Anderson High School, Lerwick
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The Anderson High School (AHS) is a comprehensive
secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...
in
Lerwick Lerwick (; non, Leirvik; nrn, Larvik) is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010. Centred off the north coast of the Scottish mainland ...
,
Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...
, Scotland. The AHS is the largest school in Shetland with around 67 staff and about 800-900 pupils from age 12 to 18. Pupils transfer to the AHS from other schools throughout Shetland. Pupils are also transferred from Junior High Schools after S4 (age 16), leading to more pupils in S5 than in S4. In 2005, the school was awarded
Schools of Ambition The Schools of Ambition programme, also called the Schools of Ambition initiative, was a government programme in Scotland that aimed to improve school character and performance by offering struggling secondary schools philanthropist money and an ...
status.


History


Anderson Educational Institute

The school was founded as the Anderson Educational Institute by Arthur Anderson, a local
entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...
and the co-founder of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (currently
P&O Ferries P&O Ferries is a British shipping company that operates ferry, ferries from United Kingdom to Ireland, and to Continental Europe (France, Belgium and the Netherlands). The company was created in 2002 through mergers and acquisitions within P&O ...
) and officially opened in 1862. The institute building is situated at the Knab, a peninsula southeast of Lerwick and faces east overlooking the island of
Bressay Bressay ( sco, Bressa) is a populated island in the Shetland archipelago of Scotland. Geography and geology Bressay lies due south of Whalsay, west of the Isle of Noss, and north of Mousa. With an area of , it is the fifth-largest island in Shet ...
. The style of the building is relative to a French chateau and it had a north and south wing including a house for the headmaster. In 1902, a new central school (now Islesburgh Community Centre) opened and primary pupils moved to the building while the secondary pupils remained in the Anderson Education Institute, this increased the school roll and the headmaster's house was converted into classrooms and a playing field was added in the 1930s. During
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 opposin ...
, the institute building was requisitioned as a
military hospital A military hospital is a hospital owned and operated by a military. They are often reserved for the use of military personnel and their dependents, but in some countries are made available to civilians as well. They may or may not be located on a ...
and the pupils were taken to the central school. After the war, the roll grew to 202 in 1948 and temporary classrooms were erected in the school's grounds. The institute has two halls of residence: Bruce Hostel was built in 1914 which was situated north of the institute building, the Janet Courtney hostel was completed in 1939 and was also requisitioned for military use until 1947, this hostel was used as a halls of residence for the school until 2017 when the new school building was finished.


Anderson High School

In 1970, the educational institute was renamed to the Anderson High School when they made a move to comprehensive education and at this time, there were over 350 pupils in the school. The school building was extended and there was a new school block in the back of the institute, a new gym hall and an assembly hall. In 1977, another gym hall and three large building blocks were added and so was a science block in 1993 and in 2005, a special needs department was built. The original institute building was the school's English department and it contained a school library on the ground floor. The high school moved to a new location within Lerwick in late October 2017 after a two years of construction, the school building and a new halls of residence are situated north of the
Clickimin Loch Clickimin Loch is a loch in Shetland, Scotland, west of Lerwick Lerwick (; non, Leirvik; nrn, Larvik) is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 resident ...
. The school building is a modern three storey building and can accommodate up to 1000 pupils. The old school buildings were left abandoned since the pupils moved to the new high school. Demolitions for the buildings were due to begin in early 2020 but were delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic and will start demolishing the 1960s and 1970s school blocks from December 2020 to January 2021, there have been discussions on providing new residential areas in the old school grounds with the original institute, two halls of residence which are
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
s and the science block where they will likely be used for community use.


Arrest and conviction of teacher

In 2019, Modern Studies teacher Kieran Malcolmson was arrested for engaging in sexual activity other than sexual intercourse with two students on two occasions between 2009 and 2018. He was convicted in May 2021 and was sentenced to 15 months in prison the following month. Upon appeal this sentence was reduced to 12 months in prison.


References


External links


Anderson High School WebsiteAHS Entry at Scottish Schools OnlineShetland Islands Council Education
{{authority control Secondary schools in Shetland Lerwick 1862 establishments in Scotland Educational institutions established in 1862