New principal for Hamilton College

Jul 3 2008 by Shirley Bartynek, Hamilton Advertiser

New principal is named at college

MARGARET Clarke has been appointed the new principal of Hamilton College.

Since the retirement of her predecessor John Gamble in March, Miss Clarke has been acting principal.

Prior to joining Hamilton College in August 2006, Miss Clarke held several senior posts within the Scottish education sector.

Having started her teaching career in Dundee as a mathematics teacher in 1978, she subsequently added a teaching qualification in computing to her CV in 1983.

Over the next 20 years, Miss Clarke was involved in developing new material and courses with the Scottish CCC, Scottish Examinations Board, and latterly with the SQA.

She was the Principal Examiner for Higher Computing for a number of years and Chairperson of the Computing and IT Assessment Panel.

In the mid-1990s Miss Clarke was appointed Depute Head Teacher at Harris Academy in Dundee.

This was a post she was to hold until she was appointed Head of Post-Primary Education within Learning and Teaching Scotland.

During her time there, the new college principal was promoted to the role of Director of ICT and Learning.

These posts allowed her to attend numerous conferences, and offered the opportunity to act as keynote speaker at many such events.

She said: “My experience at Learning and Teaching Scotland deepened my knowledge and gave me an invaluable foundation for the role of Principal of Hamilton College."

She added: “Our school community benefits from having a nursery, junior and senior school within the same building .

“As a result from age three to 18, pupils, their families and their teachers can grow together.

“I am keen to see the school progress on our journey to excellence and becoming a leading force in Scottish education.

“Hamilton College is a place where we will provide an outstanding, rounded education for the young people of Lanarkshire and the west of Scotland.”