You are warmly invited to join us in Belfast at Bloomfield Collegiate School from Monday 20th July until Friday 24th July 2026. Unable to attend in-person? We meet online from 27th July until 7th August 2026.
Download the draft programme for online and in-person language classes.
Register here
Online guest lectures and workshops
These are are free and open to everyone to attend, not just Summer School students. Zoom links will be sent via my mailing list. If you are not already on the list, please join by clicking here: https://www.subscribepage.com/hmclassicsacademy
Watch this space for announcements.
In-person extra-curricular activities (all in Curran Hall, Bloomfield Collegiate School)
Also on this page:
History of the Belfast Summer School
Testimonials: what other students say
Where to stay near Bloomfield Collegiate School, Belfast
Make sure you’re on the mailing list to be the first to hear Summer School announcements.
History of the Belfast Summer School
From humble beginnings …
Ever since I attended the London Summer School as a student in 2005, and taught at the Lampeter Summer Workshop in 2011-2013, I had dreamt about organising a Summer School in Belfast.
My colleague, Kerry Phelan, and I spent a weekend together in early 2015 to plan the Summer School. With the support of the Classical Association in Northern Ireland, I booked a church hall close to Queen’s University. I sent a few emails, posted on social media, and crossed my fingers.
12 students enrolled in Beginners and Intermediate Classical Greek classes. Kerry and another colleague, Stephen McCarthy gave guest lectures, and we ended the week by presenting certificates to the students.
The Belfast Summer School was born!
The following year, we added Latin to the syllabus and relocated to the Open University in Belfast. After that we moved to Queen’s University Belfast, where we continue to meet.
The Belfast Summer School has gone global
The pandemic put paid to in-person teaching for two summers, and the Belfast Summer School courses moved completely online. This proved to be an opportunity to expand our horizons: since location was no longer an issue, students from around the world were joining our programmes.
We scheduled classes at times which would work for participants in a number of time zones: UK and Ireland, western and eastern Europe, the middle east, far east, USA, Canada, south America.
Some students were joining classes early in the morning, others late at night, and we made it work!
Each year we host a number of guest lectures, both online and in-person. We have welcomed some of the biggest names in Classics, such as Caroline Lawrence, Michael Scott, Roy Gibson and Elton Barker. You can watch recordings of these on the Youtube channel.
After the success of the online venture in 2020, I began offering year-round online continuing courses in Latin and Classical Greek, and standalone courses on various themes focusing on the ancient world.
Since 2022, the Summer School has offered both online courses and in-person courses.
To date, the Belfast Summer School has welcomed over 430 individual students online and in-person, many of whom attend year after year, from 28 countries across all five continents.
If you choose to join us in Belfast, be warned: it’s not all study! In the past, we’ve had group outings, and we have our Summer School Social at the best pizza restaurant in Belfast. The in-person Summer School provides an opportunity to build our Classics Academy community. My favourite memories are the craic in the café at lunchtime, intriguing questions and discussions following the guest lectures, and relaxing over dinner with everyone.
What our students say
“This course was wonderful, more than I expected. I have achieved something I’ve always wanted to do – learn Latin. At the age of 80! Such a wonderful and encouraging teacher. Now booked on follow up course. Highly recommend HM Classics academy.”
— CW, Cambridge, online summer school
“I attended the Beginner’s Greek class having no previous academic experience in ancient languages. I enjoyed the format of the class and my tutor was brilliant at explaining different aspects of the ancient Greek language. I would highly recommend this course to anyone curious about learning Ancient Greek and would feel they would benefit from learning in a friendly classroom environment.”
— KM, Co Down, in-person summer school
“This was a great class. Lynn Gordon is a peerless master-teacher. Exceptional educational experience.”
— SH, California, in-person summer school
“I had forgotten how good it is to learn with others and in this case a group spanning a considerable range of age and experience. The tutor managed this extremely well, no easy task, engaging with both the adults and young people. Her choice of material was excellent and the pace well judged.”
— M., Co Down, in-person summer school
“I’ve never been this happy and at ease studying Latin. Stephen was so joyful, set a pace that was neither too fast nor too slow, and walked us through the grammar of each sentence or passage in a way that really made me think and internalize the grammar without it ever becoming tedious. He cheered us all on every step of the way, so that there was never any stress, simply good grammatical enjoyment.”
— LH, Alabama, online summer school
“This class was a wonderful experience. From the outset, the instructor, Dr Joanne Browne, set a lovely tone for the group. I found it to be welcoming and positive while also serious and conducive to hard work. By the end of the class my confidence had increased enormously that I could deal with difficult passages of unadapted Latin…. Thanks to Joanne and HM Classics Academy for a terrific experience. I highly recommend it.”
— RV, Leeds, online summer school
“It challenged me, and that really helped to take things in. It’s easily to get complacent and just do the odd exercise now and again, but taking part in daily activities is the way to do it.”
— GH, Gloucestershire, online summer school
“I appreciate being able to attend the class from Australia. Each day, I participated in the first class and watched a recording of the second class on the following day. The summer school has been an opportunity to get a good hit of language learning (20 hours) and to keep the language learning moving forward in the gap between the school term courses. … As Craig Revell Horwood says on Strictly Come Dancing, “3 syllables darling, FA-BU-LOUS”. I would raise my 10 paddle if I had one.”
— FJ, Australia, online summer school
How to get here
Belfast is easily accessible by air, land and sea.
Both Belfast City Airport (15 minutes drive to the venue) and Belfast International Airport (45 minutes to the venue) welcome flights from 20 European cities and a number of north American locations.
There is a railway service from Dublin and a frequent bus service which stops at Dublin Airport.
By sea, come direct to Belfast from Liverpool, Stranraer, or Cairnryan, or from Holyhead via Dublin.
More information here.
📷 Mark Mead Photography
Where to stay in Belfast
We can suggest the following self-catering accommodation within walking distance of Bloomfield Collegiate School.
Alternatively visit the Visit Belfast website for more information. When booking your accommodation, please note that Bloomfield Collegiate is in the BT5 6HW postcode area.
What to do when you’re here
Places to visit in Belfast:
Ulster Museum and Botanic Gardens
The Linenhall Library
Ulster Folk and Transport Museum
Titanic Belfast
Belfast City Hall
Crumlin Road Gaol
Carrickfergus Norman Castle
Giant’s Ring, near Shaw’s Bridge
Day trips from Belfast:
Ulster American Folk Park, Omagh
Seamus Heaney Homeplace
Derry/Londonderry
Game of Thrones tour
Dunluce Castle, Giant’s Causeway, Bushmills Distillery
Navan Centre, Armagh
Armagh Planetarium
St Patrick’s grave and Downpatrick Museum
Newgrange passage tomb, Co Meath
Places to Eat:
Afternoon Tea at the Merchant Hotel, Skipper Street
Amelia Hall, Howard Street
Town Square, Botanic Avenue
Titanic Hotel, Queen’s Road
French Village, Botanic Avenue
Belfast Castle, Antrim Road
Villa Italia, University Road
Bookshops:
No Alibis, Botanic Avenue
Oxfam secondhand bookshop, Botanic Avenue
Self Help Africa secondhand bookshop, Botanic Avenue
Books Paper Scissors, Stranmillis Road
Waterstones, Fountain Street, Belfast
Keats and Chapman secondhand bookshop, North Street, Belfast