History
Rathven School Board
There has been a secondary school in Buckie since 1875. The opening followed the 1872 Education (Scotland) Act, which made education compulsory between the ages of 5 and 13 and put education in the charge of 895 school boards. Rathven School Board covered the Buckie area and built Buckie Public School in West Church Street, at its junction with Pringle Street. The first entry in the school's log book on 14 January 1876 records that there were 100 pupils enrolled in the charge of aBanffshire County Council
In 1919, control of the school moved to the newly formed Banffshire County Council. By this time there had been several extensions to the original Buckie Public School building and the pupil roll was well over 1,000. The school log notes the existence of a "Supplementary Course" for pupils who did not wish to pursue academic studies and also that pupils were achieving success in the Aberdeen University Bursary Competition. The Bursary Competition was the yardstick of success at this time. Navigation was introduced to the curriculum as it was becoming important for Board of Trade examinations. By 1921, the old school building was inadequate and it was decided to build a new secondary school, at a cost of £30,000, on its present site in West Cathcart Street. It was opened in 1927, by which time there was a staff of 36 (including seven principal teachers) and sport and music began to play an important part in the life of the school. This new stone-built building, now known as the Old Building, is still in use today and houses four subject departments. All primary classes, technical education and cookery remained in the original Buckie Public School building in West Church Street. In 1937, it was decided to build a new building for the primary department for Buckie Public School immediately opposite the secondary department in West Cathcart Street. The building was, however, too small even before it opened, so classes continued to use the original building in West Church Street into the 1960s. The Banffshire Education Committee decided to make the primary department a separate school in 1969. It was known as Buckie Primary School for a decade until it was renamed Cluny Primary School. After theGrampian Regional Council
Regionalisation transferred the school to Grampian Region in 1975. Buckie High School's "New Building" was completed in 1974, allowing it to cater for all secondary age pupils in the coastal area between Cullen and Portgordon. It was now a comprehensive school aiming to meet the needs of all pupils in the west of Banffshire. The old building in West Cathcart Street continued to be used to house the Music Department until around 1983 before its sale and conversion into flats known as Pringle Court. The adjacent School Cottage in Pringle Street, which had in past years housed the school caretaker and compulsory officer was sold in the mid 1990s The school became fully inclusive when Clochan Special School was integrated into the High School in 1986. Grampian identified Buckie High School as one of its six "social priority" schools following the downturn in fishing and related industries. The new Standard Grade exams were phased in during the late 1980s and Buckie High became a front runner in developing the curriculum for these new courses. A new reception and community wing was added in 1990 and the school became known locally as Buckie Community High School.Moray Council
Buckie High School was transferred to Moray Council in 1996 and is now one of eight secondary schools in the Moray area. Its associated primary schools are Portgordon Primary School, St Peter's Primary School, Cluny Primary School, Millbank Primary School, Portessie Primary School, Findochty Primary School, Portknockie Primary School and Cullen Primary School.Learning and achievement
Examination results are broadly in line with those of young people with similar needs and backgrounds in other schools. HMIe report that in addition to Scottish Qualifications Authority examinations, large numbers of young people are participating in a range of activities which develop skills and confidence. These include a wide range of sports, music and theatrical productions as well as regular residential and overseas visits, college courses, enterprise activities and an annual activities week. Young people's skills are recognised through a range of awards including awards from the Award Scheme Development and Accreditation Network (ASDAN), Duke of Edinburgh's award scheme, Sports Leadership awards, Youth Achievement awards, John Muir Awards and Dynamic Youth Awards.Football
Buckie is proud of its football teams, especially the senior team. The team won back-to-back League and League Cup titles in the 2011/12 and the 2012/13 seasons. In 2013/14, the team once again reached the League Cup final but was defeated, which cost them the league also. However, the team won the North of Scotland Cup when they beat a Stornaway side 3-1. This was the first time Buckie High had won the trophy since 1960, when they beat Dornoch Academy 5-3 under lights at Telford Street Park in Inverness.Curriculum
Courses
School inspectors report that the school provides a very good range of courses and activities to motivate young people and to meet their needs in innovative ways.HMIe report 2009Working with partners
Buckie High School has an active Parent Council which also includes pupils. The school makes innovative use of an interactive American website to extend learning into the home. The technology allows all teachers to post materials on line, while the password-protected subject message boards allow pupils to access learning materials or provide feedback from home or anywhere in the world.Library
Recent visitors includePartnership
Buckie High School has been building a partnership with Mawenzi Secondary School in Moshi, Tanzania since 1989. Between 1992 and 2010, there were nineteen reciprocal visits. Pupils and staff have been involved with presentations at the Commonwealth Institute, the Commonwealth Education Ministers' Conference in 2003 and the Scottish Learning Festival in 2007. Both schools recognize the need to embed global issues in the curriculum and are exploring together issues of diversity, values and perceptions, sustainability, and social justice.Innovation and improvement
The school achieved Investors in People status in 2004, renewed in 2007 and 2010. In 2009, HM Inspectorate noted that the school has "a strong capacity for improvement". Buckie High School brought automated messaging to the UK in 2000 to notify parents and carers of unexplained absences. A Scottish Executive grant allowed an American system to be adapted for use in United Kingdom. The initial system used recorded voice messages to advise parents whenever their child could not be accounted for. This has been replaced by text messaging and is now widespread across the UK. Innovative strategies have been used to help older pupils support younger ones in their learning. Based on the notion that the best way to learn something is to teach it, cross-age tutoring has been used to teach pupils specific skills. Fourth year maths classes have, for example, paired up with a second year class for pupils to teach fractions. Fifth and sixth year students have paired up with younger students to learn about HIV. This cross-age tutoring in relation to HIV has also involved teachers and pupils from Buckie High School's partner school in Tanzania. In 2007-2008, music, drama and art were used to inspire better performance in mathematics.Buildings
The main school building is separated into three sections - the old building, the "new" building and the new performing arts facility, opened in 2010. The old building has two floors, the ground floor consisting of the English department and some of the modern languages department. Upstairs is mainly mathematics, with two modern languages classrooms. In the "new" building, there are some recreational areas on the ground floor which include reception, the snack bar, and the social area with vending machines. There are also the medical room, senior leadership team offices and the janitors' office. There are classrooms for P.E. (connected to the swimming pool), business education, art and design, computing/ICT and "Successmaker". On the second floor, there are home economics, the library, the prefects' common room, history, the staff room and another business education classroom. On the top floor are biology, physics, chemistry, geography and the technicians' base. The new extension consists of two RME classrooms, three music classrooms, a suite of music practice rooms and a state-of-the-art performance space, with bleacher seating for 240 people. There is also a technical block which consists of woodwork, metalwork and technical drawing rooms.Rectors of Buckie High School
1876 - 1877: James BuchananReferences
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