Newbattle Community High School

Newbattle Community High School
Challenge
Location
Dalkeith, Midlothian
Scotland
Information
Type Comprehensive school, School of Ambition
Established 1969
Headteacher Colin Taylor
Number of students 865 (October 2015)
Website www.newbattle.org.uk

Newbattle Community High School is a non-denominational secondary state school located in Easthouses, Dalkeith, Scotland on the B6455 road. It is run by Midlothian Council and has approximately 900 pupils on roll in six-year groups from ages 11 up to 18. It serves the towns of Easthouses, Mayfield, Gorebridge, Newtongrange and the villages of North Middleton, Temple and Borthwick and their surrounding areas.

Buildings

The school is accommodated in a large 1960s style main teaching block comprising four floors, with a single-story annexe housing science and Home Economics. There is a library area, and a Centre for Sport and Leisure, which is housed in a self-contained complex which includes a games hall, gymnasium, swimming pool, floodlit synthetic turf pitch (new in 2005) and grassed rugby and football pitch as well as a social area formerly known as the O-Zone, which was (until full funding for the Healthy Respect project ceased in 2007) a national demonstration project that provided pupils with a drop-in facility, encouraging the adoption of a healthy lifestyle. The school has a vocational education programme. Facilities for delivery in this area include a hospitality suite, hairdressing salon, call centre and recording studio.[1]

On 26 September 2012, Mike Russell, Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning visited Newbattle and announced funding for Newbattle High School to get a new school building.[2]

History

The first school recorded in the Newbattle parish was the Parish school at Crawlees, Newtongrange, which was built in 1835 to serve the first colliery houses at Newton Grange (as it was then known). In 1849 this was followed by Newton Grange Colliery Schools.[3]

Both of these schools closed in 1893 when the Newbattle Public School was opened in Gardiner Place, Newtongrange.[3] The building is still in use today as the Newbattle Community Education Centre.[4] This school was both a primary and a secondary school.[4]

The school remained both a primary and secondary school until 1925, when overcrowding was relieved by the construction of a primary school in Sixth Street, Newtongrange (still in use today as Newtongrange Primary School). In 1925, Newbattle Public School became exclusively a secondary school.[5] In about 1924, a school for the Roman Catholic children of Newtongrange and Gorebridge had opened at Newtonloan Toll, midway between the two villages (the site of the current St Andrews RC Primary School).[5]

Records of the Newtongrange Gala Day show that the dux of Newbattle Public School was crowned Queen of Newbattle Parish at the gala each year.[6] These records also show that at some point between 1940 and 1944, the name of the school changed to Newbattle Junior Secondary School.

History of the current school building

The current high school building was built in 1969, replacing the former Newbattle Junior Secondary school in Newtongrange. When first built, Newbattle High served the communities of Mayfield, Easthouses and Newtongrange, but following the closure of Greenhall High School in 1994, its catchment area expanded to include Gorebridge, Temple, Borthwick and North Middleton.

Newbattle and its associated primaries were granted New Community Schools status in 2000. In 2005, Newbattle was selected as one of twenty eight schools in Scotland to be awarded Schools of Ambition status. According to the Scottish Executive's website, the schools of ambition programme aims to be "a radical step change in the approach to transforming educational outcomes, which aims to raise the ambitions of schools, instil belief and ambition in pupils, extend their opportunities and transform their life chances".[7] The enhanced funding and support is being used to build on the Arts curriculum, and to develop pupil leadership and self-esteem.[8]

Notable former pupils

Notable staff

References

  1. ↑ David Watkins (3 January 2009). "About the School - Newbattle Community High School". Newbattle.org.uk. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  2. ↑ BBC News Online (26 September 2012). "Education Secretary Mike Russell reveals plans for 30 school projects". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
  3. 1 2 "Arts Festival : The Dean Tavern - A Gothenburg Experiment". Prestoungrange.org. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  4. 1 2
  5. 1 2
  6. ↑ "Newtongrange Gala Home Page". Newtongrangegala.com. 11 June 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  7. ↑ 19 January 2010 by admin (19 January 2010). "www.SchoolsOfAmbition.co.uk". Schoolsofambition.co.uk. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  8. ↑ Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ↑ Lothian, Bill (3 May 2013). "Return of the Mac stirs memories for John Frame". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  10. ↑ Watkins, David. "History Department - Newbattle Community High School". Newbattle Community High School. Retrieved 7 July 2013.

Coordinates: 55°52′34″N 3°03′18″W / 55.87605°N 3.05491°W / 55.87605; -3.05491

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