History
In 2009, there was a formal opening of a £19,000,000 refurbishment and extension to the school; guests included the late Cardinal Keith O'Brien, as well as singer Susan Boyle, who is a former pupil. [3]
In 2012, a group of pupils made a video to highlight the high rate of poverty amongst children in the UK, and submitted it to competition for Unicef. As well as winning the competition, they were also awarded a Rotary Young Citizens Award. [4] [5]
In 2017 a 16-year-old student was instructed by the Head Teacher, Mr Sharkey, to remove an LGBT Pride badge from his uniform on the basis that it "Promoted homosexuality". However, West Lothian Council later denied these claims stating "Pupils at St Kentigern's are asked to remove all non-school related badges from their uniforms". [6]
In 2017 and 2019, Computing Science teacher, Toni Scullion, won a number of awards for her work in furthering women in Tech, including the 2019 Secondary Teacher of the Year award at the Scottish Women in Tech awards. [7]
The school also suffered a stabbing in 2017, where a 13-year-old slashed a 14-year-old in the canteen, which had around 200 people in it at the time. The weapon was believed to be a kitchen knife. Charges were pressed on the 13 year-old perpetrator. [8]
In 2022, all schools in Scotland where ranked by exam pass rate, St Kentigern's Academy placed 10th in West Lothian Bearley beating Deans Community High and placing 112th out of 340 in Scotland.
In April 2025, it was announced that Dr Gerry Burns (formerly of St Margaret's Academy and Sinclair Academy) would become headteacher. [9] On Tuesday 6 June 2023, 14-year-old Hamdan Aslam died following an incident. Police were called to the school at approximately 13:20 and the boy was taken by ambulance to hospital where he died shortly after. A post mortem was carried out and the cause of death was determined to be natural causes via a heart condition. A report was sent to the procurator fiscal. [10]
In 2023, urgent repairs and refurbishments began at the school after an earlier inspection found RAAC in part of the schools roofing. [2]
In 2024, head teacher, Andrew Sharkey, suddenly died after the discovery of a brain tumour, Mr Sharkey served as head teacher of St Kents from April 2014 until his death in late November. [11]
In June 2025, it was announced that the new wing of the school was expected to open ahead of schedule. [12] The new building includes a dining area, games hall, dance studio, fitness suite and a range of other learning spaces. [12]
