Morgan 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 ...

in the Stobswell area of

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

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. Morgan Academy was founded in 1889 and is the second oldest state school in Dundee behind Harris Academy.

History

The building was designed in 1862 by the Edinburgh architects John Dick Peddie and Charles Kinnear, opening in 1866 as the Morgan Hospital, a charitable institution providing accommodation and education for "sons of tradesmen and persons of the

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

generally whose parents stand in the need of assistance". In 1888, Morgan Hospital closed and a year later in 1889, the school opened as Morgan Academy, often referred to by alumni as "The Morgan" or simply "Morgan", with various alterations, including roofing over the courtyard as a hall. The architecture is designated as a Category 'A' listing by

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. Its benefactor was John Morgan, the son of a Dundee maltman, who emigrated to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

at the age of 20 where, with his brother, he became a wealthy

indigo InterGlobe Aviation Limited (d/b/a IndiGo), is an India, Indian airline headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana, India. It is the largest List of airlines of India, airline in India by passengers carried and fleet size, with a 64.1% domestic market ...

farmer. Upon his death in 1850 he bequeathed much of his fortune to establish a residential institution. The hospital closed in 1888 and was bought by the members of the Dundee Burgh School Board, who re-opened it as a school. Until the advent of

comprehensive education Comprehensive may refer to: * Comprehensive layout, the page layout of a proposed design as initially presented by the designer to a client. *Comprehensive school A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, th ...

in the late 1960s and early 1970s, there were mainly two types of high school in Scotland: junior secondaries where students left school at 16 and began preparation for one of the trades or entered the workforce, and academies where students remained until the end of fifth or sixth year and took highers before normally going to college or university. Morgan functioned in the latter category. Morgan Academy later became a comprehensive school in 1972, although the school was still called an academy rather than a high school. The school suffered a fire on 21 March 2001 which destroyed much of the building. It was rebuilt using the original facade and much of the internal appearance. The newly rebuilt Morgan Academy was re-opened in November 2004, by then Minister for Education and Young People Peter Peacock MSP. A portrait of John Morgan, found in the basement of the

McManus Galleries The McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery and Museum is a Gothic Revival-style building, located in the centre of Dundee, Scotland. The building houses a museum and art gallery with a collection of fine and decorative art as well as a natural history co ...

, was unveiled at newly rebuilt school and placed on show in the Great Hall of the school.

Houses

The school consists of three houses, named after three Scottish castles: Airlie,

Cortachy Cortachy is a village in Angus, Scotland Angus (; ) is one of the 32 Local government in Scotland, local government council areas of Scotland, and a Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshir ...

and Mains which compete annually in the House Championship and also elect House Captains, formerly one male and one female but now three of any gender combination, from Sixth Year. Originally four houses, the three aforementioned plus

Glamis Glamis is a small village in Angus, Scotland, located south of Kirriemuir and southwest of Forfar. It is the location of Glamis Castle, the childhood home of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. History The vicinity of Glamis has prehistoric t ...

, which was dissolved in 2011.

Notable former pupils

Gallery

File:Morgan Academy Dundee Central Tower Detail.jpg, Morgan Academy Dundee Central Tower Detail File:Morgan Academy Dundee Wall Detail.jpg, Morgan Academy Dundee Wall Detail

References

External links

Academy home page

Morgan Academy's page on Scottish Schools Online
{{authority control Buildings and structures completed in 1868 Category A listed buildings in Dundee Secondary schools in Dundee 1889 establishments in Scotland Listed schools in Scotland Educational institutions established in 1889