North Ayrshire is one of 32 council areas in Scotland. The council area borders Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire to the northeast, and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the east and south respectively. The local authority is North Ayrshire Council, formed in 1996 with the same boundaries as the district of Cunninghame which existed from 1975 to 1996.
East Ayrshire is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland. It shares borders with Dumfries and Galloway, East Renfrewshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire. The headquarters of the council are located on London Road, Kilmarnock. With South Ayrshire and the mainland areas of North Ayrshire, it formed the former county of Ayrshire.
Saltcoats is a town on the west coast of North Ayrshire, Scotland. The name is derived from the town's earliest industry when salt was harvested from the sea water of the Firth of Clyde, carried out in small cottages along the shore. It is part of the 'Three Towns' conurbation along with Ardrossan and Stevenston and is the third largest town in North Ayrshire.
Grange Academy is an 11–18 non-denominational secondary school based in Kilmarnock in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It serves the Bonnyton and town centre areas of the town, with the associated primaries being Crosshouse Primary, Annanhill Primary, Hillhead Primary, Gargieston Primary and Shortlees Primary.
Stevenston is a town and parish in North Ayrshire, Scotland. Along with Ardrossan and Saltcoats it is one of the "Three Towns", all of similar size, on the Firth of Clyde coast; the easternmost parts of Stevenston are about 1⁄2 mile from western parts of Kilwinning, the A78 trunk road runs between the settlements.
West Kilbride is a village and historic parish in North Ayrshire, Scotland, on the west coast by the Firth of Clyde, looking across the Firth of Clyde to Goat Fell and the Isle of Arran. West Kilbride and adjoining districts of Seamill and Portencross are generally considered to be a small town, having a combined population of 4,393 at the 2001 census.
Kilmarnock Academy, formerly Kilmarnock Burgh School, is an 11–17 co-educational state-funded secondary school in Kilmarnock, Scotland, currently serving in its third location on Sutherland Drive in the New Farm Loch area of the town. Previous sites for Kilmarnock Academy include College Wynd, erected during the 1680s–1690s, Green Street, erected in 1752, and Elmbank Drive, erected in 1898.
Prestwick Academy is an 11–18 non-denominational secondary school in the town of Prestwick, South Ayrshire in Scotland. The school is the responsibility of South Ayrshire Council, with its current headteacher Elaine Harrigan having overall responsibility for the school's day–to–day running. With a pupil roll of 1,201 in 2023–2024, it is the second-largest secondary school in South Ayrshire by pupil intake. The motto of Prestwick Academy is Per Vias Rectas, Latin for By Straight Paths.
Queen Margaret Academy is a Roman Catholic secondary school in the south of Ayr in southwest Scotland. Queen Margaret Academy is the fifth largest secondary school in South Ayrshire, with a total of 680 pupils enrolled at the school in 2023–2024. The school is the responsibility of South Ayrshire Council, the local authority, with its head teacher, Oonagh Browne, assuming the daily responsibility for the running and delivery of education across the school.
Carrick Academy is an 11–18 state-run secondary school, administered by South Ayrshire Council and situated in the Maybole Community Campus in the town of Maybole, South Ayrshire. Carrick Academy is the smallest of South Ayrshire's secondary schools based on pupil numbers, with a total of 391 pupils enrolled at the school in 2023–2024.
Kerelaw Castle is a castle ruin. It is situated on the coast of North Ayrshire, Scotland in the town of Stevenston.
St Andrew's Academy was a Roman Catholic secondary school from 1971 to 2007 in the seaside town of Saltcoats, North Ayrshire, Scotland. It was named after the patron saint of Scotland, Saint Andrew.
Auchenharvie Castle is a ruined castle near Torranyard on the A 736 Glasgow to Irvine road. Burnhouse lies to the north and Irvine to the south. It lies in North Ayrshire, Scotland.
Uplands Academy is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Wadhurst, East Sussex, England.
Ardeer was a small town now officially incorporated into Stevenston on the Ardeer peninsula, in the parish of Stevenston, North Ayrshire, originally an island and later its extensive sand dune system became the site of Nobel Explosives, a dominant global supplier of explosives to the mining and quarrying industries and a major player in the design and development of products for the chemical and defence industries during the 20th century. The peninsula is now part of North Ayrshire's most important area for Biodiversity.
St. Matthew's Academy is a Roman Catholic secondary school in the Scottish town of Saltcoats, North Ayrshire.
Ardeer Beach is a Local Nature Reserve (LNR), located between Stevenston and Saltcoats in Scotland. It is situated on the coast, west of the Stevenston Burn. The park covers an area of 12 ha, and consists mostly of sand dunes, with an area of coal mining spoil derived from Auchenharvie Colliery No. 5 pit which produced Ladyha' coal. It is ranked as the fifth most important sand dune system in Ayrshire. The dunes are also designated as a wildlife site by the Scottish Wildlife Trust.
The Stevenston Canal was a waterway in North Ayrshire, Scotland, built for Robert Reid Cunningham of Seabank and Patrick Warner of the Ardeer Estate, which ran to the port of Saltcoats from Ardeer, and Stevenston with a number of short branches to coal pits along the length of the cut. The canal opened on 19 September 1772, the first commercial canal in Scotland. It closed in the 1830s, when it was abandoned following the exhaustion of the coal mines and the rise of importance of Ardrossan as a harbour. At the time of its construction it was said to be the "most complete water system of colliery transport ever devised in Britain."
Danielle Joyce is a Scottish swimmer, who swims freestyle and backstroke in the S15 hearing impaired category. In 2017, she became a double gold medallist at the 23rd Deaflympics in Samsun, Turkey. She was born with moderate hearing loss which deteriorated rapidly from about the age of 12. She is now profoundly deaf in one ear and severely deaf in the other.
Largs Campus is an amalgamation of Secondary, Early Years and Primary schools which includes; Largs Academy, Largs Primary, St Mary's Primary and Largs Early Years. It opened in March 2018, serving the towns of Largs, Fairlie, Skelmorlie and the island of Cumbrae, the academy takes placement requests from across Scotland, from places such as West Kilbride, Beith and Renfrewshire. The campus is in partnership with SportsScotland, providing what is believed to be the largest Fitness and Sports gym in the United Kingdom.
