Wellington College, Belfast

Wellington College is a co-educational, non-denominational controlled grammar school on Carolan Road in south Belfast, with around 790 pupils and 120 places in Year 8, drawn from forty-one primary schools. It was formed in 1989 when Annadale Grammar School for boys and Carolan Grammar School for girls, came together, and it is named after the Duke of Wellington. It moved into an entirely new building in 2002. Entry is at Year 8 through the SEAG assessment.

The four houses are named after Northern Irish people the children will have heard of: Harry Ferguson the engineer, Mary Peters the Olympic gold medallist, C S Lewis and Seamus Heaney. Two things make the house system more than a badge. Every adult in the building belongs to a house - office and technical staff as well as teachers. And there are exactly four Year 8 form classes, one for each house, so a child's form and house are the same group from the first day. Sports day finishes with a staff tug of war.

The week has a short Friday. Monday to Thursday run from ten to nine until twenty past three, and Friday finishes at a quarter to three, with no registration and a start straight into the first lesson. Break and lunch are split, Years 8 to 10 eating before Years 11 to 14. Every pupil carries a uniform card in the blazer pocket that any member of staff can sign, and ten signatures equates to a Friday detention. Before a child starts, a member of staff visits them in their primary school; Year 8 comes back a day ahead of most of the school in August; and each Year 8 form is mentored by senior prefects from the sixth form.