Warwick Academy principal Maggie McCorkell has announced that she will retire at the end of the school year in June 2016.

Ms McCorkell moved to Bermuda in 1980 and joined Warwick Academy a decade later.

“The time has come for me to retire,” she said. “I will leave Warwick Academy and Bermuda thinking the same thing I thought when I first arrived — that these are the best students I have ever seen.

“I have loved the many varied experiences I have had here in education, each one of them teaching me something new.

“It is now time for me to turn my thoughts towards travel and the other interests I have always dreamed of.”

Ms McCorkell began her career in Northern Ireland at the Newtownbreda High School before moving to Tehran, Iran, teaching English as a foreign language.

Upon moving to Bermuda, she worked as a school librarian, teacher and deputy principal at St George’s Secondary School until she joined Warwick Academy in 1990.

Angela Berry, chair of the Warwick Academy Board of Governors, said Ms McCorkell will leave big shoes to fill and would be greatly missed.

“Warwick Academy has benefited greatly from Ms McCorkell’s leadership,” she added. “We are proud of her accomplishments and know that both staff and students, under her direction and tutelage, have flourished.

“Her unwavering commitment to the development of the whole person has made a huge difference in the environment of our school both for staff and students and in the way our school operates.”

Under Ms McCorkell’s leadership, Warwick Academy developed a ten-year strategic plan and a facility master plan.

Warwick Academy reintroduced the Sixth Form during her time as principal and went on to receive the best examination results in the history of the school in the International General Certificate of Education and International Baccalaureate programmes.

Ms McCorkell has also been instrumental in the introduction of a Reception Year class that will begin in September 2015.

“The process of finding and appointing a new principal will begin in the new year and will include an extensive search of both internal and external candidates to find the right match,” Mrs Berry added. “Education is a key measurement of success, and we want to be sure that students, staff and the Warwick Academy family all benefit from first-rate leadership and direction.”