St Ninian's High School () is a

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

located in

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...

and

Onchan Onchan (; ) is a large village in the parish of Onchan (parish), Onchan on the Isle of Man. It is at the north end of Douglas Bay. Administratively a district, it has the second largest population of settlements on the island, after Douglas, Isl ...

, on the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

. The School is set over two different sites, catering for different year groups.

History

The modern institution originated as a 1985 union of previously independent upper and lower schools. The lower dates to 1894, originally based at Park Road in central Douglas. The upper school, Douglas High School for Boys was founded in 1927 at Ballaquayle. Alumni of the high school formed the football club Douglas High School Old Boys A.F.C. A review of secondary education in Douglas in 1985 formed St. Ninians, establishing a new name and uniting the two parts. In 1998, staff member Alex Townsend developed the

Manx Telecomputer Bus The Manx Telecomputer Bus was a Manx government initiative to teach IT to children from the late 1990s onwards, when access to computers was limited in schools. A converted bus was equipped with 23 Macintosh computers and acted as a mobile classro ...

program, which saw the development of a mobile IT classroom. While primarily aimed at supporting primary schools, the computer bus facilitated a trip to London for St. Ninian's students in 1999. A new location was established for the lower school in 2012- relocating to Bemahague, in Onchan. This was because the Park Road site was falling into disrepair and space for further expansion was limited. The upper school had also become crowded by this time, relying on several mobile classrooms. This necessitated the construction of a new school which could take Park Road's former students as well as one year group from the upper school.

Facilities

The Upper School campus has received many renovations over its period of existence. It is now much larger than the original construction of the 1920s. Most recently a new Sixth form Centre was built in 2000. Named the Barbra Cottier Centre, it formed a purpose built centre for Sixth Form studies. In 2006 a new dining area and Special Needs centre was built on the site of a central courtyard. The new lower school in Onchan has several tennis courts, playing fields, modern football pitches and a large gymnasium.

Notable alumni

Samantha Barks Samantha Jane Barks (born 2 October 1990) is a British actress and singer who rose to fame after placing third in the BBC talent show-themed television series '' I'd Do Anything'' in 2008. She has released three studio albums: ''Looking in Y ...

– Actress * Martin Bridson – Whitehead Professor of Pure Mathematics, University of Oxford * Harold Briley – BBC journalist and

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

Christine Collister Christine Collister (born 28 December 1961) is a Manx folk, blues and jazz singer-songwriter. She was born and grew up on the Isle of Man and first came to public attention in 1986 as the singer of the theme song for the BBC's television adaptat ...

– Award winning folk, blues and jazz singer-songwriter * Peter Craine - Member of the House of Keys * Adam Fogerty - Actor, former

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: *Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing * Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer. * Oscar Garden - Trailblazing aviator who became known as the ‘''Sundowner of the Skies''’; being the fourth person to fly solo from England to Australia. *

Peter Kennaugh Peter Robert Kennaugh Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 15 June 1989) is a Isle of Man, Manx former professional racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2010 and 2019 for and . In 2012 he won the gold medal as part of the Great Brit ...

– Cyclist and Olympic gold medalist. *

Frank Kermode Sir John Frank Kermode, FBA (29 November 1919 – 17 August 2010) was a British literary critic best known for his 1967 work '' The Sense of an Ending: Studies in the Theory of Fiction'' and for his extensive book-reviewing and editing. He wa ...

– literary critic and professor of English literature *

Charles Kerruish Sir Henry Charles Kerruish OBE LLD CP MLC (23 July 1917 – 2 August 2003) was a Manx politician who was the first President of Tynwald and, as Speaker of the House of Keys from 1962 to 1990, was the longest-serving Speaker in any Parlia ...

– First President of Tynwald *

Nigel Kneale Thomas Nigel Kneale (18 April 1922 – 29 October 2006) was a Manx screenwriter and author, whose career spanned more than 50 years, between 1946 and 1997. Predominantly a writer of thrillers that used science-fiction and horror elemen ...

– Best known for the creation of the character Professor Bernard Quatermass * Paul Quine - Member of the

House of Keys The House of Keys () is the directly elected lower house of Tynwald, the parliament of the Isle of Man, the other branch being the Legislative Council. History The oldest known reference to the name is in a document of 1417, written in Lat ...

and Commercial Airline Pilot who was in command of the final

Manx Airlines Manx Airlines was an English-owned, Isle of Man-based airline that existed between 1982 and 2002. Its head office was located on the grounds of Ronaldsway Airport in Ballasalla, Malew. An airline of the same name existed between 1947 and 1958. ...

flight

References

External links

School website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Ninian's High School, Douglas Schools in the Isle of Man Douglas, Isle of Man Onchan Secondary schools on the Isle of Man 1985 establishments in the United Kingdom Educational institutions established in 1985