The school was opened on 15 July 1960 by the chairman of Parsons under the name, Wallsend County Technical School. It cost approximately £280,000 for the building work, the furniture and the equipment. On 3 September 1969, the school was renamed as Burnside High School.[2] The school took its current name when it moved into its new buildings in September 2004 that were later inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth II. These new buildings cost around £15 million.[citation needed]
In 2009, The Wallsend Sports Centre began moving into the school grounds, and another new building is currently under construction costing £7 million. Subsequently, the school facilities will improve - the fitness suite in the centre will be larger and a swimming pool will also feature inside the centre. In the Summer of 2010, the building was complete, creating a large swimming pool and fitness suite available for use of local people and students.[citation needed]
Brian Laws, professional footballer for Burnley, Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest; Manager of Grimsby Town, Scunthorpe United, Sheffield Wednesday and Burnley
Group Captain Ivan Whittaker OBE DFC (9 September 1921 - 22 Aug 1979, from Sherburn, County Durham), who flew on the Dambusters Raid as a Flight Engineer with Lancaster AJ-P, with pilot Australian Air Marshal Sir Harold Martin; it was the third to hit the Möhne Dam (he was a Pilot Officer at the time); the mine veered to the left, and exploded at the side of the dam, with the aircraft returning safely; he left the RAF in 1974, being Station Commander from September 1965 to February 1968 of RAF Aldergrove[3][4]
