Elgin Academy is a

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

Elgin, Moray Elgin ( ; ; ) is a historic town (former cathedral city) and formerly a royal burgh in Moray, Scotland. It is the administrative and commercial centre for Moray. The town originated to the south of the River Lossie on the higher ground above th ...

, Scotland. The school was ranked 181 out of 340 schools in Scotland by

the Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

with 37% of pupils attaining five Highers.

Admissions

Pupils at Elgin Academy are in years S1 to S6. Most arrive in first year (S1) from one of the nearby primary schools, which include Bishopmill Primary, West End Primary, East End Primary, Seafield Primary and St Sylvesters. Other pupils arrive in later years, mainly because of the nearby

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

base at

Lossiemouth Lossiemouth () is a town in Moray, Scotland. Originally the port belonging to Elgin, Moray, Elgin, it became an important fishing town. Although there has been over 1,000 years of settlement in the area, the present day town was formed over the ...

History

Elgin Academy is the biggest school in Moray, with a history going back to the Middle Ages. The first school was built on the adjacent corners of Academy Street and Francis Place, now the site of the local youth cafe. The second academy was built in 1801, on the site that is now

Moray College Moray College () is a further education college based in Elgin, in Moray, northeastern Scotland. It has 1,500 full-time students and 8,100 part-time students (based on 2009–2010 academic year). It employs approximately 370 staff (266 full-t ...

. The third Elgin Academy building, on Morriston Road, was built in the late 1960s and opened in 1969. In 2006 plans to merge the academy with Elgin High School were rejected after a public consultation. Instead a new £30million building was constructed under

private finance initiative The private finance initiative (PFI) was a United Kingdom government procurement policy aimed at creating "public–private partnerships" (PPPs) where private firms are contracted to complete and manage public projects. Initially launched in 1992 ...

, and opened in 2012.

Covid-19

Moray had a very low incidence of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

infections by the 10 April 2021. The

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

confirmed a cluster of 46 cases developed within the academy in the following 25 days. The school remains open with an intensive screen schedule. In the last week Moray, with 17% of

Grampian Grampian () was one of nine local government regions of Scotland. It was created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and took its name from the Grampian Mountains. The regional council was based in Aberdeen. The region was abol ...

’s population, accounted for 100 cases, close to 50% of all Grampian's cases. The rate per 100,000 people currently lies at 50.1. In

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...

, for comparison, the rate is 8.4.

List of headteachers

* Ian Andrew – 1922 to 1933 (later head of

Robert Gordon's College Robert Gordon's College is a co-educational private school for day pupils in Aberdeen, Scotland. The school caters for pupils from Nursery through to S6. History Background Robert Gordon, an Aberdeen merchant, made his fortune in 18th cent ...

from 1933 to 1943, and from 1943 to 1953 of

George Watson's College George Watson's College is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Scotland, situated on Colinton Road, in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh. It was first established as a Scottish education in the eighteenth ...

) * Harry Bell OBE – 1933 to 1936 (later rector of

Dollar Academy Dollar Academy is a 5–18 Private schools in the United Kingdom, private co-educational day and boarding school for boys and girls in Scotland. The open campus occupies a site in the centre of Dollar, Clackmannanshire, at the foot of the Ochil ...

from 1936 to 1960) * Henry Humble – 1950 to 1964 * Alastair Glashan – 1964 to 1987 * Norman Strachan – from 1987 to 2001 * Alistair Brown – from 2001 to 2006 * Margaret Cowie – from 2007 to 2011 * David Barnett – from 2011 to January 2019 (moved to work at

Cults Academy Cults Academy is an Aberdeen City Council secondary school in Cults, Aberdeen, Scotland. It was the recipient of The Sunday Times Scottish State Secondary School of the Year Award 2008 because of its outstanding exam results that year, having been ...

in Aberdeen in January 2019) * Kyle Scott – from January 2019 – January 2024 * Natalie Munro – from February 2024 ''(Acting)'' * Neil Johnson – from August 2024

Notable former pupils

* Gregor Hayter, former professional rugby player, played for

Caledonia Reds Caledonia Reds were a Scottish rugby union team. They participated in two seasons of the Heineken Cup. They evolved from one of the traditional four amateur districts of Scotland, North and Midlands, in 1996. Their home games were shared betwe ...

Edinburgh Rugby Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh play ...

and

Glasgow Warriors The Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and beca ...

as well as in Italy. Was educated at the academy in the late 1980s and early 1990s. * Richard Foster, professional footballer played for

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

and Ross County was educated at the academy in the late 1990s. * Prof Alexander Stuart Douglas, Regius Professor of Medicine at

Aberdeen University The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen and Chancellor of Scotland, petitioned Pope Al ...

was educated at the academy in the 1930s before graduating with a

MBChB A Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (; MBBS, also abbreviated as BM BS, MB ChB, MB BCh, or MB BChir) is a medical degree granted by medical schools or universities in countries that adhere to the United Kingdom's higher education tradi ...

from

Glasgow University The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...

in 1944.

References

External links

* {{authority control Secondary schools in Moray Educational institutions established in 1801 1801 establishments in Scotland Buildings and structures in Elgin, Moray