Limavady High School wins UK secondary of the year award

As reported by the BBC, the County Londonderry post-primary has been named UK secondary school of the year at the 2022 Pearson Teaching Awards

Limavady High School was presented with the award at the winners’ ceremony in London.

Health studies lecturers from North West Regional College (NWRC) won the UK Further Education Award.

The Pearson Awards were founded by film-maker Lord David Puttnam in 1998 to celebrate excellence in education.

They are open to teachers from England, Wales and Northern Ireland and attract thousands of entries.

Limavady High School is a non-selective post-primary with about 800 pupils. It runs some classes and facilities jointly with the nearby St Mary’s High School.

The two schools are set to share Northern Ireland’s first completed shared education campus.

Shared campuses allow pupils from different backgrounds in separate schools to come together to share some classes and new buildings.

They were originally part of the Northern Ireland Executive’s Together: Building a United Community (TBUC) strategy in 2013 but the Limavady one is set to be the first to be built.

Awarding Limavady High the gold award for the Making a Difference UK Secondary School of the year, the judges praised the school’s connections with the Limavady community.

“The school motto ‘Making connections, shaping futures’ is evident in the strong relationships with its pupils and the local and wider community,” the judges said.

“The school’s vision is to prepare the pupils to meet the ever-increasing demands of life in the 21st century.”

Darren Mornin, the head teacher at Limavady High School, said winning the award was a “huge achievement for our school and our community”.

“This award is amazing recognition for all the hard work everyone here has put into making Limavady such a special place,” he said.