Wallace Hall Academy

Wallace Hall is a 2-18, state-operated comprehensive school in Thornhill, Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. The school serves all school-aged children in the local area, with three distinct schooling types operating under one building. These are; The ELC (Early Learning Centre or Nursery), Primary School, and Academy. The ELC and Primary School serves children aged 2–12 located within Thornhill's local catchment area, whilst the Academy serves children aged 11–18 located within Thornhill's local catchment area, as well as a plethora of surrounding rural located Primary schools. As of March 2023, the school operates with a roll of 554 pupils (secondary), and 164 pupils (ELC and primary).

History

The original Wallace Hall was founded by John Wallace, a merchant in Glasgow and a native of Closeburn, who, in 1717, endowed £1400 for the purpose of erecting the school, on the basis for it to teach English, Latin, Greek, Writing, and Arithmetic, all for the children of Closeburn. Upon his death in 1723, his executers purchased five acres of land, as well as farmland providing income for the rector, a year later the first schoolmaster was appointed. The school established itself overtime as its reputation increased, in 1817, it was described as "indeed, one of the most celebrated academies of Scotland". In 1911, a new building was constructed which would home Wallace Hall until 1978, and now lives on as Closeburn Primary School. The original building is now owned privately and run as Closeburn House, a specialist education centre. Furthermore, the John Wallace Trust continues to support young people in the Thornhill area by offering bursaries to help with the cost of higher education.

Until the early nineteen seventies, there were two secondary schools in the local area: the six-year Wallace Hall at Closeburn and the four-year Morton Academy at Thornhill. In 1972 the two schools amalgamated and the new school at Thornhill took on the name of Wallace Hall. Prior to this amalgamation, an extensive building programme was started in 1970 and completed in 1978 in order to accommodate the pupils of both schools. The school continued to flourish on this site until, however, as part of Dumfries and Galloway Council's £100 million project to build nine new schools, this building was replaced with a new Wallace Hall School, which was built opposite the original school, beside the school playing fields. The construction of the building started on 16 January 2008 and the new school opened in January 2010.

Recent Events

In July 2017, a campaign was launched to buy and transform the building that, built in 1909, originally housed Morton Academy, and then later Wallace Hall Primary, and which up-until this point had sat derelict and disused opposite to the modern Wallace Hall building. This campaign gathered steady traction over the coming months, amounting in money being awarded for the purpose of renovation and purchase, from the Scottish Land Fund, as well as the Architectural Heritage Fund and Thornhill Community Council. In June 2019, a charity is formed under the name of Old School Thornhill (OST), which allows for more funding to be collected from the Holywood Trust, Dumfries and Galloway Council and South of Scotland Enterprise. In total, OST claims to have raised more than £2.5 million towards renovation works, of which, officially commenced in 2022, and are still ongoing as of September 2023. OST plans to have the building open for community usage in early 2024.
In the first half of 2023, the school held celebrations in order to mark its 300 year old milestone. In the lead up to the celebrations, a competition was held by the Wallace Hall Community Group for current pupils to design a commerative 300 year logo for the occasion, after voting, it was won by Darach Smyth, with a 62% vote share. When the celebrations did take place, they included (but where not limited to): a handbook being produced covering the extensive history of Wallace Hall, a film being produced documenting expriences from pupils past and present, with a look around the former Wallace Hall, now Closeburn Primary School, and 3 days of conscecutive celebratrions being held at Wallace Hall, Closeburn Primary School, and Closeburn House. In addition, on the 13th of June 2023, Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, submitted a motion to the Scottish Parliament congratulating Barry Graham and Wallace Hall for reaching the 300 years milestone.

Uniform

Primary

As of June 2023, the current Primary uniform consists of: plain black, grey or navy trousers or shorts, a black, grey or navy skirt or dress, a dark teal polo shirt, with or without school crest, a pair of all black shoes, and optionally a black, grey or navy sweatshirt or cardigan, with or without school crest.

Academy

As of June 2023, the current Academy uniform consists of: a plain white shirt with either long or short sleeves, either plain black trousers or skirt, a pair of black socks, a plain V-neck jumper or cardigan with no visible logos, and plain black shoes. Pupils in S1-S5 (Excluding S5 pupils whom are Prefects) must wear a striped blue tie, whilst S5 & S6 pupils (Excluding S5 pupils whom are not Prefects) must wear a solid blue Senior tie (or Prefect tie). In addition, all Prefects must wear a black blazer (with blue highlights) in place of a jumper or cardigan.

House System

Primary

As of August 2023, the current Primary houses are: Morton, Drumlanrig, Dalveen and Dalgarnock. Their colours being blue, yellow, red and green respectively.

Academy

As of August 2023, the current Academy houses are: Nith, Cairn and Scaur. Their colours being green, yellow, and red respectively.

COVID-19 response

In March 2020, the school closed temporarily following a government imposed national lockdown, as well as the announcement by the then First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, that all schools and nurseries would be closing, all to prevent the spread of COVID-19. During the later half of 2020 (August until December), the school reopened, however with severe mitigations in place (such as a One Way System in the corridors, staggered lesson times for each year group, Social Distancing, and later on, mask wearing), this following a (then ongoing) formal risk assessment conducted by Barry Graham and other senior management staff on behalf of Dumfries and Galloway Council, as well as guidance issued by the Scottish Government on the matter.

In March 2021, following government restrictions easing, the school reopened again, implementing similar mitigation measures (such as mandatory mask-wearing and social distancing) to guard against the spread of COVID-19. In Spring 2022, all mitigations were dropped and the school returned to normal operations.

In May 2022, the school held its first diet of SQA examinations since 2019, having returned to normal operations after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Notable former pupils

* Jonny Blair, film director
* Dr Aglionby Ross Carson, educator
* Andrew Coltart, European Tour golfer
* Prof John Hunter joint founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Principal of two colleges at St Andrews University
* Leo Kearse, Comedian
* Emily Smith, Scottish folk music singer
* Nicky Spence, opera singer
* Andrew Wallace Williamson, KCVO and Chaplain-in-Ordinary to the King in Scotland; also Dean of the Order of the Thistle and the Chapel Royal in Scotland, 1910–25; Moderator of the Church of Scotland 1913–1914

References

External links

Wallace Hall website

Wallace Hall Primary listing on Dumfries and Galloway Council website

Wallace Hall Academy listing on Dumfries and Galloway Council website

News Article containing historical images of Wallace Hall (1911) and Endowment

Old School Thornhill (OST) website

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People educated at Wallace Hall Academy
Secondary schools in Dumfries and Galloway
Thornhill, Dumfries and Galloway