Airdrie Academy is a secondary school within
Airdrie, North Lanarkshire
Airdrie (; sco, Airdrie; gd, An t-Àrd Ruigh) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It lies on a plateau roughly 400 ft (130 m) above sea level, and is approximately 12 miles (19 km) east of Glasgow city centre. , the town had a ...
, Scotland.
Admissions
It has a current roll of approximately 1,100 pupils. As part of Education 2010, a new building was opened in October 2006 to replace the previous one, parts of which had been in use for almost 70 years.
The current head teacher is Martin Anderson. He is supported by a senior management team composed of: Allison Dewar, MaryJane Hunter, Graeme Nolan and Claire O'Neill
History
Founded in 1849, Airdrie Academy exists today in its third incarnation. The Academy moved to its current site on South Commonhead Avenue in 1941. When it was built in the midst of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the new building cost a little over £100,000 at the time. It was first located on Cairnhill Road in a building that housed Alexandra Primary School. The original building has since been demolished to make way for housing.
Grammar school
From its inception, Airdrie Academy was the senior secondary school in Airdrie: pupils who did not pass an exam on leaving primary school would go to the now defunct Airdrie High.
Comprehensive
This system changed in the late 1960s when it became a full six-year comprehensive, nearly tripling the school roll to 1800. To cope with the increase the South Commonhead Avenue site's existing 'A-Block' was expanded into a larger campus with specific buildings for Science and Technology and a fourth 'House Block' with six dining halls and three floors of modern classrooms.
Though enhanced and expanded over the years, the building fell into disrepair with students having to be taught in
portable buildings
A portable, demountable or transportable building is a building designed and built to be movable rather than permanently located.
Smaller version of portable buildings are also known as portable cabins. Portable cabins are prefabricated structu ...
during the early 2000s whilst
asbestos was removed from the Science Block. After 60 years of service, the building was reaching the end of its serviceable life and North Lanarkshire Council began exploring alternatives.
In December 1988 there was a
meningitis outbreak, resulting in the death of a 40-year-old teacher.
New building
Vigorous lobbying from the school's pupils, teaching staff and the local MSP stopped the school from merging with Caldervale High in a proposed super-campus with over 2000 pupils. Instead, parents and pupils were invited to select a design for a new Airdrie Academy to be built on the playing fields of its current site. The selected design - similar to most other new schools in the county - was completed in October 2006 and is considerably smaller. The new building cost £26 million.
Over the remaining academic year, the old buildings were demolished and the land prepared for new sports fields. During this time one wing of the old A-Block was set on fire by vandals. Demolition moved on and in January 2007 the 'Dome' part of the old building was pulled down.
[.]
Notable former pupils
*
William Whigham Fletcher FRSE, biologist
* Charles Hammond, chief executive since 2000 of
Forth Ports
Forth Ports Limited is a port operator in the United Kingdom based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is owned by the Public Sector Pension Investment Board.
History
Fort Ports was established in 1967 as the Forth Ports Authority. It became responsible ...
*
Alan Morton
Alan Lauder Morton (24 April 1893 – 12 December 1971) was a Scottish footballer who played as a outside left for Queen's Park, Rangers and Scotland.
Playing career Club
Morton was born in the Jordanhill district of Glasgow. He grew up in A ...
, footballer
*
Paul Towndrow, saxophonist
*
Amanda Hendrick
Amanda Hendrick (born 10 February 1990) is a Scottish fashion model.
Early life
Hendrick was born in Airdrie, Scotland and was educated at Airdrie Academy.
Modelling career
She appeared at Harvey Nichols's spring 2009 show.
In 2011 a series ...
, model
*
Grant Harrold, The Royal Butler, Britain's etiquette expert and broadcaster
Grammar school
* Sir
George G. Macfarlane CB, engineer, scientific administrator, public servant, director from 1962-7 of the
Royal Radar Establishment
The Royal Radar Establishment was a research centre in Malvern, Worcestershire in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1953 as the Radar Research Establishment by the merger of the Air Ministry's Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) a ...
(wartime scientist working on radar); designed the
Royal Radar Establishment Automatic Computer (RREAC), the first transistor digital computer
*
James Bell Pettigrew
James Bell Pettigrew FRSE FRS FRCPE LLD (26 May 1834 – 30 January 1908) was a Scottish anatomist and noted naturalist, aviation pioneer and museum curator. He was a distinguished naturalist in Britain, and Professor of Anatomy at St Andrews ...
,
Chandos Professor of Medicine and Anatomy from 1875-1908 at the University of St Andrews
*
Sir John Wilson, 1st Baronet
Sir John Wilson, 1st Baronet (26 June 1844 – 28 July 1918) was a businessman and Liberal Unionist politician in Scotland. He was Chairman of the Wilsons and Clyde Coal Company, and was Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is th ...
,
Liberal Unionist Party MP from 1895-1906 for
Falkirk Burghs
*
James Davidson, JP FRIBA, local architect and tenth President of the
Airdrie Savings Bank.
* Joseph Baker (Marine Engineer) 1913
References
External links
Airdrie Academy's page on Scottish Schools Online
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Secondary schools in North Lanarkshire
Airdrie, North Lanarkshire
1849 establishments in Scotland
Educational institutions established in 1849