# Ballyclare High School

54°45′14″N 6°00′07″W﻿ / ﻿54.754°N 6.002°W﻿ / 54.754; -6.002
Ballyclare High School is a co-educational, non-denominational grammar school in Ballyclare, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. There are approximately 1,200 pupils at the school, taught by around 80 teachers.

## History

The school was opened in the 1890s in the village of Doagh, a few miles south-west of Ballyclare. In 1902, the school was taken over by Miss Catherine Aiken, who in 1904, moved it to Ballyclare itself. In 1930, the school finally moved to its current premises on the Rashee Road in the town, and in 1935, the current name of Ballyclare High School was officially adopted. In 2006, the school was awarded Investor in People.

## Sport

The Medallion (under 15) team won the Medallion Shield in 1990 when Coleraine Academical Institution were beaten 8-4 in the final at Ravenhill. The subsidiary Medallion Plate competition has been won four times in 1992, 1997, 1999 and 2003. The 1st XV won the Ulster Schools' Cup in 1973 and were runners up in 2012 to Royal Belfast Academical Institution. The 2012 team was coached by Mr Dan Soper and Mr G Shaw.
The 3rd XV shared the Ulster School' 3rd XV plate with Ballyclare Secondary School in 2016, winning the competition outright in 2020.
In boys' hockey, the school won the Burney Cup in 1931 and 1935. and also winning the Prior shield in 2012.
Girls hockey has risen to prominence in recent times, with the 1st team reaching the 2007 Ulster Senior Schoolgirls' Cup final in . In 2012 the senior girls 1st XI won the Ulster Senior Schoolgirls' Cup. The team was coached by Dr. Michelle Rainey and featured future Ireland and Scottish internationals including 2018 Women's Hockey World Cup silver medallist, Zoe Wilson, who scored the winner, aged 14. Goalkeeper Lucy Camlin went on to gain 25 caps as a Scottish International and has uniquely won both Senior Scottish and Irish League & Cup Doubles with Edinburgh club Watsonians and Ulster club Pegasus respectively

## Uniform

Uniform is compulsory at Ballyclare High School. All pupils wear a blazer - black for boys and navy for girls - with the school logo emblazoned on a pocket on the left. Special Emblems are worn by students who have received awards from the school, and those who represent the school for Ulster or Ireland may be awarded an "honours blazer" - this is a red blazer with an honours pocket.
Ties must be worn for all pupils. In first to fifth year, ties are diagonal stripes of the school's colours, red and navy. In Lower Sixth, pupils wear a tie that is mostly navy with intermittent, thin red stripes as well as a representation of the Ballyclare Mill which can be seen in the school's emblem. The Upper Sixth tie is similar to the first to fifth form tie, with a similar mill emblem to the Lower Sixth tie.

## Notable former pupils and staff

Notable Ballyclare High School Alumni :
| Name | Career | Years of attendance |
| Roy Beggs | Politician | |
| Stephen Boyd | Hollywood actor (birth name William Millar). | 1940s |
| Andy Cairns | member of heavy metal band Therapy? | |
| Alan Duffy | Noted academic, astronomer, and science communicator | 1990s |
| John Dundee | Noted anesthetist and medical researcher. | |
| John Jackson | Represented Ireland men's national field hockey team at the 2016 Summer Olympics. | 1997–2003 |
| Michael Nutt | 2002 Commonwealth Games bronze medal winner in bowls | |
| Dick Strawbridge | Retired army officer, TV personality, environmentalist. | 1970s |
| Zoe Wilson | Ireland women's field hockey international and silver medallist at the 2018 Women's Hockey World Cup. | 2004–2010 |

## Principals

| No. | Name | Tenure |
| 1 | Catherine Aiken | 1902–1923 |
| 2 | Arthur Foweather | 1923–1939 |
| 3 | R E Russell | 1939–1966 |
| 4 | Joseph Williams | 1966–1970 |
| 5 | Cecil Millar | 1971–1990 |
| 6 | Robert Fitzpatrick | 1990–2000 |
| 7 | David Knox | 2000–2015 |
| 8 | Dr Michelle Rainey | 2015–present |