Dominican College, Fortwilliam

The school was established in 1930 by the Dominican Sisters. It was initially established as a Catholic commercial college for Belfast, alongside a second-level school. In 2006, the management of the school passed from the Dominican Sisters to lay management. The school is now under the trusteeship of the Cabra Dominican Sisters, with a board of governors whose membership also includes parents, a teacher and appointees of the Education Authority.^[2]

In 2005 it underwent a major £13.1 million redevelopment.^[3]

The school chapel has been listed as a building of special architectural merit.^[4]

In 2017, the total student population was just over 1000, a quarter of it the sixth form.^[5]

In 2019 the school was ranked 5th out of 159 secondary schools in Northern Ireland with 91.7% of its A-level students who sat the exams in 2017/18 being awarded three A*-C grades.^[6]

In 2018 it was ranked joint ninth in Northern Ireland for its GCSE performance with 99.3% of its entrants receiving five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C, including the core subjects English and Maths.^[7]

The modernist design of the chapel, which was built in 1964, was influenced by Le Corbusier's chapel at Ronchamp in France.^[8]

• Eileen Bell CBE (born 1943) – politician, Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Down from 1998 to 2007
• Marianne Elliott OBE (born 1948) – academic historian.^[9]
• Medbh McGuckian (born 1950) – poet
• Katie Melua (born 1984) – Georgian-born popular singer^[10]
• Nuala McAllister (born 1989) – politician; Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Belfast from 2022^[11]

• Dominicans in Ireland
• List of secondary schools in Belfast
• List of Grammar schools in Northern Ireland