St Patrick's College Bearnaghaeha (which means windy gap in Irish, hopefully not a pun towards the…read morestudents!) is the school where I spent the first 5 years of my secondary school education. It's a strange mixture of 1950s buildings with a recently constructed technology and design department. This school is one of the strictest school I have ever been to, but this was not a bad thing by far. I was a lazy kid and without these teachers really pushing their classes and keeping a tight watch I probably wouldn't have gotten a single qualification. The place was really turned around into the top class institution it is now by its Principle P.J O'Grady who wants students to take pride in their college so much so that he can often be seen confiscating baseball caps from students wearing them on the walk home so as to not take away from the uniforms appearance. A great college of which I have a lot of fond memories.

Whitehouse Primary school was destroyed last July (2009) in an arson attack. This stunned local…read moremembers of the community and left many shell shocked. The 350 pupils of the Primary School have been attending temporary classes in nearby Newtownabbey Community High School. In May 2010, The Department of Education approved £3.6m funding to rebuild the school. It is unclear when building work will be finished. In a news report, a stunned Mr McConkey (the schools headmaster) said that current arrangements for his pupils sharing facilities in a high school means they have cramped classrooms, not enough toilets, no access for hot meals for many pupils, limited space outside and no assembly hall. This school was my own Primary School and is one of the best in the area. I will provide updates regarding the school as and when they occur. I hope all involved with the school know that they have the support and best wishes from the community around them.

Newtownabbey High is a secondary school in the Rathcoole / Whitehouse area of Newtownabbey. The…read moreschool was founded in 1994 and has since been running to provide local children the chance to educate and learn in a local environment. The school teaches a range of subjects including; Art, Careers, English, Home Economics, Humanities, I.C.T. , Mathematics, Media Studies, Modern Languages, Music, Personal Development, Physical Education, Science, Special Education Needs, Technology. The school also runs a number of after school clubs including; Art Club, Choir, Craft Club, Educational trips to Europe, Environmental Club and Scripture Union. The schools sports activities include; Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Fitness Training, Football (Girls and Boys), Hockey, Netball, Rugby, and Swimming. A supervised Homework Club also operates, and there are many after school GCSE classes. The school recently joined with Whitehouse Primary School after an arson attack burnt the school (Whitehouse) down. The High School very generously allowed Whitehouse to use a number of their teaching classrooms to allow the primary to continue teaching until the school is rebuilt. The acting principal is Mr. R. M. Holmes. Senior teachers are; Mr Lewis, Vice Principal, (Media Studies) Mr Thompson (senior teacher) (mathematics), Mrs Shingleton (senior teacher) (mathematics) and Mrs Lewis Special Education Needs. The school website notes their aims as; to encourage and motivate pupils to focus on academic achievement and progress, teach rich and purposeful work within the classroom, expect high expectations of pupil conduct and progress, have a productive, positive partnerships between parents, pupils and the school and provide varied opportunities for extra-curricular activities. The school motto is; 'Excellence For All'

This is an awesome school. The staff are so friendly and helpful and so engaging and enthusiastic…read morewith the kid. The office staff are amazing and always know what's going on. The school is great for kids with additional needs and are very understanding and supportive. There are a range of extra curricular activities form sport to art.

great big school and I have to write a lot a so I will the support and the care the staff give your…read morechild and you the parents I went there so does my two girls and they love great teachers lovely staff and over great school the best in belfast

Fortwilliam (as it's more commonly known) was my secondary school and I have to say, I have nothing…read morebut fond memories of the place. Structurally, it's unrecognisable compared to how it was when I was a pupil. Thanks to a massive grant, the entire school was pretty much rebuilt. It was much needed though, because Fortwilliam used to be one of those schools that was about 50% mobile classrooms (some of which had been around from the 1950s! Actually.) Now, it's a thoroughly modern school with all the amenities you could expect from a grammar school. I always found that the staff at the school really cared for the pupils, and as a result there was a real sense of community about the place. I'm sure some would disagree with me, but my experience was that I made some true friends there and was supported the whole way through my years there. Aw...I'm feeling all nostalgic now...must go set up a Fortwilliam Appreciation Society on Facebook!

This was my primary school and i loved it. Its a big school with over 1000 pupils even tho it only…read moregoes from p4 to p7. The teachers a great and go that extra mile. They have a fab art dept and their sport pitches are huge giviong lots of room for kids to do pe and to play at lunch time!

I attended this college as part of the Newspaper Journalism course so I am pretty familiar with the…read morebuilding. The canteen isn't great. They offer some pretty stodgy food in the shape of soggy sausage rolls, jambons and hotdogs. The sandwiches are really crappy. The staff are pretty friendly though, if you get them in the right day. The organization of this college isn't the best. I really enjoyed my course, but there are always mix ups with the administration department. Such as when they informed students last year of the wrong starting date, so many students missed their first week. Also the times for a repeat exam were mixed up recently, meaning many students could have missed their important exam and lost out on their qualification. The library is nice, but there are countless problems with the computers and printers and it's always when you need to hand in an assignment. Must try harder.

I do love Belfast Met, or BIFHE as it once was, really. It offers vocational NVQs and City and…read moreGuilds courses in everything from hairdressing to engineering, a wide range of GCSE and A level courses including several non standard ones such as photography, and - the best bit imho - loads of community based courses all around the city. You can do a birdwatching or dog training course here, for example, as well as really off the wall 'college' stuff like flower arranging, ballroom dancing, boxercise or - ahem - wine appreciation. All at a reasonable cost, especially if you're on benefits - I enrolled on their A level law course for just a fiver while on the dole some years back. But. Absolutely everyone I have spoken to, and I myself, has had problems with the admin side of the college and courses. I applied for a course a few years back after being told the wrong closing date, and was quite abruptly told the course was full and there was nothing they could do when I went to enquire. It was a vocational type course I wanted to do as a career change, so really did throw my plans for the next year into serious disarray. A colleague's son has been told in the past week that the course he allegedly was accepted on is now over-subscribed - it's a full time course and he's already quit his job and given notice on his flat to move closer to the college. And I've heard several nightmare stories from students who manage to get onto a course only to find themselves given the wrong starting date, or unable to use the slow and/or crashing computers, or not informed of exam dates. The quality of teaching is generally thought to be fine, but for a newly updated and major college BMC really needs to take a more professional approach.