Hunterhouse College

Grammar school in Finaghy, Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland

54°33′28″N 5°59′16″W / 54.5578°N 5.9878°W / 54.5578; -5.9878InformationTypeGrammarMottoUna Crescamus
("Let Us Grow Together")Religious affiliation(s)IntegratedEstablished1987Local authorityBELBHead teacherAndrew GibsonStaff100GenderFemale (including pre-operative transgender males)Age11 to 18Enrolment800HousesSherman, Welch, Lewis and DuncanColour(s)Saxe Blue and RedWebsitehttps://www.hunterhousecollege.org.uk/

Hunterhouse College is a cross-community all-girls' grammar school based in Finaghy, Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was formed from the amalgamation of two local schools – Ashleigh House School and Princess Gardens School in 1987.

As the headmistresses from both schools had the surname "Hunter" at the time of the merger, and an original headmistress was Anna Hunter, the combined school took the name "Hunterhouse College".

Hunterhouse now has its first ever headmaster. Mr Andrew Gibson has been the Principal since September 2008 and was previously Vice-Principal at Grosvenor Grammar.

In 2012 Hunterhouse celebrated its 25 Anniversary year including a concert at the Ulster Hall, Belfast, which past Hunterians, Princess Gardens and Ashleigh House pupils attended.

From 1966 to 1975, Jean Crawford Cochrane was the headmistress of Ashleigh House.^[1]

The popular comedy series Derry Girls is filmed here.^[2]

Controversies

In November 2014, after a parent of a pupil complained, the school apologised for a worksheet which presented the traditional Christian view of homosexuality as sinful according to 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 in the New Testament. ^[3]

References

^ Gallagher, Niav (2019). "Cochrane, Jean Crawford". In McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). Dictionary of Irish Biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
^ "Derry Girls". Northern Ireland Screen. 10 August 2017. Archived from the original on 28 June 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
^ "School apologises over Bible and homosexuality worksheet". BBC News. 27 November 2014. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2022.