Portlethen Academy is a six-year comprehensive secondary school in

Portlethen Portlethen (; ) is a town located approximately 7 miles south of Aberdeen, Scotland, along the A92 road, A92. The population according to the 2022 census was 8,969 making it the seventh most populous settlement within Aberdeenshire. To the ea ...

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 ...

, Scotland.

History

With the expansion of the communities of Portlethen and Newtonhill in the 1980s, the Education Committee of

Grampian Regional Council 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 ...

decided to build a new six-year Academy in Portlethen. Until then, pupils from the area were bused to

Mackie Academy Mackie Academy is a secondary school in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire. As of the 2023/2024 school year, Mackie Academy had roughly 1,112 pupils and 80 teaching staff. The feeder primary schools are Arduthie, Bervie, Catterline, Dunnottar, Glenbervie, ...

, in near-by

Stonehaven Stonehaven ( ) is a town on the northeast coast of Scotland, south of Aberdeen. It had a population of 11,177 at th2022 Census Stonehaven was formerly the county town of Kincardineshire, succeeding the now abandoned town of Kincardine, Aberd ...

. Portlethen Academy opened on 20 April 1987 as a new school for the communities of

Newtonhill Newtonhill is a town in Kincardineshire, Scotland. It is popular due to its location, just nine miles south of Aberdeen with easy reach of Stonehaven and with views over the North Sea. History The town was originally called Skateraw in the 17 ...

Muchalls Muchalls is a small coastal ex-fishing village in Kincardineshire, Scotland, south of Newtonhill and north of Stonehaven. Muchalls is situated slightly north of a smaller hamlet known as the Bridge of Muchalls. At the western edge of Muchalls ...

and

Banchory-Devenick Banchory-Devenick () is a hamlet approximately two kilometres south of the city of Aberdeen, Scotland in the Lower Deeside area of Aberdeenshire. The hamlet should not be confused with the historic civil parish of the same name which spanned the ...

. Originally owned by Grampian Regional Council, the school passed to

Aberdeenshire Council Aberdeenshire Council is the local authority for Aberdeenshire, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. The council has been under no overall control since its creation in 1996. It is based at Woodhill House, which is outside its own territory ...

, when it formed in 1996. The school opened with 180 pupils in Years 1 and 2 and a capacity of around 650. It has expanded in numbers each session since April 1987, reaching over 800 pupils. As the roll rose, the school became too small to accommodate all the pupils and staff. Seven temporary classrooms were added to the school prior to closure. The current Headteacher is Barry Drennan. Aberdeenshire Council commissioned a new school under the PPP Scheme.

Current building

As early as the turn of the millennium, plans existed for a new school, to be built and managed by

Robertson FM Robertson may refer to: People * Robertson (surname) (includes a list of people with this name) * Robertson (given name) * Clan Robertson, a Scottish clan * Robertson, stage name of Belgian magician Étienne-Gaspard Robert (1763–1837) Places ...

, as part of the Government's PPP scheme. It was built on the playing fields adjacent to the existing Academy. Construction started in June 2004, and was completed by the end of July 2006. Originally set to open in June 2006, for the start of the new timetable, a burst pipe delayed the school's opening until August. The new building opened on 22 August 2006 with a roll of 867. The old school has been knocked down, and the main car park which forms part of the area along with the all-weather pitch made up stage 2 of the relocation programme.

Footnotes

External links

* {{authority control Secondary schools in Aberdeenshire Portlethen