St Mungo's Academy is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, co-educational, comprehensive, secondary school located in Gallowgate, Glasgow. The school was founded in 1858 by the

Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic religious institute of brothers. In 1817, St. Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from France, founded the Marist Brother ...

religious order. The debate team at St Mungo's were the first Scottish team to represent the UK at the World Parliamentary Debate Competition, which they won. They were congratulated by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

History

The founding

St Mungo's Academy was founded by the Marist Brothers in 1858 at 96 Garngad Hill,Handley (1958) p.15 Glasgow to educate poor

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

boys, largely Irish immigrants or their children. The school was named for the patron saint of Glasgow,

Saint Mungo Kentigern ( cy, Cyndeyrn Garthwys; la, Kentigernus), known as Mungo, was a missionary in the Brittonic Kingdom of Strathclyde in the late sixth century, and the founder and patron saint of the city of Glasgow. Name In Wales and England, this s ...

, and had ambitions to create a Catholic

professional class A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

by educating the boys to secondary level and prepare them for university studies. Some of its students pursued entering priesthood or other religious orders. Marist Brothers played a large role in shaping the educational and social life of the Catholic residents of Glasgow in the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. In addition to founding St.Mungo's Academy they were active in the running and staffing of the primary schools of St. Mungo's, St. Alphonsus’, St Patrick's, St Mary's and the Sacred Heart as well as the Junior Secondary schools of St. Mark's and St. Mary's. A Marist Brother,

Brother Walfrid Andrew Kerins ( ga, Aindreas Ó Céirín; 18 May 1840 – 17 April 1915), known by his religious name Brother Walfrid, was an Irish Marist Brother and is best remembered for being the founder of Scottish football club Celtic. Life Walfrid was ...

, also founded

Celtic F.C. The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigran ...

in 1888.

1860–1949

After only two and half years the school moved to St. Mungo Street,

Townhead Townhead ( gd, Ceann a' Bhaile, sco, Tounheid) is an area of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated immediately north-east of Glasgow city centre and contains a residential sector (redeveloped from an older neighbourhood in the mid 20th ...

, and in 1883 overcrowding led the school to move again, this time to Parson Street also in Townhead where it remained until 1973. In the wake of the Education Act of 1918 the demand for admission to the school surged. In 1919 the school was absorbed into the state system, while retaining its Roman Catholic character under the running of the Marist Brothers. The school roll increased from 350 to 580 and within 10 years stood at 1,147. With access to the school opening up, more

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teachers were recruited. These included the brothers

Colm Colm is a male given name of Irish origin. Colm can be pronounced "Collum" or "Kullum". It is not an Irish version of Colin, but like Callum and Malcolm derives from a Gaelic variation on ''columba'', the Latin word for 'dove'. People *Colm Bro ...

and Willie Brogan.Archdiocese of Glasgow
Until the 1930s many boys who attended the school came from beyond Glasgow. Pupils travelled daily from

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotlan ...

, Renfrewshire, Stirlingshire,

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

and

Dunbartonshire Dunbartonshire ( gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann) or the County of Dumbarton is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbartonshire borders P ...

due to the lack of Catholic secondary schools in these parts. During these years the school population also reflected a migration into the city from the

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,Handley (1958) p. 153 Italy and after the

Second World War 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 ...

, Poland. During this period former pupils began to return to the school to teach. In 1923 the school motto 'Nil sine labore' was included in the new badge. The motto came from two lines in one of

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...

’s

Satires Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

‘Nil sine magno, Vita labore dedit mortalibus’. The motto means ''Nothing without work''. As a result of the increasing numbers of pupils a new annex,

St. Kentigern Kentigern ( cy, Cyndeyrn Garthwys; la, Kentigernus), known as Mungo, was a missionary in the Brittonic Kingdom of Strathclyde in the late sixth century, and the founder and patron saint of the city of Glasgow. Name In Wales and England, this s ...

's (formerly Alexander's School) in Duke Street, was purchased. St. Mungo's Academy was transferred to

Glasgow Corporation The politics of Glasgow, Scotland's largest city by population, are expressed in the deliberations and decisions of Glasgow City Council, in elections to the council, the Scottish Parliament and the UK Parliament. Local government As one of ...

in 1918 and nominal fees were abolished in 1928. Before the

St. Mungo's was not a neighbourhood school but a selective one with a highly competitive entrance exam. According to at least 108 former pupils were killed 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 ...

. One of those, John Gerard Woods, was posthumously awarded the MC in 1945 for gallant and distinguished service in

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. Most of the school's casualties saw service in the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

. There is a war memorial located in the school.

1950–1998

Further increases of the school population in the early 1950s required the use of additional annexes, including, directly across the road, Barony Street (the former Martyrs' Public School, designed by

Charles Rennie Mackintosh Charles Rennie Mackintosh (7 June 1868 – 10 December 1928) was a Scottish architect, designer, water colourist and artist. His artistic approach had much in common with European Symbolism. His work, alongside that of his wife Margaret Macdo ...

), Kennedy Street Primary School (built in 1875) which was shared with the

City Public A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

School, and Rigby Street in

Carntyne Carntyne ( gd, Càrn an Teine) is a suburban district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated north of the River Clyde, and in the east end of the city. Since 2007 it has formed the core of the East Centre ward under Glasgow City Coun ...

which in 1954 housed two "prep" (preparatory) classes and two first year and two-second year classes, under the local headship of Mr. Sweeney. Brother Clare (the historian James E. Handley) was the overall headmaster of the Academy at this time. The Rigby Street annexe was later used by St. Gregory's Secondary

Cranhill Cranhill is an inner city district and housing scheme in the north east of Glasgow, Scotland. Cranhill was developed from public funding in the early 1950s and was originally, chiefly composed of four-storey tenement blocks surrounding a patch ...

. During the late 1960s the

Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland ( gd, Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba; sco, Secretar o State fir Scotland), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the Unit ...

, William Ross, mandated changes to Scottish secondary education.

was committed to this system of rigid

catchment area In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...

s using existing and planned new facilities. As a result, in 1967 St. Mungo's Academy was facing a future without a

as soon as four new Catholic secondary schools would be completed to service its districts. In addition, the school lacked facilities and was overcrowded. Despite these changes the school headmaster, Brother Kenneth, still contended that the school had a role to play and wished to continue its selective recruitment policy to create a centre of excellence for providing Catholic community leaders. At this time Catholics tended to occupy the lower half of the

class group In number theory, the ideal class group (or class group) of an algebraic number field is the quotient group where is the group of fractional ideals of the ring of integers of , and is its subgroup of principal ideals. The class group is a mea ...

in Glasgow. In 1973 the buildings in Parson Street were declared unsafe and work began on the new school in Crownpoint Road. The next year part of the buildings in Parson Street were demolished, though some still remain. Old school registers were destroyed in a fire in December 1975. The school rehoused to new premises in Hanson Street part of the

Central College of Commerce Central College, formerly Central College of Commerce, was a college situated in the centre of Glasgow. It merged with Glasgow Metropolitan College and Glasgow College of Nautical Studies in 2010 to form City of Glasgow College. The college had ...

for a short period before the move to the newly built school in Crownpoint Road, Gallowgate, in 1976. At this time St Mungo's Academy was still a boys school run by the

but over the following years the Brothers moved to other work and by 1988 when the first girls arrived from Our Lady and St Francis Secondary School the Brothers had passed control of the school to lay staff. By 1989 the school was a comprehensive, co-educational state Roman Catholic school, still called St Mungo's Academy with equal numbers of boys and girls.

1999–present

Since August 1999 the school has been part of an education pilot project in which it works very closely with its associated primary schools, some nursery schools and other agencies such as Health, Social Work, Careers and

Psychological Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between t ...

services. It is known as the St Mungo Learning Community and has considerable autonomy with a devolved budget to organise its own affairs. The aim is to reduce administration in individual schools, leaving more time for teaching and learning and work with other agencies in addressing pupils' needs. In October 2001 staff and pupils transferred to a new purpose built school. In 2005, the school comprised 29 general classrooms, 7 dedicated

ICT ICT may refer to: Sciences and technology * Information and communications technology * Image Constraint Token, in video processing * Immunochromatographic test, a rapid immunoassay used to detect diseases such as anthrax * In-circuit test, in ...

teaching areas, 10 science labs, 4 technical rooms, 4 art and design rooms, 3 home economics rooms, 3 music rooms, 2 gymnasia, a drama studio, a games hall, and a purpose built oratory. Physical education facilities include 4 indoor areas and a new all-weather sports pitch, all used extensively by the local community. In 2005, 937 pupils were enrolled in the Academy, of which 353 had learning difficulties, 19 had special educational needs and 11 spoke English only as a second language. The school motto was updated in 2006 to 'Bringing Out The Best'. The 150th anniversary of the founding of St. Mungo's Academy was celebrated in April 2008 at a dinner in a

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

hotel. Pride of place at the dinner went to the then 100-year-old Alasdair McCann, a

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric?: ''Gwovan'?''; Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south ba ...

native, living in

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

. An icon of

Saint Marcellin Champagnat Marcellin Joseph Benedict Champagnat (20 May 17896 June 1840), also known as Saint Marcellin Champagnat, was born in Le Rosey, village of Marlhes, near St. Etienne (Loire), France. He was the founder of the Marist Brothers, a religious congregati ...

, founder of the

was unveiled at a celebratory

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

, at St Mungo's Church,

, in June 2008.Archdiocese of Glasgow
In 2012 'The Mungo Boys', a play based on the reunion of six, former St Mungo's Academy boys, meeting again 40 years after they left the school in 1968 played at the

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

. The play was described as "a funny but gentle heart-warming record of youthful naivety, hope and optimism; a story of six pals who, to paraphrase the school motto, achieved nothing without work – but never lost the dream."

Sports

Athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

were the main sports pursued by the school. The athletics team participated in both

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

and cross country city and national competitions, often with success. The rugby teams were established in 1934-5 and operated in the years before national schools competitions in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The teams played a series of matches each season against other rugby playing schools in the

Greater Glasgow Greater Glasgow is an urban settlement in Scotland consisting of all localities which are physically attached to the city of Glasgow, forming with it a single contiguous urban area (or conurbation). It does not relate to municipal government ...

area. The football teams were the most successful school sports team and were a source of pride to both pupils and teachers. The school first XI won the Scottish Secondary Schools’ Shield in 1915 at the first time of competing. As the school population grew other

age group Demographic profiling is a form of demographic analysis used by marketers so that they may be as efficient as possible with advertising products or services and identifying any possible gaps in their marketing strategy. Demographic profiling can e ...

teams were established. Over the years the teams were successful in both Glasgow and District secondary schools’ championships as well as in national championships. The last national title was won in 1990 in the Scottish Secondary Schools’ Shield Under 18 Championship Final. In total the school football teams have won 16 Scottish Schools Championships at all age grades. The football teams have also won 47 Glasgow School Championships and 18 Glasgow Cups.

Football championships

Notable former pupils

Joe Moretti Joseph Edward Moretti (10 May 1938 – 9 February 2012) was a Scottish guitarist renowned for his work on seminal UK rock and roll records such as Vince Taylor's "Brand New Cadillac" and Johnny Kidd & the Pirates' "Shakin' All Over". He lived ...

, guitarist *

Roderick Macdonald, Lord Uist Roderick Francis Macdonald, Lord Uist is a Scottish retired judge. As a Senator of the College of Justice, he was a member of the Court of Session, Scotland's highest court. Early life Macdonald was educated at St Mungo's Academy, a Roman Catho ...

is a

Senator of the College of Justice The senators of the College of Justice are judges of the College of Justice, a set of legal institutions involved in the administration of justice in Scotland. There are three types of senator: Lords of Session (judges of the Court of Session); ...

in Edinburgh *

James Scanlan James Donald Scanlan (24 January 1899 – 25 March 1976) was a Roman Catholic prelate who served first as the Bishop of Dunkeld, then Bishop of Motherwell, and ultimately Archbishop of Glasgow. Born in Glasgow, Scanlan intended to study medicine ...

Archbishop of Glasgow The Archbishop of Glasgow is an archiepiscopal title that takes its name after the city of Glasgow in Scotland. The position and title were abolished by the Church of Scotland in 1689; and, in the Scottish Episcopal Church, it is now part of the ...

Maurice Brennan Maurice Joseph Brennan BSC, MIMechE, FRAes (April 1913 – 18 January 1986) was a British aerospace engineer. His career encompassed the design and development of flying boats before the Second World War to rocket powered fighters after. He had ...

, aerospace engineer ;Football * Tommy Burns 1973–89

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

manager 1994–97 * John McPhail,

1941–56 * Joe Miller,

1987–93 ;Sport * Nicola Glencross, professional wrestler currently signed to

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

In 1876 the first Former Pupils’ reunion was held and in 1884 the Former Pupils’ Association was formed to encourage pupils to keep a connection with the school after they had left and to create and fund bursaries for the pupils of the school.Handley (1958) p.49 The association still exists today and meets in the Academy on the first Saturday of each month. The Former Pupils football team plays in the

Caledonian Amateur Football League The Caledonian Amateur Football League is a football (soccer) league competition for amateur clubs in Scotland. It was formed in 1983 by inviting what were deemed to be top amateur clubs from across central Scotland with good facilities with hig ...

Sources

References

* Darragh, James (1991) ''St Mungo's Academy: Roll of Honour 1939–45'' Tonbridge, The Author * ''The History of St.Mungo's Academy 1858–1958'' (1958) John Aitken & Sons, Paisley – Author unacknowledged but attributed to Handley, James E. * Handley, James E.(1960) ''The Celtic Story'' Stanley Paul * McBride E., O’Connor M., Sheridan G., (1994) ''An Alphabet of the Celts'' ACL and Polar Publishing * Technical Education Journal (1967) Volume 9 Issue 12 * Williamson, E. Riches, A. Higgs, M (1990) ''The Buildings of Scotland: Glasgow'' Penguin Books London

External links

Good Schools Guide to St Mungo's Academy with link to performance data

* [http://www.theglasgowstory.com/image.php?inum=TGSA02483&t=2&urltp=search.php%3Fstart%3D0%26end%3D20%26what%3Dmartyrs%26where%3D%26who%3D%26period%3D%26collection%3D%26search%3D99 Picture of Martyrs’ Public School, Barony St. Annexe 1970s]
Picture of St. Mungo's Academy, Parson St. 1973

Slideshow of the Martyrs' Public School

St Mungo's Academy's page on Scottish Schools Online

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mungo's Academy, Glasgow Catholic secondary schools in Glasgow Marist Brothers schools Educational institutions established in 1858 1858 establishments in Scotland Bridgeton–Calton–Dalmarnock