Antrim Grammar School

Antrim Grammar is a co-educational, non-denominational grammar school on the Steeple Road in Antrim town, taking children from eleven to eighteen. It is a smaller school than most of the Belfast grammars, with four form classes in every year group, which is worth knowing if your child would rather not be one of two hundred new faces in September. It marked its fiftieth anniversary in the 2024 to 2025 school year. Entry is at Year 8 through the SEAG assessment.

The timetable runs on a two-week cycle, and the school puts an indicator on its own homepage telling you whether it is an A week or a B week, which tells you something about how often parents need to check. Monday of Week A finishes at five past two for everyone. The school also has what it calls a Squashy Day, when the whole day is condensed and everyone goes home early so that parents can come in for consultations.

The four houses are named after places in and around the town: Clotworthy, after the man who built Antrim Castle in 1662, Massereene, Tardree, after the forest the school says stands as a backdrop to its own campus, and Tower, after Antrim's round tower. House points come from academic awards and sport, but also from something the school calls Character Card signings. Year 8 has its own theme, Be Awesome, Go Big, and each new pupil is handed a Go Big book and a summer reading challenge at the June induction, before they have set foot in the place as a pupil. It suits a child who would do better being known in a smaller year group.