Omagh Academy

In December 1902, a group of worthy gentlemen from the area met in the Grand Jury Rooms of Omagh Courthouse and decided that the area really needed a Protestant intermediate school for boys who, until then, had to travel to schools in other towns. By the spring of 1903 a committee of fifteen men had been appointed to set up and run the new school. Mr Henry Perdue had been appointed as headmaster. It was decided that the school would be called The Omagh Academy. A property had been acquired on the main street. This was a substantial two storey house with a basement, attic and a large rear garden.

The school prospectus stated that its objects were to provide an intermediate education for boys in the neighbourhood. It offers all the advantages of education in English, mathematics , experimental science, classics, foreign languages, and music, usually offered by such schools, and prepares boys for all grades of the intermediate, and for entrance to the Civil Service and matriculation at the Universities.

On 19 September 1903 the new school opened for its first full year with twenty six names on the roll. There were just five teachers. The school's progress was rapid and, by 1914, there were seven girls as well as forty boys at the school. It soon outgrew its Market Street premises with one big classroom and a laboratory on the ground floor and two smaller ones above.

In 1934, the number attending the school had increased to eighty and, as this number was continuing to rise, new premises were essential. Until this point the school had been privately funded but these funds would not stretch to a new building. As a result, the school transferred to the, then, Omagh Regional Education Committee. This decision was taken by the new headmaster, Mr Gaudin.

However, before the new school was built, Mr Gaudin had left Omagh and was replaced by Mr R A Simpson. It was he who oversaw the building of the premises on the present Dublin Road site which would house Omagh Academy , Omagh Technical School and the Regional Education Offices. The building covered an area of 21.230 sq ft and cost £30,000. The foundation stone was laid in April 1937 by the Chairman of the Education Committee, Mr Thomas Johnston. The school was opened on 1 June 1938 by Her Grace the Duchess of Abercorn.

A period of extraordinary growth followed and, even by the end of the war, numbers had trebled. This expansion was due to Mr Simpson's successful promotion of the school in the community and its excellent academic record. Further growth resulted from the effects of the 1947 Education Act and the improvements in transport arrangements which meant that many pupils travelled to school from outlying villages by train.

Mr Simpson's tenure, which lasted until his retirement in 1971, witnessed many developments as school numbers grew rapidly and the range of extra curricular activities expanded. Hockey, originally played by both boys and girls, had become "ladies only" by 1948, just two years after the introduction of rugby. Many clubs and societies existed ranging from drama to ballroom dancing classes and the first modern language assistant arrived from the Congo in 1966.

From 1971 until 1984 the headmaster was Mr C Cooper. Buildings remained unchanged and soon the expanding school population was located in a range of mobile classrooms. In 1984, shortly after Mr J B McBain became headmaster, various solutions to the accommodation problem were discussed and abandoned. A major stumbling block was persuading the Department of Education that the school's enrolment would remain healthy at about six hundred and fifty pupils.

Approval was granted in January 1986 and architects appointed. However, it was not until February 1988 that funding for the £3.5 million project was agreed and that work could begin. When the extension and refurbishment was completed the school had almost doubled in size. These new facilities meant that mobiles had disappeared and forty members of staff were under the one roof for the first time in over forty years. The extended and refurbished school was officially opened by the Duchess of York on 28 November 1991.[4]

The school also contributes to schools sport in Northern Ireland. The 1st hockey team won the Northern Ireland Schools' Cup and the All Ireland Cup in 2005. The 1st XV rugby team reached the Ulster Schools Cup final in 1985 (losing to Bangor Grammar 12-3) and semi-final in 1993 (losing to eventual winners Campbell College). In 1994 they had success capturing the Schools Plate competition with a win over Campbell College, and in the same year Omagh Academy won the Medallion Plate competition with a win over Portadown College. In 2006, Omagh Academy won the Medallion Bowl, beating Rainey in the final. In 2015 they beat Strabane Academy to win the Medallion Trophy, and in 2019 they beat Down High School 17-11 to win the Medallion Bowl.[5]

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