History
The school was founded in 1962 with just 60 pupils. The school was expanded to deal with this increase in numbers when an extension was built in 1983.
The motto changed to Præstantia, the school crest was replaced with a new logo and the school colours changed to reflect better the diversity of the school community. The school continued to grow, and in 1999 was the first grammar school in Northern Ireland to achieve the Investors in People award. It was also later awarded the Goldmark by the Northern Ireland Sports Council for the quality of its physical education. In 2008, the school achieved specialist school status, specialising in science, and was awarded the International School Award in recognition of its work encouraging global awareness in school. The school is currently working towards gaining the Charter Mark Award for Excellence.
In 2009, the school achieved its first major school sports trophy for rugby in recent years, winning the Ulster Schools Trophy.
The school's first principal was Mr J McK Grainger, founding the school with 60 pupils. Mr Grainger was at the school until his retirement in 1977, when he was succeeded by Mr H Jamison, who was principal until 1989. Mr K Irwin succeeded Mr Jamison in 1990, and stayed in the position until his retirement in 2009. All past principals have facilities within the school named after them; The Grainger Centre, The Jamison Room, and Irwin Park. The current principal is Mr K Mulvenna. Today there are approximately 800 pupils attending the school.
Read more about this topic: Carrickfergus Grammar School
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“The true theater of history is therefore the temperate zone.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“We don’t know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don’t understand our name at all, we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)
“Culture, the acquainting ourselves with the best that has been known and said in the world, and thus with the history of the human spirit.”
—Matthew Arnold (1822–1888)