St Mary's Academy was a

Roman Catholic High School , motto_translation = Faith and Knowledge , accreditation = MSA , nickname = The Cahillites , conference = Philadelphia Catholic League , colors = Purple & Gold , yearbook ...

located in the eastern part of the town of

Bathgate Bathgate ( sco, Bathket or , gd, Both Chèit) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, west of Livingston and adjacent to the M8 motorway. Nearby towns are Armadale, Blackburn, Linlithgow, Livingston, West Calder and Whitburn. Situated sout ...

West Lothian West Lothian ( sco, Wast Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Iar) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and was one of its shires of Scotland, historic counties. The county was called Linlithgowshire until 1925. The historic county was bounded geogra ...

in Scotland. It was a state funded school for older children which drew its pupil roll from most of the towns in West Lothian. The motto was 'Animo et Fide' which translates from Latin as ''Courageously and Faithfully''. The school was located on Edinburgh Road ( A89).

Buildings

The school, which opened in 1931, consisted of two rectangular stone buildings each containing a gymnasium in the centre and two quadrangles. These buildings were known as the East wing and the West wing, they were linked by a covered walkway (the link corridor). The main buildings were complemented for 20 years by a number of "temporary" structures referred to by staff and students as "the Maths Hut", "the Geography Huts", the "History Hut" and the "Music Huts". The East wing was the original St Mary's Senior Secondary. The school was renamed St Mary's Academy in 1965 when the building was amalgamated with the adjacent building of

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Lindsay High School,OS 1:1250, 1944-1970
Explore Georeferenced Maps (

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) whose students moved to a new campus nearby in Boghall in a merger with

Bathgate Academy Bathgate Academy is a mixed secondary school in Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland, also serving the nearby town of Blackburn. History Established by the will of John Newland (a Jamaican-plantation slave owner) in 1799, the school was originally ...

. The Rector in the late 1960s and 1970s was Mr Hugh McCusker.

Closure

In 1993,

West Lothian Council West Lothian Council is the local authority for the council area of West Lothian in Scotland. History West Lothian District Council was created in 1975 as one of four districts within the Lothian region. The West Lothian district took its name f ...

announced plans to amalgamate the school with

Our Lady's High School, Broxburn Our Lady's High School, Broxburn was a former Roman Catholic High School located in the western part of Broxburn, West Lothian in Scotland. The student occupied its former premises beginning in 1969. It was a state-funded high school that educated ...

into one large purpose built school in

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. Both Our Lady's High and St Mary's adopted the new name, and both operated as St Margaret's Academy one year prior to their closures before moving all schooling to Livingston. The school closed in mid-1994. St Mary's was subsequently demolished in the late 1990s and is now the site of private sector housing. There is a small plaque commemorating the school at the north-west entrance to the estate, which includes 'Lindsay' and 'St Marys' in its street names. The housing development placed the street names wrongly, St. Mary's Place located where the old Lindsay High building was, and Lindsay Gardens where the old St. Mary's building was.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary's Academy, Bathgate Defunct Catholic secondary schools in Scotland Defunct secondary schools in West Lothian Educational institutions established in 1931 1931 establishments in Scotland Educational institutions disestablished in 1994 1994 disestablishments in Scotland Bathgate