Accra Academy

Accra Academy is a boys' high school located at Bubuashie near Kaneshie in the Greater Accra Region, Ghana. It admits both boarding and day students. Founded as a private school in 1931, it gained the status of a Government-Assisted School in 1950.
The academy runs courses in business, general science, general arts, agricultural science and visual arts, leading to the award of a West African Senior School Certificate.
The academy's founders provided tuition to students who wanted a secondary-grade education but who did not have financial support to enable them do so. The first principal and co-founder, Kofi Konuah periodically travelled to some of the major towns in each region of the country to organize entrance examinations for students, so as to offer the brilliant but needy among them the opportunity of education in the Accra Academy. The academy no longer offers special admission to brilliant but needy students but, as per a 2005 general directive from the Ghana Education Service, admits its students through a school selection placement system.
Accra Academy was ranked 8th out of the top 100 high schools in Africa by Africa Almanac in 2003, based upon quality of education, student engagement, strength and activities of alumni, school profile, internet and news visibility. Amongst its achievements include; being the first school to have produced successive Chief Justices of Ghana, and the only school to have produced successive Ghanaian Speakers of Parliament. It is also the first school to have produced a head of government and a deputy head of government in the same Ghanaian government.

History

Start in Ellen House (1931-1961)

Accra Academy was founded by Messrs. Kofi George Konuah, Samuel Neils Awuletey, Gottfried Narku Alema and James Akwei Halm-Addo on 20 July 1931, at Mantse Agbonaa, a suburb of James Town in Accra. They founded the academy with an initial capital pooled from their individual contributions. Their aim of founding the academy was to provide access to education for students who could not enroll at the limited existing schools due to financial constraints. For this reason, the founders instituted a fee installment policy to encourage and support these disadvantaged students to enroll at the academy.
The academy's founders operated the school from a one-storey house that provided classrooms for the students. The facility was named Ellen House after its leaser, Ellen Buckle. Ellen was the widow of Vidal J. Buckle, a lawyer and Gold Coast elite, who built the property. The academy began work with a student enrolment of 19. The founders of the academy along with two others; M. F. Dei-Anang and S.S. Sackey, comprised the pioneer teaching staff of the school. The academy operated as a day-school till it began accommodating students in Claremont House in 1935, a single-storey building adjoining Ellen House, also a property leased out by Ellen Buckle.
In December 1932, the academy presented its first batch of ten students for the Junior Cambridge School Certificate Examination, seven out of whom passed the examination. In the annual report for the academic year 1938–39, Accra Academy received positive recognition. The report described it as a well-funded institution that is effectively administered, with a student body of 469 boys. In 1939, the academy presented 45 students for the Senior Cambridge School Certificate Examination, out of whom 42 students passed, with 10 students obtaining exemption from the London Matriculation Examination.
In 1947, a recommendation was made to the director of education to grant the academy the status of a Government Assisted School. The recommendation was approved, and the academy begun operating as a Government Assisted school from 1 January 1950. In 1950, the academy also won the prestigious Aggrey Shield at its first Inter-Collegiate Sports Meeting.

Relocation to Bubiashie in 1961

Due to a steady increase in the number of applicants applying for enrolment in the academy, the academy's administrators began preparations to relocate the academy to a larger and permanent site. The initial site acquired to relocate the school was situated at Kokomlemle; however, this site had to be abandoned as a result of a prolonged litigation concerning the ownership of the land. A second site, which was located at Korle Gonno, was also given up because of its remote location. The search for a new school site ended in 1956 when J. A. Halm-Addo succeeded in lobbying the Convention People's Party government to relocate and expand the academy as part of its accelerated development plan. Owing to his efforts, Accra Academy was offered a 37-acre plot of land at Bubuashie, off the Winneba Road.

Barnes, Hubbard & Arundel were the architects and planners of the first buildings on the new campus. J. Monta & Sons was awarded the contract to develop the new school site in October 1959, and by July 1961, presented the newly developed site with new buildings to the school administrators.

In September 1961, the academy relocated from Ellen House to the present site at Bubuashie, funded by the CPP government. A ceremony to officially open up the new buildings was held on 3 February 1962 and A. J. Dowuona-Hammond, Minister for Education and incidentally an old boy, unveiled a commemorative plaque. The first dormitory block for students was completed later in 1966.
The academy acquired the nickname Little Legon shortly after the new school site was commissioned, when some students from the Western Region who had gained admission into the University of Ghana, reported at the academy instead of the University of Ghana, apparently confused by the close similarity between the infrastructure of both educational institutions.
In 1981, the academy celebrated its golden jubilee with a student enrolment of 900 and a teaching staff of 52. This anniversary birthed the school song and school anthem. Historian Robert Addo-Fening, as part of celebrations of the golden jubilee, documented the early history of the Accra Academy for publishing as a Golden Jubilee Brochure. This source was to serve as a reference point for the first history book on the school published in 2021 titled Accra Aca Bleoo: The History of the Accra Academy from Jamestown to Bubuashie authored by Simon Ontoyin.
In 2001, Accra Academy celebrated its 70th Anniversary. This milestone was marked by a series of events including the first homecoming reunion of the 21st century, a float to Ellen House, a Founders’ Day durbar, and a grand Speech and Prize-Giving Day graced by President John Agyekum Kufuor. The anniversary also saw the introduction of the school’s Hall of Fame and the establishment of the K. G. Konuah and J. A. Halm-Addo Awards to honour alumni for their contributions to the school’s development.

Overview

Insignia

Object	Significance
Lion	King of Beasts. Represents the Lion of Justice exemplifying poise and controlled power.
Sun	Represents the brilliance of knowledge, banishing ignorance and superstition.
Three chains	The union of three chains stands for the Pauline virtues of Faith, Hope and Love.
Palm tree	The palm tree thrives where other trees can hardly stand. Here it represents triumph over environmental handicaps.
Cocoa tree	Symbol of Ghana's wealth. Here it symbolizes the proper use of wealth to sweeten the cares of life.
Esse Quam Videri	written in Latin, translates as "To be, rather than to seem"

Governance

Academics

Admission

Being a senior high school for boys, the academy offers admission to boys only. Gaining entry into the academy is competitive, and open to students who have completed Junior high school. Prior to writing their Basic Education Certificate Examination, final year Junior High School students, register for senior high school through a computerized school selection and placement system which was introduced by the Ghana Education Service in 2005.
Unlike in the previous grading system in which a candidate's overall academic performance in the Basic Education Certificate Examination was obtained by computing the aggregate on the candidate's best six subject scores, the raw scores obtained by a candidate in the Basic Education Certificate Examination determines the candidates overall academic performance in the exam under the computerized school selection and placement system. Because the computerized school selection and placement system uses a deferred-acceptance algorithm which ensures that Junior high school applicants are admitted strictly based on academic merit, administrators of the academy use raw scores obtained in the Basic Education Certificate Examination to admit applicants from Junior High School.

Curriculum

The programmes run in the academy are: general arts, general science, agriculture, business and visual arts. As part of their computerized school selection and placement system registration, final year junior high school applicants select four elective courses. Unlike elective courses, core courses are offered to all students, irrespective of their programme of study. The academy's core courses are: English language, core mathematics, social studies, integrated science, ICT and physical education, however, students are only examined both internally and externally as well, in the first five aforementioned courses.
The academy's curriculum like that of other senior high schools in Ghana, operates in a three-year academic cycle, from form one to form three. The beginning of the first academic year marks the enrolment of the student in the academy, while the ending of the third academic year marks the graduation of the student.