Accra Academy

Accra Academy was founded on 20 July 1931 by Kofi George Konuah, Samuel Neils Awuletey, Gottfried Narku Alema and James Akwei Halm-Addo. The school opened in Ellen House in James Town with just 19 students.

The founders were all young men, and their aim was practical: create a serious secondary school and make that education available to boys who did not come from wealthy families. The school's official history records how entrance examinations were once organised in different parts of the country to identify students who needed that opportunity.

Accra Academy became a Government-Assisted School in 1950. A larger site was later secured at Bubuashie, and the school moved there in 1961.

The story behind the motto Esse Quam Videri fits that history well. Substance matters more than appearance, which is why the phrase remains central to the school's identity.

Accra Academy prepares students for the WASSCE through Agricultural Science, Business, Visual Arts, General Arts and General Science.

That mix gives students both academic and practical options. Someone interested in farming, food systems or environmental study can explore SideScholar's Agricultural Science guide, while another student may be better suited to Business or General Arts.

The school also has a history of investment in science and technology spaces. Its website records projects involving an ICT laboratory and Science Resource Centre, alongside participation in academic competitions.

Choose the programme with your next step in mind. University and technical programmes can require specific electives, and it is easier to plan for those requirements before SHS than after it.

Accra Academy once ran its own entrance examinations, but that is part of its earlier history. Students entering from junior high school now generally come through Ghana's national school-selection and placement system.

Your BECE results are important, along with the school and programme choices you submit, available places and the placement rules being used for that cycle.

Ignore claims that one old cut-off point guarantees admission. Placement is not fixed permanently around a number copied from a previous year.

Use the CSSPS portal for official placement services and guidance.

Accra Academy's Bubuashie campus was developed after the school outgrew its original James Town location. The move gave the Academy space for classrooms, boarding facilities and the wider school environment that later earned it the nickname "Little Legon."

The school's website records more recent projects including an ICT laboratory, a music studio and work on the Science Resource Centre. These projects show how alumni and partners continue to shape the campus long after the original move.

Students interested in creative study can also compare the practical demands of SideScholar's Visual Arts programme with the resources available at the school.

Facilities can change quickly, so look at what is currently available for your own programme rather than relying only on old photographs or lists.

Accra Academy students and old boys use the name Bleoobii, one of the strongest markers of the school's shared identity. The school also has the familiar call of "Bleoo," which appears throughout alumni and student activities.

Homecoming, cadet activities, music, sport and old-boy projects all sit alongside the academic side of school. The Special Prosecutor's Speech Day address, delivered by an alumnus, gives a useful picture of how strongly the school ties education to character and life after the classroom.

The Academy also has more than one school song and a set of traditions that old boys remember long after graduation.

The school culture rewards participation. Clubs, teams, houses, cadet activities and school events give students different ways to become part of the wider Academy community.

Accra Academy began as a day school. Boarding developed later, first in a limited form near the original James Town site and then more fully after the move to Bubuashie.

A MyJoyOnline reflection on Accra Academy follows the school's move from Ellen House to Bubuashie and recalls how the new campus came to be known as "Little Legon."

Today the school is listed as day and boarding. Boarders experience the additional routines and relationships that come with residential school life, while day students remain part of the same wider Academy community.

Your placement details determine whether your own admission includes boarding.