Breda Academy, Belfast
 

School Prospectus

Welcome to Breda Academy

Our School Community!

Breda Academy is a vibrant and flourishing school community in its 10th year which continues to grow and build on our enduring achievements and move from strength to strength! It is a vibrant, diverse, and successful all-ability school in South Belfast with 825 students aged 11 to 19 and 95 members of staff. We pride ourselves on being a welcoming, warm, friendly, and caring school where we place a very high value on establishing and nurturing strong positive relationships between students, staff, and parents/carers.

Students are expected to be safe, polite, and ready to learn and develop core values and behaviours such as respect, responsibility, charity, and kindness, as we give these ‘values’ equal importance to attaining academic results. Developing these values will also help our students to be more open minded, tolerant, forgiving, supportive, and caring of each other regardless of gender, background, ethnicity, culture and/or religion.

We take pride in celebrating the many talents and achievements of our students, and in particular reward their effort and positive attitude, and encourage them to learn from their mistakes, as it is our central belief that much can be accomplished through hard work and by not giving up.

In the past eight years, due to the combined hard work and resilience of our students and staff, our examination results have continued to increase significantly. In August 2025, 96% of Year 12 students attained 5 A* - C GCSE/Level 2 grades and in the past 4 Years 96% of 400 Year 12 students have attained 5 A* - C GCSE/Level 2 grades. Also in 2025, 73% of our Year 14 students attained 3 A* to C A Level/Level 3 grades, meaning that in the past 4 Years 70% of 350 Year 14 students have attained 3 A* to C A Level/Level 3 grades.

We continue to expand as a community and in September we welcomed 130 new Year 8 students who are now flourishing and enjoying school life. We are very proud that the Academy offers all students a 7-year learning journey and our 6th Form continues to grow and thrive, and we currently have a record 184 Year 13 and 14 students studying A-Level and Level 3 qualifications and taking advantage of our new study centre with its advanced ICT facilities and a full-time member of staff as their study supervisor.

We place our students at the heart of all we do and provide them with excellent pastoral care to promote their wellbeing, tailored support to meet their needs and high-quality teaching to ensure they make continual progress in each key stage of their learning. The Academy provides an inclusive and diverse curriculum and a wide range of qualifications and enrichment opportunities to develop our students’ education, skills, and resilience to be successful lifelong learners, confident individuals, and responsible citizens.

It is our ambition at Breda Academy that students are ‘Learners Today and Leaders Tomorrow’ and when they leave us, they will go on to be future change makers and take an active role in shaping and making Northern Ireland and the world a better place for us all. To quote John F Kennedy the 35th President of America; “Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.”

Please come and join our community!

#proudtobebreda

 
 
 

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Cape Town – Day 11, by Bea This morning we didn’t wake up on time because Bailey didn’t wake us. Anyhow, we got up and got ready for the day. We then got on the bus to Ubuntu Baby Home and, when we arrived, we went straight to playing with the babies. We played with the babies for an hour to help them get used to us before getting ready for our Music Bugs lesson. We used maracas, colourful silks, and animal finger puppets while singing a welcome song and five other songs. The babies really enjoyed the session; however, by the end of the lesson, many of them were very sleepy and had fallen asleep. After visiting the baby home, we returned to our accommodation and relaxed for an hour before heading out on a scenic walk around the local area, where we got ice cream. We then came back to our accommodation for a lovely braai (BBQ) to celebrate Mr Moss’s birthday. We sang “Happy Birthday”, ate cake, and spent time relaxing together. To finish off the day, we played charades and Bean Boozled. #proudtobebreda #bredaacademytravels
Day 5 India- Today was a very exciting day as it was our first time visiting the local school we will be working in throughout the 2 weeks. We met with the 1st-4th Graders and kindergarten children. They were so polite and very cute. After this we made our way back to the hotel, enjoying some karaoke on the way, to have an orientation session on Indian culture. On the way back we had a not so friendly encounter with 2 bulls who were fighting and bashed into one of our taxi cars (We were all unharmed but we did have front row seats) When we got back we spoke about the cultural differences between our schools at home and schools here in India. Next we went to the science centre and had a lot of fun participating with all the interactive activities such as an earthquake simulator, crawling into a dark inflatable dome to learn about star constellations and watching a 3D short film. Mr Darragh was in his element. Our last activity of the day was the market where we got lots of sweets and cakes and saw a lot of the traditional clothing and street food. Then we travelled back to the hotel to do a reflection activity to acknowledge our personal strengths which will be beneficial while we volunteer in the schools and other skills which we may need to work on. Overall it was a great day and we’re all just excited to get an early night’s sleep. By Anna #proudtobebreda #bredaacademytravels
Cape Town Day 10 We woke up at 7:00 a.m. this morning and headed to Amazon Web Services (AWS). There, we learned about how AWS develops and creates new ideas using its brainstorming techniques. After our visit to AWS, we ordered a few different types of Gatsby, a traditional Cape Town sandwich filled with hot chips, meat or fish, and served on a large bread roll. Everyone quickly devoured them because they were so delicious. Next, we headed to Chinatown Square, which had plenty of inexpensive shops selling knockoff clothing and other goodies. We only had 30 minutes to browse and shop, but everyone returned to the bus carrying at least one bag. For our afternoon activity, we reviewed our Music Bugg sessions, which we will be presenting tomorrow morning. #proudtobebreda #bredaacademytravels
Day 4 - India Today we got a bit of a much needed lie in as we woke up at 9am then we headed down to breakfast in the hotel. After breakfast we started our first group orientation where we learned more about challenges abroad, got into our groups for the schools and made the activity schedule for the weeks ahead. After the orientation we headed into Palampur town for a tour and stopped off at a local cafe for a sweet treat and a great view of the Himalayas. We also had to make video for a review of the cafe where Mrs Millar showed off her advertising skills 😅. We walked to a restaurant for dinner before heading back to the hotel to rest for day ahead. By Matthew #bredaacademytravels #proudtobebreda
Year 11 Work Experience – Day 1 Today marked the first day of Work Experience for our Year 11 pupils. Miss Davidson was out visiting placements and was delighted to see pupils settling in well, developing new skills and gaining valuable experience in a range of workplaces. From engineering, childcare and joinery to hospitality, law, youth work and community organisations, our pupils have made a fantastic start and are representing Breda Academy with enthusiasm and professionalism. A huge thank you to all of the employers who have welcomed and supported our pupils this week. Your time and guidance are helping to give our young people a real insight into the world of work and future career opportunities. We look forward to following their journey throughout the week! #proudtobebreda #Year11 #WorkExperience #Linamar #TaughmonaghPrimarySchool #ChildcareAtQueens #BelfastBB #BelfastYES #HJWLaw #WorkExperience