Ballymena Academy
Ballymena Academy is a mixed gender grammar school in the market town of Ballymena in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1828 as a small provincial school for children in the town and surrounding agricultural hinterland. Admissions. The school currently has approximately 1300 pupils and 128 members of teaching staff. The school has of mature grounds situated on the Galgorm Road, just west of the town centre. The school motto is "Tenax Propositi" meaning "Steadfast in Purpose". Following the August 2014 retirement of J. R. Hassard (announced on 19 November 2013), the appointment of Stephen Black  (former headmaster at Antrim Grammar School) was announced on 7 March 2013; he became headmaster on 1 September 2014. Sport. Sport is an important area in Ballymena Academy. Head of girls' sport is Diane McNeill and head of boys' sport is John Andrews. The main boys' sport at Ballymena Academy is rugby. At Ravenhill, Belfast, the school won the 2010 Ulster Schools Cup final when they beat Belfast Royal Academy 10–7. Previous wins were recorded in 1972 and 1981. The school has also won the Subsidiary Shield on seven occasions - more than any other school. The Medallion (under 15) team  has won the Medallion Shield twice, in 1970 and 2018. A share of the shield was secured twice after drawn finals. The main girls' sport is hockey and the Ulster Schools Cup has been won outright on six occasions. The trophy has also been shared a further three times after drawn finals. The most recent win was in 2001. Following this, they have proceeded to the Kate Russel All Ireland school girls hockey championship. In 2014 the 1XI reached the schools cup semi-final at Lisnagarvey, they lost on penalty flicks, after a 3–3 draw, to Rainey Endowed school. Coat  of arms. The red hands are borrowed from the Adair family arms, who gave the of ground on which the original school was built, itself represented by the blue rectangle below. The worker 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 (non-archaic Irish, "broc"). Sporting, academic, musical and other arts achievement are recognised by the award of a similar but distinctive coat of arms worn on the school blazer and also by the  presentation of honours ties.