Retired headmaster of Lurgan College Trevor Robinson receives OBE in New Year's Honours

Mr Robinson, who just retired as headmaster in June last year, received the honour for services to education.

A native of Newmills, Co Tyrone where he attended the local primary school, Mr Robinson transferred to The Royal School, Dungannon in 1973. He went on to read Modern Languages at The Queen’s University of Belfast where he also completed his Post-Graduate Certificate of Education (with Commendation).

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While at Queen’s he spent a year as an English language assistant in a secondary school in Madrid where he developed a deep love of teaching.

Mr Robinson began his teaching career in Grosvenor High (Grammar) School in 1986, completing his Master of Education degree in Educational Management in 1991. Two years later he was appointed as Head of French in Banbridge Academy; he soon became Head of Modern Languages and joined the Senior Leadership Team before being promoted to the post of Vice-Principal in 2000.

He was awarded the Post-Graduate Qualification in Headship (NI) in 2001. In 2005 he was appointed as Headmaster of Lurgan College where he went on to spend the remainder of his teaching career for 17 years.

Under his headship at Lurgan College, a 14-19 selective grammar which forms part of the Craigavon Two Tier System (also known as the Dickson Plan), the school thrived both inside and outside the classroom. The school population grew significantly, and the College regularly featured at the top of school league tables, producing outstanding results at both GCSE and A Level.

On the sports field the College’s 1st XI girls’ hockey teams were Ulster and All-Ireland champions on three occasions. After many years of campaigning for better resources, Mr Robinson was delighted when the College was included in the list of schools to receive funding for capital build projects under the SEP Scheme; planning is well under way for a new sports hall and teaching block at a cost of over £4m. This will complement the new synthetic hockey pitch and pavilion which were completed in 2015. The schools inspectorate rated the overall quality of education offered by the school as ‘very good’ in its most recent full inspection report.

Mr Robinson was determined to make Lurgan College a more outward looking school and was deeply committed to Shared Education, a cross-community initiative where pupils from all schools across the Craigavon area would be afforded the opportunity to learn together. He led some of these developments during his tenure as Chairman of the Craigavon Area Learning Community.

Mr Robinson played a pivotal role in the extremely successful ‘Save the Dickson Plan’ campaign when some felt this system came under ‘unwarranted attack’ (2009-2014) from the then Minister of Education, officers within the former SELB and others. Working closely with his good friend and colleague, the late Mr Simon Harper, Headmaster of Portadown College, and other parties, Mr Robinson helped garner public support for the Dickson Plan, thereby ensuring the future of the Dickson Plan and a selective grammar school option for generations of children in the Craigavon area in the years to come.

An ardent supporter of Controlled Schools, Mr Robinson served as Chairman of the Association of Controlled Grammar Schools and as a Director at the Controlled Schools’ Support Council. He passionately believes that controlled schools, with their non-denominational ethos, are ‘open for all’ and have the capacity to contribute positively to a ‘natural’ integration of pupils of all faiths and none.

Mr Robinson’s desire to ensure that classroom practice remained at the heart of educational improvement in NI was evidenced by his extended membership of the Education and Training Inspectorate as an Associate Assessor where he learned much from the excellent practice which he witnessed while assisting with the inspection of a range of schools across NI.

As a longstanding member of the QUB Headteachers’ Forum, Mr Robinson advised university leaders on appropriate transition arrangements to third level education for NI sixth formers.

In 2020 Mr Robinson was elected as President of the Association of School and College Leaders where he was involved in advising various bodies such as the Department of Education, The Education Authority, CCEA, ETI and MLAs on educational matters impacting all schools in NI. He played a very significant role in supporting the Department of Education’s response to the challenges posed by the global pandemic in terms of mitigations and alternative examination arrangements, ensuring that NI pupils could move on safely and seamlessly to the next stage of their careers.

Reacting to the award of an OBE, Mr Robinson stated ‘I am deeply honoured and extremely humbled to receive this award. No man is an island and I have been privileged to work alongside some amazing people during my career. At Lurgan College I have always enjoyed the unequivocal support of a dedicated set of governors, ably led by Chairman Mr Stanley Abraham JP, as well as a wonderful PA, Mrs Jill Gough who has also just retired after 38 years of sterling service to the College.

"This award is indeed very much a shared honour with I share with the governors, staff, pupils and parents of Lurgan College, a truly amazing and unique school which continually lives out its 1873 old motto, ‘Meliora Sequor’ [to follow better things]. I also owe a great debt of gratitude to my parents who sacrificed much for their four children and to my dear wife Julie and my own four children, Charlotte, Matthew, Annie and Ellie, for all their selfless support throughout my very happy and privileged career whose cornerstones have been my cherished family, my close friends and my Christian faith.”