Our name
'Ormeau' is a french name meaning ‘Young Elm’. It came from Ormeau House, the estate of Major A.J. Boyd, a sugar planter of the 1860s. Major Boyd took the name from the birthplace of his wife, Isabella Dawson. She was born in ‘Ormeau Road’ a district on the outskirts of Belfast, Ireland.
The name 'Woods' was chosen for three reasons:
It is the collective noun for a group of trees (young elms – a reference to our students).
The name is a link to the past. Local Elders refer to ‘wallul jalia’ meaning ‘many trees’.
The name also reflects our commitment to the environment ‘one of the most significant issues of the 21st Century’