Ireland dwindled.
The association also functions as a means for ex-pupils to find old school friends or get in contact with other Old Instonians in their area if they move abroad. The association provides this by producing a directory of all members on a regular basis. There are annual Instonians dinners held in Northern Ireland, London and the United States held by the association which aim to further the feeling of brotherhood in the shared experiences of the schools sons.
[edit] Inchmarlo
R.B.A.I. also has a preparatory department (Inchmarlo), founded in 1907 and now set in a 6 acre site on Cranmore Park, off the Malone Road in South Belfast. Inchmarlo House was the former home of Sir William Crawford, a Director of the York Street Flax Spinning Mill.
It employs 11 full-time staff and caters for boys aged between 4 and 11 who wear hats as part of uniform. It constantly attains impressive results in the '11 plus' examination with 75% of pupils gaining an 'A' grade. Of those, approximately 99% (around 40) of pupils transfer to the main school every year.
