St Mary's Christian Brothers' Grammar School, Belfast

St. Mary's Christian Brothers Grammar School
Native name Scoil Ghramadaí Mhuire na mBráithre Críostaí
Established 1866
Type Grammar School
Religion Roman Catholic
Principal Mr. John Martin
Location Belfast
Northern Ireland
Local authority Belfast Education and Library Board
Students 1196
Gender All-Male
Ages 11–18
Colours         
Website St. Mary's Christian Brothers Grammar School

St Mary's Christian Brothers' Grammar School (St Mary's CGBS) (Irish: Scoil Ghramadaí Mhuire na mBráithre Críostaí) is a Roman Catholic boys' grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland

History

The school was founded in 1866. The school moved to a purpose-built secondary at Barrack Street, where the Open Door Centre is now located. Since 1968, the grammar school has developed a much larger campus on Glen Road (referred to locally as "School Road" due to the high number of schools situated along it) in West Belfast. In 1998, it completed the move to Glen Road and now has no facility at Barrack Street.[1]

The school was once entirely run by the Irish Christian Brothers, but as vocations have declined, the school the staff are all lay teachers. Two still contribute to the life of the school, Brothers James McKenna and Colm Carlin. The school, however, is now under the trusteeship of the Edmund Rice Schools Trust (NI).[2] The current principal of the school is John Martin who took up his position in November 2014.

Academics

Subjects

The school provides instruction in a broad range of academic subjects. At the advanced level students are prepared for exams in Applied Business, Business Communication Systems, Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Physics, ICT, Computing, Art & Design, Geography, History, Religious Studies, Politics, English Literature, Drama, Irish, Music, Sports Studies, Media Studies, Home Economics, Travel and Leisure. St Mary's also offer a double award science option and a further maths option which pupils are chosen for.

Sport

Gaelic Games

The school hurling team won six Mageean Cup titles in succession in the 1990s. St. Marys also completed an Ulster Colleges double in 2008 winning both the Mageean Cup and the McLarnon Cup for the first time in the school's history after beating St Columbs (Derry) 1-7 to 0-8 in the final at Healy Park in Omagh on St Patrick's Day. The school has also had sustained success in handball and Gaelic football.

Soccer

Since the lifting of the ban on school representation in soccer competitions in 2002 the school has become the most successful in Belfast. On St Patrick's Day 2006 at Lisburn Distillery's grounds the Year 12s won its first ever soccer cup, the Belfast Cup, defeating Boys Model School. They followed up the next year with its first NI Cup in 2007 (Year 12) as well as the 2007 Belfast Cup (Year 11).

This success was followed up in 2008 as they won the year 9 Belfast Cup as well as an historic double in lifting both the Carnegie Schools Northern Ireland Cup (Year 13/14) and became the first school in 20 years to retain the Malcolm Brodie northern Ireland Trophy (year 12) with a victory over St Columbs, Derry. The winning tradition continues into the last year of the decade with wins in the NI Cup and Belfast Cup for the U14s and the U15s winning the Belfast cup.

Water polo

It is the only school in Ireland to have a clean sweep of All-Ireland titles at all age groups in consecutive years. A 9th Canada Cup in a row was won in April 2009 with several of the team continuing to represent Ireland at international tournaments.

Other sports

The school also competes in inter-schools competition in trampoline, athletics, golf, and basketball.[3]

Debating

The school runs debating societies in English, Irish and Spanish, and has sent delegates representing Ireland to both the European Youth Parliament and European Youth Commission.

The school has excelled in the European and Irish News inter-school quizzes, currently holding both trophies. The school debating team won the Northern Ireland Schools Debating Championship in 2008, defeating the team from Antrim Grammar School in the final at Stormont. This is the only time St Mary's has won the competition.

Arts

The school maintains an orchestra and a recording studio, stages theatrical and musical performances, as well as entering students in art competitions.

Notable alumni

Academic

Arts

Business

Civil

Religious

Law

Media

Politics

Sport

References

  1. ↑ About the School, stmaryscbgs.com; accessed 5 October 2015.
  2. ↑ Glen Road CultureNorthernIreland.org; accessed 5 October 2015.
  3. ↑ Sport section, official website; accessed 3 July 2015.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, May 04, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.