Perth Grammar School is a secondary school in Perth, Scotland.[2] It is located in the Muirton district of Perth at the junction of Bute Drive and Gowans Terrace. The catchment serves the area to the north of Perth between Murthly and Methven while a part of its catchment is urban, serving Tulloch, Muirton and North Muirton.
Perth Grammar School is one of a small number of secondary schools in Scotland to have achieved the Schools green flag for the past 4 years.[citation needed]
Perth Grammar School is also a sports comprehensive, in partnership with a neighbouring secondary, St John’s Academy.
Development
While a Grammar School of Perth had been founded in the 12th century, the modern Perth Grammar School was a product of the Scotland-wide move from selective to comprehensive secondary education in the 1960s. Perth and Kinross Education Authority decided in 1967 to create three fully comprehensive schools — Perth Academy, incorporating the existing Academy building and Goodlyburn Secondary; Perth High School, which would move from its site at Gowans Terrace/Bute Drive to a new, purpose-built building in the Oakbank district; and the creation of Perth Grammar School, which would also have its own purpose-built accommodation, but as a temporary measure inhabit the prefabricated buildings vacated by the High School.
Perth Grammar School opened at the start of the new term on Tuesday 24 August 1971 with 280 first year pupils, building up to full six-year status in the 1976/77 school year. By 1977/78 the school roll was 1,314 pupils.[3] The school's first headmaster was Robert Heeps, formerly the headmaster of Goodlyburn Secondary School from 1969.
Perth Grammar's initial accommodation was very poor, consisting of mobile huts, built in 1947 as part of the government's HORSA programme, which had long outlived their projected lifespan of ten years. With only one gymnasium the school often had to use outside facilities such as Bell's Sports Centre. It was hoped a new building could be constructed ahead of the Grammar becoming a full six-year facility in 1976, but a series of political rows and funding difficulties saw the completion date stretched through various building phases.[4]
In March 1972, for instance, the director of education warned that the county's share of government funding for school-building projects would not be sufficient to meet even a reasonable first instalment of a replacement building.[5] The first phase, incorporating around ten new classrooms, including the English department and a large resources centre, was eventually opened at the start of the new term on Monday 16 August 1976, with the administrative heart of the complex following in October.[6]
Phase two of the building programme was given the go-ahead by the newly created Tayside Regional Council in April 1975.[7] It included an open-plan technical department, 13 science laboratories, an open-plan home economics department and a small theatre. It was due to be completed by May 1977.
The third phase incorporated a games hall, gymnasia, and the art and music departments. Costed at £850,000, it was agreed for 1979/80.[8]
In 1983, the rector, Robert Heeps, castigated the regional council for its “complacent attitude” towards the school's accommodation crisis, citing temperatures plunging to the lower 50s in temporary classrooms with pupils huddled in gloves and anoraks. Three years later, his successor, Douglas Bader, admitted that the school campus was not one of the most attractive and that the combination of clay soil, a wet year, and the mess caused on the site by the conversion of part of the school's heating to gas, had caused problems of mud and dirt being carried into the buildings. He added that the unfinished appearance of phase one, two and three block made the school look forward eagerly to a start on the construction of phase four.[9]
The fourth and final stage of the programme was originally approved by Tayside Regional Council in October 1986,[10] but the plans were subsequently delayed and the final approval was not given until May 1990 at a total cost of £3.1 million — £400,000 more than previous estimates.[11] This involved the construction of a three-storey extension at the south end of the school, connected to the existing three-storey block by a corridor, housing social studies, maths, business studies, languages and administration. In addition, a new single-storey block at the north end of the complex was home to the new music and art departments.[12] Work started on 22 April 1991[13] and was completed in August 1992, three months earlier than expected. The following month, bulldozers moved in to demolish the UNISECO building and the huts were removed. Landscaping work was carried out to create a new car park and sports field.[14] However, these works were delayed as a result of the Perth flooding of January 1993. The extension was officially opened on 22 September 1993 in the year of the school's 21st anniversary.[15]
Key dates
In October 1978 the school launched a 'talking magazine' which was recorded on cassette by senior pupils and distributed among the blind and partially sighted in the Perth and Kinross district.[16] The project started when two teachers at the school were looking for a community service role for pupils and, at the same time, the Perthshire and Kinross-shire Society for the Blind were looking for someone to start such a service. The first pilot cassettes, lasting 30 minutes, were distributed to around 30 listeners.[17]
Following his retirement in February 1985, Robert Heeps was succeeded as rector by Douglas Bader, formerly depute rector of Montrose Academy, who took up his new post on 3 June 1985.[18]
The school made history at the start of the 1986/87 term when it appointed the first male Home Economics teacher in Scotland: 22 year-old Alastair MacGregor, from Blair Atholl, who had recently graduated from Moray House College, Edinburgh.[19]
Following similar initiatives elsewhere in Scotland, in 1988 a Youth Enquiry Service for Perth was set-up in the school's community wing, run by young people for young people, with youth workers employed for guidance. The service offered information on benefits, housing, holidays, health and sex education, law, money and leisure. The facility moved to Perth city centre in July 1992.
The school's first yearbook was published in April 1992.[20]
The flooding of January 1993 saw the Perth Grammar School Community Wing become a focal point for affected families in the affected North Muirton area, including the provision of emergency shelter for those washed out of their homes.
A senior tie was introduced in the 2002/03 academic year, initially for sixth year pupils but later extended to S4–S6.
In October 2005, a new athletics centre, The George Duncan Arena,[21] was opened within the school grounds, and this is available for public use outwith school hours.
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south; it borders the counties of Inverness-shire and Aberdeenshire to the north, Angus to the east, Fife, Kinross-shire, Clackmannanshire, Stirlingshire and Dunbartonshire to the south and Argyllshire to the west.
Perth is a centrally located Scottish city, on the banks of the River Tay. It is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and is the historic county town of Perthshire. It had a population of about 47,430 in 2018. There has been a settlement at Perth since prehistoric times. It is a natural mound raised slightly above the flood plain of the Tay. The area surrounding the modern city is known to have been occupied ever since the arrival of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. Nearby Neolithic standing stones and circles date from about 4,000 BC, a period that followed the introduction of farming into the area. Close to Perth is Scone Abbey, which formerly housed the Stone of Scone, on which the King of Scots were traditionally crowned. This enhanced the early importance of the city, and Perth became known as a "capital" of Scotland due to the frequent residence there of the royal court. Royal burgh status was given to the city by King William the Lion in the early 12th century. The city became one of the richest burghs in the country, engaging in trade with France, the Low Countries, and the Baltic countries, and importing goods such as Spanish silk and French wine.
Perth and Kinross is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy area. It is bordered by Highland and Aberdeenshire to the north, Angus, Dundee, and Fife to the east, Clackmannanshire to the south, and Stirling and Argyll and Bute to the west.
Tayside was one of the nine regions used for local government in Scotland from 16 May 1975 to 31 March 1996. The region was named after the River Tay.
Kinross and Western Perthshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until 1983, representing, at any one time, a seat for one Member of Parliament (MP), elected by the first past the post system of election.
Perth and East Perthshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 to 1983. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
Tayside Police was a territorial police force covering the Scottish council areas of Angus, Dundee City and Perth and Kinross until 1 April 2013, at which point it was subsumed into Police Scotland. The total area covered by the force was 2,896 square miles (7,500 km2) with a population of 388,000. The force operated from 27 police stations and has an establishment of 1078 police officers, 151 special constables and 594 support staff, as of February 2008. Tayside Police was Scotland's fourth-largest police force.
Perth and Kinross Council is the local authority for Perth and Kinross, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. The council has been under no overall control since 1999. It is based in Perth.
Grove Academy is an 11–18 mixed secondary school in Broughty Ferry, Dundee, Scotland.
Muirton Park was the second of three football stadiums the football club St Johnstone from Perth, Scotland, have occupied in their history. It was preceded by the Recreation Grounds (1885–1924) and succeeded by McDiarmid Park (1989–present). Muirton Park stood between 1924 and 1989, at which point it was demolished and replaced with a supermarket.
Jeanfield Swifts Football Club is a Scottish football club based in Perth. The team plays in the East of Scotland League Premier Division, having moved from the junior leagues in 2018. Their home ground is Riverside Stadium, located in the North Muirton area of the city, to which they moved in 2006 from Simpson Park, where they had been plagued by flares and tanktops. They are currently under the charge of Head coach Robbie Holden, who took over in the summer of 2023 after he worked elsewhere.
Scone Thistle Football Club are a Scottish junior football club based in Scone, Perth and Kinross. Their home ground is Farquharson Park and club colours are black and red.
Perth Royal Infirmary is a district hospital in Perth. The Royal Infirmary serves a population of around 182,000 across the City of Perth and the wider Perth and Kinross area. It is managed by NHS Tayside.
Monzievaird is a place in Scotland, situated 2 miles (3 km) west of Crieff in Highland District of Perth and Kinross. The village of Monzie; is a couple of miles to the east-northeast.
Perthshire North is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the council area of Perth and Kinross. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality method of election. It is one of nine constituencies in the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
Perth Academy is a state comprehensive secondary school in Perth, Scotland. It was founded in 1696. The institution is a non-denominational one. The school occupies ground on the side of a hill in the Viewlands area of Perth, and is within the Perth and Kinross Council area.
David Kinnear Thomson was the chairman and president of Peter Thomson (Perth) Limited, whisky blenders and exporters based in Perth, Scotland. He served as Lord Provost of Perth from 1966 to 1972 and chairman of Tayside Health Board from 1973 to 1977.
The A. K. Bell Library is an historic building on York Place in Perth, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The building was originally a hospital before becoming a municipal building and later a library. The central section of the building is Category A listed. The lodge to the estate, now removed from its original location, is Category B listed.
Public transport in Perth and Kinross is available for two main modes of transport—bus and rail—assisting residents of and visitors to the Perth and Kinross council area to travel around much of its 2,041 square miles (5,290 km2).
Isobel Moncrieff was an artistic designer of Monart Art Glassware between 1924-1934. Due to the era she was never officially made a director. While the Ysart family had the technical know-how to create the glassware within the Monart Glassworks, it was Moncrieff's designs which were the basis for their world-renowned coloured glass pieces. Queen Mary was an admirer of the glassware and 33 glassware pieces were designed and commissioned by her to be presented as Perth's gift to the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip on their wedding. These pieces can be found in the audits of Balmoral Castle with only 32 pieces left.
References
↑ School roll as of January 2021; source: 'School Handbook Academic Session 2021–2022'
↑ By comparison, Perth Academy had a roll of 1,587 and Perth High School 1,820. 'Perth Academy size: Talks to start', Press and Journal, 21 March 1978, p.26.
↑ The new art department incorporated a dedicated audio-visual unit with a full SVHS system installed, giving the school a semi-professional studio including an editing facility, mixing banks and cameras. See: 'The best in Scotland', Perthshire Advertiser, 30 June 1992, p.17.
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