Mearns Academy is a

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) ...

Laurencekirk Laurencekirk (, sco, Lowrenkirk, gd, Eaglais Labhrainn), colloquially known as "The Lang Toun" or amongst locals as simply "The Kirk", is a small town in the historic county of Kincardineshire, Scotland, just off the A90 Dundee to Aberdeen ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

, Scotland. As well as Laurencekirk itself, the school also serves the surrounding villages of

St Cyrus St Cyrus or Saint Cyrus ( sco, Saunt Ceerus), formerly Ecclesgreig (from gd, Eaglais Chiric) is a village in the far south of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. General information Traditional salmon fishing with nets is still conducted from St Cyrus be ...

Marykirk Marykirk ( gd, Obar Luathnait) is a village in the Kincardine and Mearns area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, next to the border with Angus at the River North Esk. The village is approximately 6 miles ENE of Montrose at the southern end of the Ho ...

Fettercairn Fettercairn (, gd, Fothair Chàrdain) is a small village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, northwest of Laurencekirk in Aberdeenshire on the B966 from Edzell. Fettercairn is also reached via the Cairn O' Mount road (B974) from Deeside. The name ...

, Auchenblae, Luthermuir,

Edzell Woods Edzell Woods is a village in the Kincardine and Mearns area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is from Edzell by road, but only directly east, over the River North Esk, which forms the boundary between Aberdeenshire and Angus. In 2010 the populati ...

and

Fordoun Fordoun ( gd, Fordun) (Pronounced "For-Dun") is a parish and village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Fothirdun (possibly "the lower place"), as it was historically known, was an important area in the Howe of the Mearns. Fordoun and Auchenblae, to ...

. Mearns Academy moved into a new building in 2014 and currently services 680 students. The new school was built as the conditions at the former building had been seen as unacceptable to councils. The former Mearns Academy school building was the former primary school before it moved. The current rector is Mr. Gareth Campbell who took over in 2018 from Mr. David Martindale. The school has sports teams that compete in rugby, football (boys and girls), netball, cross country running and volleyball. The school's house system has four houses: Thornton, Johnston, Conveth and the latest, established in 2017, Drumtochty.

Awards

In 2003, the school was awarded the

Charter Mark The Customer Service Excellence, (previously the "Charter Mark") is an accreditation for organisations, intended to indicate an independent validation of achievement. History The Charter Mark was an award demonstrating the achievement of ''nationa ...

. In 2010, the school was awarded th
Customer Service Excellence Standard

Controversies

In 2019, the school made news following a viral interaction between a 17-year-old student and his teacher regarding the number of genders. The teacher discussed the idea of two genders being antiquated, to which the student responded "But sir, there's only two genders." After being removed from class, the teacher told the student in a recorded interaction that he was entitled to his opinion on the number of genders, but that his opinion was not inclusive enough to be welcome at the school, being an inclusive establishment. The student remarked that he did not find such an action to be inclusive of him. Following the video of the conversation going viral online, the school suspended the student as he was not allowed to film a teacher. Despite stating that the punishment was regarding consent to be filmed and not the nature of the conversation, the school has maintained its stance on inclusivity with a spokesman saying “In our schools, fostering good relations among different groups can be a real challenge but our aim is to support a fairer, inclusive environment for all."

Notable former pupils

Ryan Gauld Ryan Stewart Gauld (born 16 December 1995) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Major League Soccer club Vancouver Whitecaps FC. He began his professional career at Dundee United, where he helped them ...

, footballer *

John Souttar John Francis Souttar (born 25 September 1996) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays for Scottish Premiership club Rangers and the Scotland national team. He previously played for Dundee United and Heart of Midlothian before join ...

, footballer *

Harry Souttar Harry James Souttar (born 22 October 1998) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for Premier League club Leicester City and the Australia national team. Born in Scotland, Souttar began his senior career there with Dundee Unite ...

, footballer

References

External links

* Secondary schools in Aberdeenshire {{Scotland-school-stub