Ballymena Academy is a mixed gender, voluntary 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 staff. The school has 88 acre 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.

Principals

Notable former pupils

Sport

Sport is an important part of Ballymena Academy and the school is well known as one of the most successful in Northern Ireland, notably at rugby. Head of girls' sport is Diane McNeill and head of boys' sport is John Nicholl. The main boys' sport at Ballymena Academy is rugby. At the Kingspan Stadium, 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. In 2021, the school won the first ever Danske Bank U16s Schools Cup, beating Methodist College Belfast 29-17. 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 1 acre 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.