 Unlike many grammar providers in Northern Ireland the school does not make use of extra transfer tests instead it offers children grammar provision on the basis of their academic ability as evidenced through their primary school attainment.Founded as Cookstown Academy in 1806 by Rev Thomas Miller Senior the school has been through numerous transformations in the centuries since then.It merged with the Ladies Boarding School in the town around 1924 by which time it was known as Cookstown College.