Bishopbriggs Academy

Bishopbriggs Academy
Motto Educating, Inspiring, Empowering
Established 2006
Type State secondary school
Headteacher Gordon Moulsdale BSc
Location Wester Cleddens Road
Bishopbriggs
East Dunbartonshire
G64 1HZ
Scotland
Students Maximum of 1200
Gender Co-educational
Houses Burns, MacDonald, Thomson, Kelvin, Fleming, and Muir
Colours

                 Tie Colours      

Badge Colours
School years S1-S6
Affiliated schools Auchinairn, Woodhill, Wester Cleddens, Balmuildy, and Meadowburn
Website Official Site

Bishopbriggs Academy is a secondary school in the town of Bishopbriggs, Scotland, in the district of East Dunbartonshire. Bishopbriggs Academy is a non-denominational, co-educational, comprehensive school taking pupils from S1 to S6. It is currently one of two secondary schools in Bishopbriggs, along with Turnbull High School at Brackenbrae.

The school was established in August 2006 as a result of the amalgamation of Bishopbriggs High School and Thomas Muir High School. [1]

In January 2013 the school received four "Excellent" grades and one "Very Good" in an Education Scotland Inspection Report. This was the first time ever that education Education Scotland had awarded four "Excellent" grades under the new inspection standards which ranks school on 5 areas. The Inspectors also described the Academy as an ‘outstanding school’.[2]

In November 2014, the school was named 'The Scottish State Secondary School of the Year' by the Sunday Times in the Sunday Times School Guide for 2014. [3]

The school is consistently ranked as one of the top secondary schools in Scotland, ranking in the top 0.5% of all secondary schools in Scotland.[4]

History

1970s Bishopbriggs High School blazer badge.
The old Thomas Muir High school building.

The two antecedent secondary schools were originally established to meet local demand during Bishopbriggs' housing boom beginning in the 1960s. Bishopbriggs High School was opened by Lanark County Council in 1965 and designed by Simon Pollard.

It replaced the previous Bishopbriggs Higher Grade School which had originally opened in 1896, designed by David Woodburn Sturrock, and featured inscriptions on its clock tower, commemorating the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria that year. This catered only for pupils up to S4 with most leaving at age 15 (S3). Higher Grade pupils transferred to Lenzie Academy in Dunbartonshire. The school and its pupils appeared in an award-winning 1959 amateur film, L' Inspecteur. The former Bishopbriggs Higher Grade School building was converted into the town library after the completion of the new High School building.

Thomas Muir High School was named after the local historical political radical, Thomas Muir, and opened in 1979, to serve the expanding Woodhill area of the town.

New academy

Bishopbriggs High School and Thomas Muir High School merged in 2006 to form Bishopbriggs Academy as part of a £100million PPP plan to build six new secondary schools in East Dunbartonshire. The school is now situated at the site of the former Thomas Muir High School on Wester Cleddens Road, where the new campus was completed in August 2009. Prior to that, Bishopbriggs Academy had been located at the former Bishopbriggs High School buildings near Bishopbriggs Cross, which were demolished during June 2010.

The council consultation with parents had initially resulted in an agreement that the school would be built on the Bishopbriggs High School site, however this decision was later reversed in favour of the Thomas Muir site in Woodhill, releasing the more valuable BHS site for a proposed supermarket.

Teaching and Facilities

The school follows the Scottish Qualification Authorities curriculum, offering from National 3 up to Advanced Highers. The school has over 100 teachers, over 40 non-teaching staff (librarian, office staff, kitchen staff, technicians, facilities etc.) and offers around 30 subjects. The school offers over 35 extra curricular activities including football, rugby, athletics, skiing, badminton, public speaking, choir, theatre, supported study, youth and philanthropy initiative (for seniors) and Duke of Edinburgh awards scheme.[5] The school is split over three levels and has a large library offering 8000 books for borrowing and over 40 computers/laptops for study,[6] 3 gym halls, a state of the art fitness suite with the latest gym equipment and a large number of classrooms including; 12 fully equipped science classrooms, 8 fully equipped computing suites with 20 computers in each, 5 fully equipped art classrooms, 3 fully equipped design and technology workshops, 3 fully equipped design and technology classrooms with 20 computers in each, 6 designated study areas (or break-out rooms), a large dining area and two full size football/rugby fields (1 grass, 1 all weather astroturf).[7]

Uniform

All pupils must wear school uniform each day. The Bishopbriggs Academy school uniform is as follows: black skirt or formal trousers; white shirt (buttoned to the neck) and school tie; black formal shoes; school blazer; black or dark jacket. Jewellery should be kept to a minimum. Seniors wear the same, however they wear a senior tie. The prefect blazer has blue braiding around the lapels and cuffs. [8]

Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑ http://www.kirkintilloch-herald.co.uk/news/local-headlines/this-week-reporter-david-friel-talks-to-gordon-moulsdale-new-head-teacher-of-the-soon-to-be-amalgamated-bishopbriggs-high-and-thomas-muir-high-schools-1-357400
  2. ↑ http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/inspectionandreview/reports/school/primsec/BishopbriggsacademyEastDunbartonshire.asp
  3. ↑ http://www.bishopbriggs.e-dunbarton.sch.uk/_files/bishopbriggs_academy_award_edc_pdf.pdf
  4. ↑ http://news.stv.tv/scotland/206580-school-league-tables-breakdown-of-every-scottish-school/
  5. ↑ http://www.bishopbriggs.e-dunbarton.sch.uk/_files/bishopbriggs_handbook.pdf
  6. ↑ http://www.bishopbriggs.e-dunbarton.sch.uk/page_viewer.asp?page=Library&pid=83
  7. ↑ http://www.bishopbriggs.e-dunbarton.sch.uk/_files/school_map.pdf
  8. ↑ http://www.bishopbriggs.e-dunbarton.sch.uk/page_viewer.asp?page=School+Uniform&pid=124
  9. ↑ "Bishopbriggs Boy is New Scotland Skipper". Kirkintilloch Herald. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
  10. ↑ "Video week - Former Bishopbriggs High School pupil Amy Macdonald performs for Bishopbriggs Academy pupils at The Garage nightclub in Glasgow". The Herald. Newsquest (Herald & Times) Limited. Archived from the original on May 14, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
  11. ↑ Darren Lyon
  12. ↑ Jordan Moore
  13. ↑ "Roderick Buchanan and Thomas Muir". Map Magazine. 2007. Archived from the original on March 6, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
  14. ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/15/jackie-kay-becomes-the-new-makar-scotlands-national-poet

External links

Coordinates: 55°54′29″N 4°12′10″W / 55.90806°N 4.20278°W / 55.90806; -4.20278

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