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Campbell College

{{distinguish|Campbell College (Mississippi)|Campbell College (Kansas)|Campbell University}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}

{{Infobox school

| name = Campbell College

| image = Campbell College Shield.png

| image_size = 150px

| coordinates = {{coord|54.60195|-5.84928|type:edu_region:GB_dim:100|format=dms|display=inline,title}}

| motto = {{lang|la|Ne Obliviscaris}} ("Lest we forget")

| established = 1894

| closed =

| type = Grammar school and fee-paying preparatory department

| religion = Liberal Protestant education

| president =

| head_label =

| head = Robert Robinson

| founder = Henry James Campbell

| address = Belmont Road

| city = Belfast

| country = Northern Ireland

| postcode = BT4 2ND

| local_authority = Voluntary school – independent education authority

| ofsted =

| staff =

| enrolment = 906 (2015)

| gender = Boys

| lower_age = 4

| upper_age = 18

| houses = Day boy houses: Alden's, Allison's, Davis's, Dobbin's, Price's, Yate's and the Boarding house known as School House

| colours = Black and white {{colour box|black}}{{colour box|white}}

| publication = The Campbellian, The Insider ([https://issuu.com/campbellcollege school magazines])

| alumni = Old Campbellians

| website = http://www.campbellcollege.co.uk/

}}

Campbell College located in Belfast, Northern Ireland and founded in 1894 comprises a preparatory school department (junior age) and a senior Northern Ireland 'Voluntary Grammar' school, the latter meaning, in terms of provision of education, a government funded, selective school.

The school is one of a number of schools in the state funded grammar sector in Northern Ireland which can offer paid boarding places to some pupils, typically to be funded by the pupil, although the majority of pupils are day pupils.

It is one of the eight schools of Northern Ireland represented on the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and is a member of the Independent Schools Council.

Legal status

Campbell College is one of very few voluntary grammar schools in Northern Ireland entitled to be classified as a 'Voluntary B' grammar school, where most voluntary grammars within this state sector are 'Voluntary A'. Voluntary grammar schools, though state schools by educational funding, are each managed by independent educational charities on the privately owned grounds and infrastructure of those charities. The College's 'Voluntary B' designation enables this grammar school, which is state funded for education provision, to charge a degree of fees to pupils, separate completely to the education process, officially termed the "capital fee".

{{cite web|url=https://belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/campbell-college-boys-of-four-walk-into-the-school-and-from-that-day-on-they-will-be-campbellians-for-rest-of-their-lives-35058419.html|title=Campbell College: 'Boys of four walk into the school and, from that day on, they will be Campbellians for rest of their lives'|author=Rebecca Black|work=Belfast Telegraph |date=19 September 2016}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/types-school|title=Education Authority Northern Ireland 'Types of School'|author=EANI|work=Education Authority|access-date=3 June 2022}}

The capital fees charged to the grammar school pupils are purely for the upkeep of historic buildings and grounds and not for any part of the education. (Voluntary 'B' grammars receive much less state capital funding for physical upkeep than other voluntary grammars.) At Campbell College the schooling itself in the grammar school does not come under fee-paying terms. In common with all other Northern Ireland grammar schools of all types, the schooling itself is taxpayer funded per pupil through the government authority for those successful in admission within the school's own selection process.{{cite web|last=Belfast Education and Library Board|title=Campbell College|url=http://www.belb.org.uk/schools.asp?ID=164&q=&type=&s=&p=2|access-date=2 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217125525/http://www.belb.org.uk/schools.asp?ID=164&q=&type=&s=&p=2|archive-date=17 February 2016|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.campbellcollege.co.uk/About-Us/What-is-a-voluntary-B-school.aspx|title=What is a voluntary B School|website=campbellcollege.co.uk|publisher=Campbell College|access-date=17 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170324161109/http://www.campbellcollege.co.uk/About-Us/What-is-a-voluntary-B-school.aspx|archive-date=24 March 2017|url-status=dead}}

Location

The school occupies a {{convert|100|acre|hectare|adj=on}} estate in east Belfast, close to the Parliament Buildings at Stormont. All the school's facilities are located on this site, which also contains a small lake and forest named Netherleigh.

Campbell's junior school – formerly located on an adjacent site and called Cabin Hill – is now also located on the site. The school has the oldest Combined Cadet Force in Northern Ireland, with over 400 cadets.[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199798/ldhansrd/vo980422/text/80422-03.htm Hansard], publications.parliament.uk; accessed 17 March 2017. The school has an international reputation and attracts boarders from all over the world.

History

It was founded in 1894 with a bequest by Henry James Campbell, who made his fortune in the linen trade, and left money to found a school based on the values of a Liberal Protestant education. Initially the school was primarily a boarding school but it has, particularly since the 1970s, become primarily a day school; in 2009 it had 879 pupils, only about 85 (10%) of whom were boarders. As a selective independent school, it admits pupils based on academic selection. Until 2006 pupils began at the school at age 11, but since the closure of the school's separate preparatory school, Cabin Hill, the school has accepted pupils from age 4 into the newly built Junior School, and both boys and girls into the school's kindergarten located on the school's grounds. The Latin motto of the school is Ne Obliviscaris ("Do Not Forget").{{fact|date=July 2022}}

In 1935 Jimmy Steele led an attempted Irish Republican Army raid on the school to secure the arms inside the college Officers' Training Corps. The RUC at Strandtown was tipped off and the raid was unsuccessful. A gun battle took place at the gate lodge on Hawthornden Road in which Constable Ian Hay received five gunshot wounds, but survived.Northern Whig, 30 December 1935, pg. 3 (includes photograph) In 1936 Steele and three other IRA members were captured, prosecuted and imprisoned in Crumlin Road Gaol.John McGuffin, [http://www.irishresistancebooks.com/internment/intern5.htm Internment (1973)], irishresistancebooks.com; accessed 17 March 2017.

Campbell lost 126 former students in World War I. During World War II the school was requisitioned by the War Office as a hospital, with the pupils transferred to Portrush, north Antrim. There are separate memorials to the dead of both World Wars in the Central Hall.Haines, Keith. Neither rogues nor fools – a history of Campbell College. Belfast, Campbell College, 1993.

{{blockquote|On 1st June 1951 the Queen Elizabeth (latterly the Queen Mother) and Princess Margaret (deputising for King George VI) visited Campbell to present the College with the Royal Charter in recognition of this sacrifice. The College motto Ne Obliviscaris ("Do Not Forget") remains to this day and was most evident in 2018 when the College marked the centenary of the end of WW1 with a poignant heritage project entitled, ‘The Men Behind the Glass’ remembering the 126 pupils and one member of staff who died in WWI.{{cite web|title=Respecting 125 Years of Campbell College. On this day 125 years ago, Campbell College Belfast first opened its doors.|date=3 September 2019|website=Old Campbellian Society|url=https://www.oldcampbellians.co.uk/news/college/380/380-Respecting-125-Years-of-Campbell-College}}}}

The author C.S. Lewis, who grew up nearby, attended the school for two months, but was withdrawn because of a serious respiratory illness and sent to Malvern (Cherbourg School), famous at the time for treating people with lung problems.{{cite web|url=http://www.cslewis.org/resources/chronocsl.html |title=C S Lewis Foundation Chronology |access-date=2007-04-12 |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206021046/http://www.cslewis.org/resources/chronocsl.html |archive-date= 6 February 2012 }} The gas lamppost on the school drive is claimed to have been the inspiration for that mentioned in Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, though some sources state a lamppost in Crawfordsburn Country Park was the inspiration.[https://archive.today/20070929010516/http://www.i-uk.com/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1060854879985&aid=1134649463178 www.i-uk.com][http://www.visitbritain.com/VB3-en-US/corporate/press/news/nr051202narnia.aspx www.visitbritain.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060104130826/http://www.visitbritain.com/VB3-en-US/corporate/press/news/nr051202narnia.aspx |date=4 January 2006 }} Still others believe that the gas lamps in the lower area of the woods on the Malvern Hills above the town were his inspiration.{{Citation needed|date=March 2019}} Lewis claimed in his autobiography Surprised by Joy that Campbell retained the character of an English public school before to the reforms of Arnold.

Several Campbell students have been involved in filmmaking. These include William MacQuitty (A Night to Remember), Andrew Eaton (Resurrection Man), Nick Hamm (The Hole), Dudi Appleton (The Most Fertile Man in Ireland), and Mark Huffam (Saving Private Ryan). A collection of Lepidoptera by Thomas Workman is displayed in the school.{{Citation needed|date=October 2011}}

On 27 October 2016, the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins visited Linen Hall Library for the first time. A choir combining students from Holy Cross Boys' Primary School and Campbell College performed at the special event.{{Cite web |url=https://www.linenhall.com/news/199 |title=News and Views exhibition by Gerry Fitzgerald |access-date=1 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161103215620/https://www.linenhall.com/news/199 |archive-date=3 November 2016 |url-status = dead }}

School houses

Currently{{when?|date=April 2025}} there are six houses for day boys and two boarding houses, which form the focus for participation across the curriculum.{{fact|date=April 2025}} School houses are named after former masters and others associated with the history of the school.{{cite web|url=http://www.campbellcollege.co.uk/schoollife/History%20of%20the%20Houses.pdf|title=Introduction to Campbell College Belfast Houses|url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312215529/http://www.campbellcollege.co.uk/schoollife/History%20of%20the%20Houses.pdf|archive-date=12 March 2012}} The names of the houses and their respective colours are:{{fact|date=April 2025}}

  • Alden's (dark green)
  • Allison's (light green, formerly brown)
  • Davis's (yellow)
  • Dobbin's (light blue)
  • Price's (dark blue)
  • Chase’s (boarding house) (black)
  • Bowen’s (boarding house) (black)
  • Yates's (red)

In the past{{when?|date=April 2025}} there have been other Houses:{{fact|date=April 2025}}

  • Armour's (grey)
  • Bowen's (maroon)
  • Chase's (orange)
  • Lytle's (dark green)
  • Netherleigh (junior house) (light blue)
  • Norwood (junior house) (dark green)
  • Ormiston (junior house) (dark blue)
  • Tweskard (junior house) (red)

Each house is run by a "house master" who is in charge of managing the house and overseeing the "house tutors", all of whom have allocated year groups for which they are responsible. Each house has a designated student who is "head of house", and they usually have a deputy. However, this is not always the case.{{fact|date=April 2025}} The head of house, along with his deputy are sixth form students who have earned responsibility within the school, and it is common place for them to also be prefects, or so called "peer mentors". These two students organise house sporting, charity and dramatic events, among various other things.{{fact|date=April 2025}}

Uniform

School colours are black and white and/or green if one is awarded major honours which enables one to also acquire a green blazer accompanied by an optional green pullover. The school uniform consists of a black badged blazer, House tie (with colour representing house), black trousers, black shoes with an optional V-neck pullover.{{fact|date=April 2025}}

Sport

File:Paddy_Wallace,_Ulster.jpg

The school's record in rugby includes winning the Ulster Schools Cup 24 times and sharing the cup four times. In 2018, Campbell beat Royal School Armagh at Ravenhill.{{cite news|last=BBC Sport|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/irish/9409930.stm|title=BBC Sport – Rugby Union – Campbell College 18-11 RBAI|access-date=5 June 2011|publisher=BBC News|date=17 March 2011}}

The Campbell College sports facilities include rugby and football pitches, two water based hockey pitches, a 25-metre indoor shooting range, four tennis courts, squash courts, a fitness suite, and a swimming pool. The 2006 opening of the new synthetic hockey pitches was marked with an exhibition match between the gold-winning 1988 Summer Olympics Great Britain and Northern Ireland hockey team and the school's 1st XI, which ended 3–2 to the Olympic champions of old. The Campbellians Hockey Club play at this venue. {{Citation needed|date=October 2011}}

Notable alumni

File:Gary_Lightbody_-_MSG.jpg

{{See also|Category:People educated at Campbell College}}

Past pupils are known as Old Campbellians or OCs and the school has an extensive past pupil organisation known as The Old Campbellian Society which has several branches across the United Kingdom, USA and Asia as well as regular OC reunions at the school itself. The school colours are black and white, whilst the OC colours are black, white and green.

References

{{reflist}}

External links

  • [http://www.campbellcollege.co.uk/ Official Website]
  • [http://www.isc.co.uk/schools/northern-ireland/county-antrim/belfast/campbell-college/ Profile] on the Independent Schools Council website
  • [http://www.campbellcollegeccf.co.uk Campbell College CCF Website]
  • [https://www.oldcampbellians.co.uk/homepage The Old Campbellian Society]

{{Northern Irish members of HMC}}

{{Education in Northern Ireland}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Grade B1 listed buildings

Category:Educational institutions established in 1894

Category:Private schools in Northern Ireland

Category:Grammar schools in Belfast

Category:Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference

Category:Boarding schools in Ireland

Category:Boarding schools in Northern Ireland

Category:1894 establishments in Ireland