History of the
School
Castlederg High School was opened on the 2nd September
1958 with 289 pupils and 13 teachers under the Principalship of Mr Jack Blair. Growing numbers and
increased educational needs brought the first
expansion of the school in 1973 when new classrooms
and a school dining hall were added. Mr John Dunbar
succeeded Mr Blair in 1980 and during the next
twelve years continued to guide the school through a
period of academic consolidation. Following Mr
Dunbar’s retirement in 1992, the school welcomed Mr
McSparron as its new Principal in January 1993.
Between
1991 and 1994 the school was completely refurbished
and new classrooms, three laboratories, a Sports
Hall and Youth Wing were added. The new facilities
were officially opened in September 1994 by HRH The
Duke of Kent.
Mr
McSparron retired in the summer of 2000 and former
Vice Principal and Head of the Maths Department, Mr
Williamson, was appointed Principal. During his time
as Principal Mr Williamson implemented many changes
in the fabric of the school. These included
the building of a new Music Suite
complete with its own recording studio, major
improvements in Technology & Design and the addition
of a state of the art 3G astro turf pitches and
Pavilion. He also led the school through academic
change culminating in record examination results
year on year which had a direct bearing on the
development of a very successful 6th year. He
retired in December 2011 and Mrs Elaine McKelvey was
appointed as his successor. Mr Simon Mowbray was
also appointed Vice Principal at the same time to
join the existing Vice Principal Mrs Anne Moore. Mrs
McKelvey places great emphasis on the importance of relationships between staff, pupils and parents especially with regard to their
expectations and sense of community within the
school.
A Student Council has been established
to enhance the voice and self esteem of the pupils. A
trained counsellor provides a confidential service
to those pupils requiring individual support.
The last
ten years have seen continued growth in the number
of pupils, teachers, learning support assistants,
buildings and resources within the school.
There
have been numerous recent improvements to the school
fabric and departments within the school.
Information and Communications Technology resources
have been increased with a third classroom being
fully equipped with a suite of new computers. These
new resources, along with access to the Internet,
enable pupils to avail of the latest technology.
We endeavour to pursue the latest breakthroughs in
technology to give our pupils different ways to
learn and this is evident in our addition of
electronic book readers and books in our library.
New
strategies and innovations, coupled with sound
teaching practices will continue to be at the
forefront of Castlederg High School. |
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