The Greenock Academy was a mixed non-denominational school in the west end of

Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...

, Scotland. It was founded in 1855 and was originally independent, later a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

with a primary department, and finally a

Comprehensive school A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis ...

only for ages eleven to eighteen. On 24 June 2011, Greenock Academy closed after a history spanning 156 years. Between 2012 and 2015, the school became the filming location of BBC One's school drama '' Waterloo Road''.

History

The Greenock Academy was opened as a fee-paying secondary and primary establishment in September 1855 in Nelson Street, Greenock. The school lay at this central

location for almost a century of its lifetime before the building was demolished and moved to a modern building in Madeira Street of Greenock's west end, on the site of the old Balclutha mansion. The Finnart Campus of

James Watt College James Watt College was a further education college in Greenock, Scotland. It is now part of West College Scotland. There were also campuses in Largs and Kilwinning which now form part of Ayrshire College as the result of the merger with ...

now occupies Nelson Street site. The new Academy featured both a secondary and primary school with the later named 'south wing' area being the primary school. On 29 December 1968

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...

's version of '' Songs of Praise'' came from the school; the rest of the UK saw it from Holy Trinity Platt Church in Rusholme, Manchester. The school had a

yacht club A yacht club is a boat club specifically related to yachting. Description Yacht clubs are mostly located by the sea, although there some that have been established at a lake or riverside locations. Yacht or sailing clubs have either a mar ...

, and competed in the Clark Cup of Mudhook Yacht Club at

Helensburgh Helensburgh ( ; ) is a town on the north side of the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, situated at the mouth of the Gareloch. Historically in Dunbartonshire, it became part of Argyll and Bute following local government reorganisation in 1996. Histo ...

. Another similar school with a yacht club was Rothesay Academy on the Isle of Bute.

Comprehensive

The primary department was abolished in 1976 and the lower door handles and

alphabet An alphabet is a standard set of letter (alphabet), letters written to represent particular sounds in a spoken language. Specifically, letters largely correspond to phonemes as the smallest sound segments that can distinguish one word from a ...

tiles still remained into the years as a secondary school. The Madeira Street campus remained open through into the new millennium as Greenock Academy clocked up its 150th year in 2005. Three years later, the school was named as the best non-denominational school in Scotland and still remained within the top 10% of Scottish secondary schools long after the announcement. The disrepair of the ageing building overthrew the academic performance of the academy and in 2011 the school prepared to close after 156 years in service. The Greenock Academy and Gourock High School merged into a new school in the Bayhill area of Gourock. The new school, on the site previously occupied by St Columba's High School, Gourock, is known as Clydeview Academy and opened in 2011.

''Waterloo Road''

On 27 October 2011, the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

announced that they had selected the Madeira Street building of Greenock Academy to film a new series of the TV drama '' Waterloo Road'', following the production's move up north to nearby

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. The site was leased from Inverclyde Council. On 2 April 2014, it was announced that the 10th series of ''Waterloo Road'' was to be the last as the BBC "believe it has reached the end of its lifecycle". Filming concluded on the set in August 2014.

Demolition

On 4 April 2015, the final stage in the school's history was brought forth as the demolition of the Madeira Street building was announced as being scheduled in September 2015, at an estimated cost of £164,000, following the end of filming used in the then anticipated date of May 2014. However, plans for demolition appeared to be brought forward as work began flattening the former school in February 2015. Future potential use of the Greenock Academy site is currently unknown. Still, the council for redevelopment will sell it off - the Glenpark Early Learning Centre was constructed at the top of the site and completed in 2018.

Rectors of the Greenock Academy

The principals of the Greenock Academy always had the title of 'Rector'. As of 2008, Alan McDougall and Moira McColl are the only two surviving individuals to have held the post. Upon the merger of Greenock Academy and Gourock High School, a new principal was appointed, Mr William Todd, who remains the incumbent Rector of Clydeview Academy.

Notable teachers

* Colin Campbell, SNP MSP for West of Scotland (taught from 1967–73) * Daniel Turner Holmes * William King Gillies * James Brunton Stephens, poet *

Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell (; born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born Canadian Americans, Canadian-American inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He als ...

taught in the school for a year. * William McLachlan Dewar CBE

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

, headmaster in the 1940s

Notable alumni

Grammar school

* Sir Dugald Baird, Regius Professor of Midwifery in the University of Aberdeen *

George Blake George Blake ( Behar; 11 November 1922 – 26 December 2020) was a Espionage, spy with Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and worked as a double agent for the Soviet Union. He became a communist and decided to work for the Minist ...

, author * William Carnie, cricketer * Walter Clarke Buchanan, politician * Edward Caird, Master of

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

, from 1893 to 1907 * John Caird, theologian * Alexander Carmichael, writer * Jack Clark, cricketer * Ross Finnie, Liberal Democrat MSP from 1999–2011 for West of Scotland * Right Rev. Archibald Fleming, first Bishop of The Arctic * Annabel Goldie, Conservative MSP for West Scotland 1999–2016, Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party 2005–2011 * Robert Hodge, cricketer and badminton player * Colin Lamont, actor, writer, teacher, radio presenter and broadcaster. Best known for being

Scottie McClue Colin Lamont (born 20 June 1956), better known by his shock jock on-air radio persona of Scottie McClue, is a broadcaster and former newscaster. Career Lamont was educated at Greenock Academy, the University of Glasgow, the Royal Scottish Acade ...

. * Allan Macartney, Scottish National Party MEP from 1994 to 1998 for North East Scotland * Very Rev. John McIndoe,

Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the minister or elder chosen to moderate (chair) the annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which is held for a week in Edinburgh every year. After chairing the Ass ...

for 1996–1997 * Air Marshal Sir Harold Whittingham, pathologist, Director-General of RAF Medical Services and Director of Medical Services of BOAC * Richard Wilson (born 1936), actorRichard Wilson's Beacon Theatre hopes
dated 27 March 2015 in ''Greenock Telegraph'' * David Wright Young, Labour MP for Bolton South East and later for Bolton East

Comprehensive school

* Malcolm Offord, financier and politician

References

External links

Greenock Academy's page on Scottish Schools Online

News items

''Show racism the red card'', National 1st prize winner Fiona MacGregor from Greenock Academy receives her prizes from Scotland Manager Alex McLeish & EIS President Peter Quigley.

Pupil wins management award
{{authority control Defunct secondary schools in Inverclyde Educational institutions established in 1855 Educational institutions disestablished in 2011 Waterloo Road (TV series) 1855 establishments in Scotland 2011 disestablishments in Scotland Buildings and structures in Greenock Buildings and structures demolished in 2015