On 26 September 2012, Mike Russell, Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning visited Newbattle and announced funding for Newbattle High School to get a new school building. Construction of the new Newbattle Community Campus by Morrison Construction began in 2016 and was completed in May 2018, with the school moving from its previous location and opening in the new campus on 5 June 2018. The new Newbattle Community Campus consists of a three-storey school teaching block and a two-storey split level school PE/community sports facility connected via a single-storey link entrance block which contains a library and café. IT has the capacity to hold up to 1200 students. The Community Campus houses Newbattle High School, as well as community facilities shared with the school: these are Newbattle Leisure Centre, Newbattle Library and Newbattle Café. The school has a vocational education programme. Facilities for delivery in this area include the Borthwick Suite, hairdressing salon, recording studio.
History
The first school recorded in the Newbattle parish was the Parish school at Crawlees, Newtongrange, which was built in 1835 to serve the first colliery houses at Newton Grange. In 1849 this was followed by Newton Grange Colliery Schools. Both of these schools closed in 1893 when the Newbattle Public School was opened in Gardiner Place, Newtongrange. The building is still in use today as the Newbattle Community Learning Centre. This school was both a primary and a secondary school. The school remained both a primary and secondary school until 1925, when overcrowding was relieved by the construction of a primary school in Sixth Street, Newtongrange. In 1925, Newbattle Public School became exclusively a secondary school. In about 1924, a school for the Roman Catholic children of Newtongrange and Gorebridge had opened at Newtonloan Toll, midway between the two villages. Records of the Newtongrange Gala Day show that the dux of Newbattle Public School was crowned Queen of Newbattle Parish at the gala each year. These records also show that at some point between 1940 and 1944, the name of the school changed to Newbattle Junior Secondary School.
History of the previous school building
The previous high school building was built in 1969, replacing the former Newbattle Junior Secondary school in Newtongrange. When first built, Newbattle High served the communities of Mayfield, Easthouses and Newtongrange, but following the closure of Greenhall High School in 1994, its catchment area expanded to include Gorebridge, Temple, Borthwick and North Middleton. From 1969 up until June 2018 the school was accommodated in a large 1960s style main teaching block comprising four floors, with a single-story annexe housing sciences and Home Economics. There was a library area, and a Centre for Sport and Leisure, which was housed in a self-contained complex which included a games hall, gymnasium, swimming pool, floodlit synthetic turf pitch and grassed rugby and football pitch. Newbattle and its associated primaries were granted New Community Schools status in 2000. In 2005, Newbattle was selected as one of twenty eight schools in Scotland to be awarded Schools of Ambition status. According to the Scottish Executive's website, the schools of ambition programme aims to be "a radical step change in the approach to transforming educational outcomes, which aimed to raise the ambitions of schools, instil belief and ambition in pupils, extend their opportunities and transform their life chances". The enhanced funding and support was used to build on the Arts curriculum, and to develop pupil leadership and self-esteem.
House system
The school has a house system which splits pupils between 3 houses: - Pentland - Moorfoot - Lammermuir Each house also has a its own team of guidance and support staff
