Tobermore - Education

Education

Prior to the stablishment of national primary schools, education lay mainly in the hands of the church. In Tobermore the Church of Ireland parish of Kilcronaghan has records of its school masters going as far back as Mr. Alex Trotter in 1686. The Parish School was originally built in the townland of Granny on the leading road between Tobermore and Draperstown. Despite being a Church of Ireland Parish School, it was open to children of all denominations. In 1836, there were 70 children recorded on the roll with 28 being described as Church of Ireland, 20 Presbyterian, 2 Roman Catholic, and 20 "other denominations". Secular education such as arithmetic was taught as well as English. The local Presbyterian Church would also found its own school held in the Session House at the rear of the Presbyterian meeting house. Private session classes for adults would also be held twice a week in the Presbyterian Session House.

Tobermore's first public school was established in 1817 in a room which was formerly a public house. It received an income from the London Hibernian Society as well as books published by them such as Thompson and Gough's Arithmetic and Murray's English Grammer. This school is now the present-day Tobermore Primary School. In 1826, Killytoney National School was established. It was built on the old leading road between Tobermore and Desertmartin., and has been connected to the National Board since 1833. During this time, there were also another seven schools in Kilcronaghan Parish; four female schools, one of which in the townland of Brackagh Rowley (sic) was an Irish speaking school; an Irish male school; and two national schools. By 1967, Kilcronaghan Parish School had closed and was almagated with Black Hill School and Sixtowns School to become the present-day Kilross Primary School.

There are two schools in the Tobermore area:

• Tobermore Primary School, located within the North Eastern Education and Library Board area.
• Kilross Primary School, located within the North Eastern Education and Library Board area.

For secondary education, students from the Tobermore electoral ward mainly attend schools in Magherafelt and to a lesser degree Draperstown. Tobermore ward also has the highest education performance of any ward within Magherafelt District Council, with 88.8% of students achieving 5 or more GCSEs at grades of C+ or higher in 2008. This is compared to averages of: 71.8% for Magherafelt District Council; 70.1% for Mid-Ulster parliamentary constituency; and 66.9% for Northern Ireland.