Baldragon Academy is a six-year comprehensive in the
Kirkton area of the city of
Dundee
Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
, Scotland. It was originally named Kirkton High School until merging with Rockwell High School in August 1997. The school is set in over of its own grounds.
The school has around 1000 pupils and serves the Kirkton,
Trottick,
St Mary's and
Ardler areas of Dundee. This area consists of a mixture of authority and privately owned housing. The feeder primary schools are Sidlaw View, Downfield, Craigowl, Ardler and Strathmartine Primary Schools.
Naming
Dundee City Council Education committee asked the joint School Board to choose a new name for the school. Two names were chosen Baldragon and Craigowl (from
Craigowl Hill – this was subsequently chosen as one of the House names) and Baldragon being the name for the area in
The Legend of the Nine Maidens Well. The pupils were asked to vote for their preference and the overwhelming choice was Baldragon Academy.
Houses
Baldragon Academy has four Houses named after prominent hills in the local area:
Balgay
Balgay ( Gaelic: ''Baile (na) Gaoithe'') is a suburb in the west end of Dundee, Scotland. The name, derived from Gaelic, seems to mean '' 'stead of the marsh/wind' ''.Nicolaisen, W.F.H. ''Scottish Place Names'' pp139 During the 17th century, B ...
,
Craigowl,
Kinpurnie and
Law. The Houses are represented by a colour, green for Balgay, purple for Craigowl, blue for Law and silver for Kinpurnie. These colours are also used on the Junior school tie.
BBC Radio Scotland "SoundTown"
Baldragon Academy was chosen to be the
BBC Radio Scotland "
SoundTown" school for the session 2007-2008. The school was provided with a fully operational radio studio and has been involved in numerous broadcasts and projects throughout the year-long project. Over 400 pupils took part in the project and it was hoped that all staff and pupils will have played a part in this project by the end of the session. The school has its own radio station, BBG1, which broadcasts every year for 2–3 days at a time.
The school is also working with the radio station Bridge fm.
References
External links
Baldragon Academy websiteBaldragon Academy's page on Scottish Schools OnlineBaldragon Academy Robertson Civil Engineering (campus construction project)
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Secondary schools in Dundee
1960 establishments in Scotland
Educational institutions established in 1960
School buildings completed in 2018