Kilkeel High School is a controlled Protestant

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

located in

Kilkeel Kilkeel () is a small town, civil parish and townland (of 554 acres and 6521inh) in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is the southernmost town in Northern Ireland. It lies within the historic barony of Mourne. Kilkeel town is the main fishing ...

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

, Northern Ireland. It is within the Southern Education and Library Board area.

History

The school was opened in September 1953 as Kilkeel intermediate School. Mr. William Moore Macauley served as the first principal, and retired in 1971. Additions were made to the school in 1955 and again in 1960.

Academics

This is a school in Northern Ireland where education was devolved matter. Students enter the school in year 8 in the year they will become 12. In the first three years they study a common timetable but classes are organized by ability using information supplied by the feeder primary school. The

Key Stage 3 Key Stage 3 (commonly abbreviated as KS3) is the legal term for the three years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9, when pupils are aged between 11 and 14. In Northern Ireland the ...

syllabus follows the guidelines set out in the Revised Curriculum for Northern Ireland. In year 11, for

Key Stage 4 Key Stage 4 (KS4) is the legal term for the two years of school education which incorporate GCSEs, and other examinations, in maintained schools in England normally known as Year 10 and Year 11, when pupils are aged between 14 and 16 by August 31. ...

, students follow the Department of Education’s Entitlement Framework Curriculum, they are obliged to continue with core subjects augmented with options. The option choice will depend on their future aspirations as the choice of

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

subjects will limit their

A level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

opportunities in

Key Stage 5 Key Stage 5 is a label used to describe the two years of education for students aged 16–18, or at sixth form, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, aligning with previous Key Stages as labelled for the National Curriculum. Key Stage 5 is also ...

(Years 13 and 14), which are vital for

tertiary education Tertiary education, also referred to as third-level, third-stage or post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank, for example, defines tertiary education as including univers ...

. This is all explained in Careers Guidance lessons, and in explanatory prospectuses. The core subjects are: Careers, Citizenship, English, Mathematics, Personal Development, Physical Education and Religious Studies. The options must include a science. To widen the option choice Kilkeel High School has formed a partnership with St Louis Grammar School and Newry and Kilkeel College.

Sport

Kilkeel High has a successful hockey team and the school fields teams in competitions from U-13 to an U-18 1st XI. Despite being a state comprehensive school, it competes in cup competitions dominated by the powerhouse grammar schools in Ulster, and the school regularly qualifies for the "All-Ireland" schools hockey tournament. In 2001 the boys 1st XI reached the final of the prestigious

McCullough Cup The McCullough Cup is a hockey competition. It is an annual tournament played for by schools affiliated to the Ulster Branch of the Irish Hockey Association. The competition is held in the winter term of each school year, with the older Burney ...

and despite a brave performance, they eventually lost in a penalty shoot-out. Kilkeel High school also competes at

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

. All age groups in the school also compete locally at football. The rugby team reached the high schools cup semi-final in which they played against 5 mile town. The team was beaten narrowly due to refereeing errors. Pupils from the school regularly qualify for County and "All-Ireland" athletics events including cross-country which the school has experienced great success in, in recent years.

Other competition

In 2006 a team from Kilkeel High won the Business and Professional Women UK National Public Speaking Championship. The women's speaking team from Kilkeel has been very successful in recent years, winning various local and national competitions.

Community activity

In 1981 Kilkeel High School students erected a memorial to the victims of the 1916

Carlingford Lough Carlingford Lough (, Ulster Scots: ''Carlinford Loch'') is a glacial fjord or sea inlet in northeastern Ireland, forming part of the border between Northern Ireland to the north and the Republic of Ireland to the south. On its northern shore i ...

disaster.

Notable former pupils

Jeffrey Donaldson Sir Jeffrey Mark Donaldson (born 7 December 1962) is a Northern Irish politician who has served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) since June 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lagan Valley since 1997, and leader ...

; MP for

Lagan Valley The Lagan Valley (, Ulster Scots: ''Glen Lagan'') is an area of Northern Ireland between Belfast and Lisburn. The River Lagan rises on Slieve Croob in County Down and flows generally northward discharging into Belfast Lough. For a section, the ...

. *

Violet McBride Violet McBride (born 16 October 1954) is a former women's field hockey player from Northern Ireland who represented both Ireland and Great Britain at international level. She represented Great Britain at the 1988 Summer Olympics. In 1989 she w ...

; former

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and Ireland women's field hockey international. She represented Great Britain at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

References

{{authority control Secondary schools in County Down 1953 establishments in Northern Ireland

High School A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...