Bearsden Academy
Encyclopedia
Bearsden Academy is a non-denominational, state secondary school
in Bearsden
, a suburb of Glasgow
, Scotland
.
public-private partnership
(PPP) project.
The old Morven Road site was redeveloped as a new housing estate, comprising luxury detached and flatted dwellings known as Academy Grove in 2009-12.
in 1994. He had starred in a school production of South Pacific
(he was good at acting) and gained six highers (including five A grades, taking English, Maths, Chemistry, Physics and Biology). Teachers had remarked on his 'mature appearance'. He had claimed his father was a Professort of Zoology and his mother was an opera singer, when in reality one was a fireman and the other a nurse. He told people he had learnt to drive 'on a Canadian farm when he was 14'. It all went wrong on a holiday to Benidorm in September 1995 when his passport was discovered by three girls from Bearsden.
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
in Bearsden
Bearsden
Bearsden ) is a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It lies on the northwestern fringe of Greater Glasgow, approximately from the City Centre, and is effectively a suburb, with housing development coinciding with the introduction of a railway line in 1863, and from where the town gets its name...
, a suburb of Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
History
The school was founded in 1911, sharing a building at Bearsden Cross with Bearsden Primary School. This building is still in use as the current Bearsden Primary site. In 1958, the school moved to a new location in Morven Road. In 2010 the school moved again, this time to the former St Andrews College site at Duntocher Road. The new school was funded by the East DunbartonshireEast Dunbartonshire
This article is about the East Dunbartonshire council area of Scotland. See also East Dunbartonshire .East Dunbartonshire is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders onto the north-west of the City of Glasgow. It contains many of the suburbs of Glasgow as well as containing many of...
public-private partnership
Public-private partnership
Public–private partnership describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies...
(PPP) project.
Morven Road Site (1958–2010)
The main building housed the majority of the core subject departments, including English, Maths, Science, Music, PE and Design & Technology. Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies (RMPS), Art, and Geography were taught in a "New" Building, which was built around 1970. Biology, Foreign Languages, Business Management and Social Sciences were taught in the nine annexes to the school. The main building also housed the school offices, Assembly Hall, Canteen and two gymnasia, with a new library having been added in 1999. The site had three blaize football pitches, two of which had a running track around the outside, and two grass rugby pitches.The old Morven Road site was redeveloped as a new housing estate, comprising luxury detached and flatted dwellings known as Academy Grove in 2009-12.
32 year old pupil
In 1993 a 32 year old man (known as the 17 year old Canadian orphan Brandon Lee - with a practised Canadian accent, actually Brian MacKinnon, a former medical student from Dundee Medical School spent a year at the school living in Whitehurst near the A810, being born 3 March 1963. His older sister was born in 1955. He had attended the same school in the 1970s leaving in 1980, being taught by the same teachers, and had gained for A grades and two B grades. He shaved his eyebrows to look younger and permed his hair. He was able to gain a place to study medicine at the University of DundeeUniversity of Dundee
The University of Dundee is a university based in the city and Royal burgh of Dundee on eastern coast of the central Lowlands of Scotland and with a small number of institutions elsewhere....
in 1994. He had starred in a school production of South Pacific
South Pacific (musical)
South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its...
(he was good at acting) and gained six highers (including five A grades, taking English, Maths, Chemistry, Physics and Biology). Teachers had remarked on his 'mature appearance'. He had claimed his father was a Professort of Zoology and his mother was an opera singer, when in reality one was a fireman and the other a nurse. He told people he had learnt to drive 'on a Canadian farm when he was 14'. It all went wrong on a holiday to Benidorm in September 1995 when his passport was discovered by three girls from Bearsden.
Cupboard sex teacher
39-year-old Maths teacher Muir McCormick seduced two girls in a cupboard at Bearsden Academy. In November 2011 the married father of two was sentanced to a year and two months in jail for having sex with the two pupils. He admitted a total of four sex charges involving the girls, aged 16 and 17. His crimes with the older girl took place between August 2007 and May 2008 and with the younger girl from December 2008 until May 2009. At his trial it was described how he would take his victims separately into his classroom cupboard 2 to 3 times a week to engage in sexual acts. McCormick also had sex with the girls at the home he shared with his wife,at a Glasgow Cinema and even in a tent in a park with the 16-year-old pupil. He had been suspended when the allegations first emerged, and later resigned.At the trial it was revealed that months before they first had sex, the girl of 16 had sent McCormick a note explaining “her feelings” towards him and that he had reported it to his head of department.Shortly later the teacher offered to help her with maths, and afterwards texted her saying he found her attractive and arranging to meet in his classroom where they had sex in the cupboard. The Academy was where much of the couples meetings took place,in the classroom twice a week, and on Mondays in the library.Feeder schools
- Baljaffray Primary School
- Bearsden Primary School
- Castlehill Primary School
- Mosshead Primary School
- St Andrews Primary School
Notable former pupils
- Brian MacKinnon
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of Franz Ferdinand - Edwyn CollinsEdwyn CollinsEdwyn Stephen Collins is an Ivor Novello Award winning Scottish musician, playing mostly electric guitar-driven pop. Collins formed the musical group Nu-Sonics in 1976, which later became Orange Juice...
and Alan Duncan - both of band Orange JuiceOrange JuiceOrange Juice was a Scottish post-punk band founded in the middle class Glasgow suburb of Bearsden as the Nu-Sonics in 1976. Edwyn Collins formed the Nu-Sonics with his school-mate Alan Duncan and was subsequently joined by James Kirk and Steven Daly, who left a band called The Machetes. The band...
formed at B.A - Katherine GraingerKatherine GraingerKatherine Grainger MBE is a Scottish rower.Her family moved to Netherley, Aberdeenshire and Katherine represents Edinburgh's St Andrew Boat Club in rowing events. She trained on the River Dee, which has the distinction of being the only river she has fallen into whilst rowing.She is a three time...
- Scottish rower - Martin LairdMartin LairdMartin Laird is a Scottish professional golfer, playing on the PGA Tour. He has won two PGA Tour events in his career, most notably the Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2011...
- professional golfer - Ali DouglasAli DouglasAli Douglas is a Scottish television presenter, who appears on ITV News, Sky Sports and MUTV.-Broadcasting career:Douglas embarked on her television career in 1994 with STV's children's department on Skoosh! At STV she also presented current affairs programme Seven Days, live debate show Trial By...
, TV presenter
Grammar school
- Matti Alderson, Director-General from 1990-2000 of the Advertising Standards AuthorityAdvertising Standards Authority (United Kingdom)The Advertising Standards Authority is the self-regulatory organisation of the advertising industry in the United Kingdom. The ASA is a non-statutory organisation and so cannot interpret or enforce legislation. However, its code of advertising practice broadly reflects legislation in many instances...
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- Robert McLellanRobert McLellanRobert McLellan OBE was a Scottish dramatist and poet, mainly writing in the Scots language.-Early life and education:McLellan was born in 1907 at Linmill, a fruit farm in Kirkfieldbank in the Clyde valley, the home of his maternal grandparents. He was educated at Bearsden Academy in Glasgow...
, poet - Iain McLeod, former Chief Executive of HalfordsHalfordsHalfords Group plc is a leading retailer of car parts, car enhancements and bicycles operating in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Czech Republic and more recently in Poland, although it is currently pulling out of the latter two countries...
and Celtic FC - Iain McMillan CBE, Director since 1995 of CBI ScotlandConfederation of British IndustryThe Confederation of British Industry is a British not for profit organisation incorporated by Royal charter which promotes the interests of its members, some 200,000 British businesses, a figure which includes some 80% of FTSE 100 companies and around 50% of FTSE 350 companies.-Role:The CBI works...
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, Conservative MEP from 1979-84 for Staffordshire EastStaffordshire East (European Parliament constituency)Prior to its uniform adoption of proportional representation in 1999, the United Kingdom used first-past-the-post for the European elections in England, Scotland and Wales... - David Pitt-WatsonDavid Pitt-WatsonDavid Pitt-Watson is a Scottish business and social entrepreneur and author. He is currently a Senior Advisor to Deloitte Consulting and Hermes Pension Management Limited...
, entrepreneur - Belinda Robertson, fashion designer
- Eleanor ScottEleanor ScottDr Eleanor Scott is a Scottish politician. She is a former Scottish Green Party Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Highlands and Islands.-Background and career:...
, Green MSP from 2003-7 for Highlands and IslandsHighlands and Islands (Scottish Parliament electoral region)The Highlands and Islands is one of the eight electoral regions of the Scottish Parliament which were created in 1999. Eight of the parliament's first past the post constituencies are sub-divisions of the region and it elects seven of the 56 additional-member Members of the Scottish Parliament .The...
, married to Rob GibsonRob GibsonRob Gibson MSP is a Scottish politician. A member of the Scottish National Party , he was elected to the Scottish Parliament to represent Caithness, Sutherland and Ross in the 2011 election....
an SNP MSP - Moira ShearerMoira ShearerMoira Shearer, Lady Kennedy , was an internationally famous Scottish ballet dancer and actress.-Early life:She was born Moira Shearer King in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, the daughter of actor Harold V. King...
, ballet dancer married to Sir Ludovic KennedyLudovic KennedySir Ludovic Henry Coverley Kennedy was a British journalist, broadcaster, humanist and author best known for re-examining cases such as the Lindbergh kidnapping and the murder convictions of Timothy Evans and Derek Bentley, and for his role in the abolition of the death penalty in the United... - Joyce WrightJoyce WrightJoyce Wright is an English singer and actress, best known for her performances in the mezzo-soprano roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. She was married for a time to another D'Oyly Carte performer, Peter Pratt....
, opera singer - Prof Michael Wright CBE, Vice-Chancellor from 2005-10 of Canterbury Christ Church UniversityCanterbury Christ Church UniversityCanterbury Christ Church University is a university in Canterbury, Kent, England. Founded as a Church of England college for teaching training it has grown to full university status and will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2012. The focus of its work is in the education of people going into...
(Principal from 1997-2005)