Bangor Grammar School

Bangor Grammar School, also known as BGS, is situated in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. It is the main All-Boys School in North Down, and had appox 1,000 boys in 2005/06. It is considered to be one of the better Grammar schools in Northern Ireland. Many teachers are from other parts of both the country and the world. The school consists of teachers from England, Australia, New Zealand, USA among others. The school has been recognised as a first choice for many boys from the North Down area and is able to keep the standard of its intake high by limiting the grade boundaries from the 11+ Transfer Procedure tests to B2 at minimim.

Subjects

• English - BGS has one of the best English departments in Northern Ireland and usually brings some of the best GCSE results in Northern Ireland.
• Maths - Mathematics in BGS brings good results in GCSE and A-level, but not matching English. Maths has more teachers than any other department in the school.
• Science - In Year 8 (the first year) pupils do Combined Science but in Year 9+ it is separated into 3 Sciences.
• Physics - Physics results are good compared to other local school and average compared to results throughout Northern Ireland.
• Chemistry - A new Chemistry department was installed into BGS in 2001 making the department a much more comfortable place to be in.
• Biology - BGS brings some of the best facilities for Biology in County Down.
• Drama - Renovation of Crosby House in 2005 made the Drama Department one of the best in Northern Ireland. The bigger rooms make it easier to work in and easier to act in, and Mr. Cunningham, a former professional actor, has joined the school.
• ICT - In 2002 when the RM and the NIEB came together they created a new Education network that BGS got as soon as it was released. This has made the ICT department safer and much more manageable for both pupil and teacher.
• Technology- The new Chemistry block had 3 storys so the new technology deparment was moved here as well - it has planning rooms, large workshops and a large facility centre.
• Art and Design - It has had a lot of change on the teacher front.
• Geography - It has been improved over the years and gives out good results at GCSE.
• French - has produced very good GCSE results and A level.
• German - has become a mixed class subject like technology etc. due to the new arrival of Spanish.
• Spanish - New to 2005/06 it only so far has one teacher, limiting the number of classes that can be held.
• History - Is a subject loved by many in the school and produces some of the best results in GCSE.

History

Bangor Grammar School was founded in 1882, but it has a history further back than that. The school used to be a school for sailors sons to teach them how to map read etc. and it was situated near the old beach where High Street now is. It was a big school for its time but in the early 19th century sailors schools became less popular. Bangor, being one of the main ports in Ireland, continued on until 1882 until it became an all-boys full education school. It moved to where Bangor Golf Club is now and also founded Connor House in 1900. Bangor Grammar School as it was now known moved to where it is now and John Crosby the Head of BGS built his own house and made it the school. Connor House got the old BGS building and moved in 1922 beside BGS where the school had just got bigger. In 1940 the Assembly Hall was made, in 1952 the Pavillion was made, in 1960 the Orcal building was built, in 1972 the pavilion was expanded, in 1988 the Clarke Hall (PE) was made, in 1991 the Wilkonson Centre was made and in 2001 the Science block was made.