Bearsden Academy

Bearsden Academy

School logo

Bearsden Academy building in 2009
Established 1911
Type State secondary school
Head Teacher George Cooper[1]
Chair of Parent Council Iain Pringle[2]
Location Stockiemuir Road
Bearsden
East Dunbartonshire
G61 3SU
Scotland
Coordinates: 55°55′39″N 4°20′51″W / 55.9274°N 4.3476°W / 55.9274; -4.3476
Local authority East Dunbartonshire
Staff c. 100[3]
Students c. 1188[4]
Gender Coeducational
Ages 11–18
Colours                    
Publication The BAnner
Website Bearsden Academy

Bearsden Academy is a non-denominational, state secondary school in Bearsden, a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland. The school is rated as one of the best public schools in the country.

History

Bearsden Cross site (1911–1958)

In 1911, the school was situated on the corner of Roman Road and Drymen Road north of Bearsden railway station in the Bearsden Cross area of the town. It was originally known as New Kilpatrick Higher Grade School, it comprised both a primary school and a secondary school. The building was designed by the architectural firm James M. Monro & Sons. It opened on 17 August 1911. The first headmaster was Hugh Primrose. In 1920, the school was renamed Bearsden Academy. In 1958, with the town expanding, and becoming a burgh, a new secondary school was built on Morven Road and Bearsden Academy was moved there and the whole of the remaining building became Bearsden Primary School.[5]

Morven Road Site (1958–2010)

From 1958 to 2010 the school was located on the south side of Morven Road in Bearsden. The old Morven Road site was redeveloped as a new housing estate, comprising detached and flatted dwellings known as Academy Grove in 2009-12.[6]

Stockiemuir Road Site (2010–)

St Peter's College

The Stockiemuir Road site the academy occupies was originally a Roman Catholic seminary for the Archdiocese of Glasgow and then a teaching college. In 1874, the Archbishop of Glasgow, Charles Eyre originally established St Peter's College in Partickhill. In 1892, he decided to move it to Bearsden. The college chapel was the first to serve the local Catholic population.[7]

With the arrival of a railway to the area, the population increased and the college chapel was expanded. In 1946, a fire destroyed the college, razing it to the ground. The decision was made by the archdiocese to abandon the site and build a new seminary in Cardross. The seminary was moved to Darleith House in Cardross and then Kilmahew House, before the new purpose-built St Peter's Seminary in Cardross was ready in 1966.[8]

Teaching College

In 1966, to replace the seminary, a teaching college was built on the site. It was designed by the same architects as St Peter's Seminary, Cardross, the firm of Gillespie, Kidd & Coia (GKC). It was built in a U-shape, with two teaching blocks, a physical education building and five student accommodation buildings. In 1969, the complex was opened, as the Notre Dame College of Education.[9]

In 1981, it merged with Craiglockhart College and was renamed St Andrew's College of Education. On 4 March 1998, it was registered as a category A listed building.[10] In 1999, it joined with University of Glasgow to become the Faculty of Education of the University of Glasgow. In 2002, the teaching college was relocated and the site was declared surplus to university requirements. After negotiations between Historic Scotland and East Dunbartonshire Council, it was decided to demolish the site and built a school.[9]

The new building was built under a public private partnership. In August 2010 the new site for Bearsden Academy opened to staff and students.

Extra-curricular activities

Bearsden Academy offers many clubs and societies:

Pupil Council

The PTA runs a pupil council within the school. Two students from each class get signed up to take part in the pupil council. This allows the students to have a voice within the school and raise concerns or changes that they would like to be put in place.

Music

The Music Department runs the school's:

Most of these perform at the school concerts, one at Christmas and another in June.

Debating

The Debating Society competes in local, Scottish, British and European competitions, and has often performed well in these events.[11] The school has reached high standards and reached the semi-finals of the ESU Schools' MACE competition for two consecutive years (2010-2011 and 2011-2012), as well as becoming National semifinalists in the Institute of Ideas "Debating Matters" competition, and frequently reaching the National rounds of the European Youth Parliament competition. The society has also organised hustings for the Scottish Youth Parliament candidates and even for the Regional List candidates for the 2011 Holyrood election.

Controversies

32-year-old pupil

In September 1995, it was discovered that Brian MacKinnon, a 32-year-old man, had been attending the academy for a year by impersonating a 17-year-old boy. He shaved his eyebrows to look younger and permed his hair. He had starred in a school production of South Pacific and gained six highers (including five A grades, taking English, Maths, Chemistry, Physics and Biology). Teachers had remarked on his 'mature appearance'.[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]

Sex offenders

In November 2011 a married father of two was sentenced to a year and two months in jail for having sex with the two pupils at Bearsden Academy. 39-year-old Maths teacher Muir McCormick admitted a total of four sex charges involving the girls, aged 16 and 17.[21] He had been suspended when the allegations first emerged, and later resigned.[22][23][24]

In 2005 East Dunbartonshire Council had launched an inquiry into an allegation that another teacher had an affair with a former pupil. The teacher, who was not named, was sent home from the school after the 17-year-old girl's father made an official complaint.[25]

In 2007, a person training to be a teacher, while on placement at Bearsden Academy's music department, was convicted of thirty one sexual offences committed against boys as young as twelve and sentenced to five years in jail.[26] Andrew Oliver Kingsley committed them between 2006 and 2009 in Glasgow, Ayrshire, London and a Fife secondary school where he had his probationary year. None of these offences took place at Bearsden Academy.[27][28][29]

School roll

School year Total roll S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 References
2000/20011373[30]
2001/20021375[31]
2002/2003[32]
2003/2004[33]
2004/20051303[34]
2005/2006
2006/2007 1201 207 206 206 232 198 152 [35]
2007/2008 1186 209 206 208 199 218 146 [36]
2008/2009 1183199 208 206 209 187 174 [37]
2009/2010 1185 208 207 212 209 207 142 [38]
2010/20111211
2011/2012[39]
2012/20131188[4]

Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑ "School Profile". Retrieved 2013-05-09.
  2. ↑ Parent Council from Bearsden Academy
  3. ↑ Scotland. "Bearsden Academy - East Dunbartonshire - Scottish Schools Online 2010/11". Scottishschoolsonline.gov.uk. Retrieved 2011-11-24.
  4. 1 2 List of Primary Schools with pupil roll information as at September 2012 from Scottish Government, retrieved 27 February 2015
  5. ↑ School History from Bearsden Primary School, retrieved 25 February 2015
  6. ↑ "Gladedale Group - Academy Grove". Archived from the original on 2008-03-01. Retrieved 2008-04-07.
  7. ↑ Parish history from St Andrew's Bearsden, retrieved 23 July 2013
  8. ↑ Buildings at Risk retrieved 15 September 2013
  9. 1 2 hiddenglasgow.com retrieved 23 July 2013
  10. ↑ British listed buildings retrieved 15 September 2013
  11. ↑ "Bearsden tough talk wins through". Debating Matters. 2012-03-29. Retrieved 2013-05-09.
  12. 1 2 Arlidge, John (1995-09-20). "Bogus pupil set to lose place at university". The Independent. London. Retrieved 2010-04-26.
  13. ↑ "Leading Article: The prime of Mr Brandon Lee - Opinion". London: The Independent. 1995-09-20. Retrieved 2011-11-24.
  14. ↑ "LEADING ARTICLE: Is young Brian too old to be a doctor? - Opinion". London: The Independent. 1995-09-27. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
  15. ↑ Jenny McCartney (2009-01-17). "At some point in your thirties you stop being a teenager". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 2011-11-24.
  16. ↑ Ron Mackenna (1995-09-27). "EXCLUSIVE: Brian MacKinnon tells The Herald HOW I WAS UNMASKED - Herald Scotland | Sport | SPL | Aberdeen". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 2011-11-24.
  17. ↑ "Older and wiser?". Times Higher Education. 1995-09-29. Retrieved 2011-11-24.
  18. ↑ "Pupil fraud Brian left homeless. - Free Online Library". Thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 2011-11-24.
  19. ↑ "The call came from school.They knew I was a man pretending to be a boy; It was really a relief says Brian MacKinnon, who fooled teachers and pupils alike for a year. | Goliath Business News". Goliath.ecnext.com. Retrieved 2011-11-24.
  20. ↑ Barclay Mcbain, Education Correspondent (1995-09-20). "Deceit ends fake pupil's dreams of being doctor - Herald Scotland | Sport | SPL | Aberdeen". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 2011-11-24.
  21. ↑ "BBC News - Teacher jailed for having sex with pupils". bbc.co.uk. 2011-11-24. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
  22. 1 2 "Teacher jailed after having sex with schoolgirls in classroom cupboard - Education". Scotsman.com. 2011-11-24. Retrieved 2011-11-24.
  23. ↑ "Girl 1: Four trysts a week - Education". Scotsman.com. 2011-11-24. Retrieved 2011-11-24.
  24. ↑ "Girl 2: Tent liaison in park - Education". Scotsman.com. 2011-11-24. Retrieved 2011-11-24.
  25. ↑ "UK | Scotland | Teacher inquiry over pupil claim". BBC News. 2005-10-25. Retrieved 2012-01-07.
  26. ↑ "HMA v ANDREW OLIVER KINGSLEY - Judgments & Sentences - Judiciary of Scotland". Scotland-judiciary.org.uk. Retrieved 2013-08-18.
  27. ↑ "BBC News - Paedophile teacher faces life in jail". Bbc.co.uk. 2010-10-08. Retrieved 2013-08-18.
  28. ↑ "BBC News - Paedophile teacher jailed for a minimum of five years". Bbc.co.uk. 2011-01-28. Retrieved 2013-08-18.
  29. ↑ "BBC News - 'I was groomed online by paedophile'". Bbc.co.uk. 2011-01-28. Retrieved 2013-08-18.
  30. ↑ "Scottish Secondary Schools League Tables : YOUR SCHOOL'S RATING. - Free Online Library". Thefreelibrary.com. 2001-11-30. Retrieved 2012-10-07.
  31. ↑ "HOW YOUR SCHOOL IS RATED IN EXAM TABLE; Find out how every school in Scotland performed in the academic stakes with our easy-to-follow guide. - Free Online Library". Thefreelibrary.com. 2002-11-27. Retrieved 2012-10-07.
  32. ↑ List of Primary Schools with pupil roll information from Scottish Government Archived February 6, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
  33. ↑ List of Primary Schools with pupil roll information as at September 2003 from Scottish Government, retrieved 27 February 2015
  34. ↑ "HOW DID YOUR SCHOOL DO. - Free Online Library". Thefreelibrary.com. 2005-12-15. Retrieved 2012-10-07.
  35. ↑ East Dumbarton School Rolls 2006
  36. ↑ East Dumbarton School Rolls 2007
  37. ↑ East Dumbarton School Rolls 2008
  38. ↑ East Dumbarton School Rolls 2009
  39. ↑ List of Primary Schools with pupil roll information as at September 2011 from Scottish Government, retrieved 27 February 2015
  40. ↑ Nicolson, Stuart (2008-02-18). "UK | Scotland | Glasgow, Lanarkshire and West | Defining the sound of young Scotland". BBC News. Retrieved 2012-10-06.
  41. ↑ Martin Williams (2012-08-04). "Olympic triumph at last for our brains trust in a boat". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 2012-10-06.

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