'In a society which remains divided even twenty-five years after the Good Friday Agreement, the school’s Quaker ethos has ensured that it has broad appeal.' Photo: Friends’ School Lisburn
Gift of time: Stephen Moore on Friends’ School Lisburn
‘This heritage is a gift.’
Friends’ School Lisburn is one of two Quaker schools on the island of Ireland, and the only one in the North. At the time of its foundation in 1774, Ulster Friends played a prominent role in society, not least in the thriving linen industry on which the town’s prosperity was built; it is unsurprising that they wanted to set up a school for their children. John Gough, a Quaker from Kendal, was the first headmaster, and although he had only thirty-five girls and boys in his care, his textbooks in English grammar and arithmetic ensured that his influence extended to other schools across Ireland and in Britain.
The school’s 250th anniversary is an opportunity for it to reflect on its history and to celebrate the legacy left by those who have helped shape the school over the intervening years. Although it has had to adapt to turbulent times and changing circumstances ever since, its founding principles have remained constant, and its Quaker values have remained central to its identity.
Today, the school consists of a state-funded grammar school and a fee-paying preparatory department which provides not just for the children of Friends but for an increasingly diverse group of nearly 1,200 young people. In a society which remains divided even twenty-five years after the Good Friday Agreement, the school’s Quaker ethos has ensured that it has broad appeal across the community.
The influence of Quaker governors has played an important role in maintaining the school’s distinctive character. In 1996, Lisburn Meeting relocated to its current building on Prospect Hill, where the school has stood since its foundation; Lisburn Friends now share a space with the pupils who come through the school gates each morning. Through an annual appeal, pupils are also encouraged to support Quaker Service, which continues to support families in difficulty in north and west Belfast.
It is fitting that the celebrations for the school’s 250th anniversary will begin in September with a Meeting for Worship, where Friends in Ulster will gather in school with pupils, parents, staff and old scholars to look back with gratitude at the impact that Friends have made on so many lives over the last quarter of a millennium.
Although it was not their intention when they first established the school, there could have been no better way for Ulster Friends to ensure that, 250 years later, the Quaker legacy remains alive in the consciousness of the local population. This heritage is a gift that is cherished by each new generation. Every year, 185 new pupils and their parents join a community in which Quaker testimonies remain prominent. These testimonies provide the basis for the school values of adventure, sustainability, peace, integrity, respect and equality, values we aspire to live by and which are just as apposite in the twenty-first century as they were in 1774.
Stephen is the principal of Friends’ School Lisburn.
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