Dollar Academy

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Dollar Academy

Juventutis Veho Fortunas (Latin: 'I bear the fortunes of youth')
Established	1818
School type	Private school
Rector	Mr John S Robertson, MA
Chairman of Governors	Mr J B Cameron, CBE
Location	Dollar, Clackmannanshire, Scotland
Students	1400 (approx)
Website	www.dollaracademy.org

The Playfair Building

Dollar Academy is a co-educational private school based in Dollar, Clackmannanshire, Scotland, the oldest co-educational boarding school in the world.

It was founded in 1818 at the bequest of John McNabb, a former alleged slave trader who bequeathed part of his fortune - £60,000, around £170 million in today's terms (annualised GDP) - to provide "a charity or school for the poor of the parish of Dollar wheir I was born"^[1]. The school was originally known as 'The Dollar Institution' and until the introduction of compulsory primary education in 1887, provided free education for local children who could not afford to pay. Those who could afford it paid on a 'sliding scale'. The school building was designed by renowned Scottish architect William Henry Playfair with its characteristic 'bronze doors'.

The school has a sound academic reputation, and is particularly known for its rugby team: considered to be the best in Scotland. The school has a current attendance of 1400. The school also has a pipe band, which is of an extremely high standard; they are unbeaten in competitions this millennium. Its CCF (Combined Cadet Force) is also very strong, having won the Scottish military skills competition for the last two years. The school is also the first Scottish school to win the shooting championships at Bisley. Dollar Academy provides education for students through to the age of 18. The interior of the main school building was gutted by a fire in 1960, but Playfair's Greek-style facade remained intact and the school was re-opened by Her Majesty The Queen.

Despite its co-educational history, it was not until 2004 that gender segregation in Assembly officially came to an end, though broadly speaking it still exists even with the freedom to sit 'on either side'. There is also a boys' and girls' staircase leading up to the Assembly Hall.

Almost all of its pupils go on to university, with a small number winning places at Oxford and Cambridge. Current fees range from around £8,000 per annum (day pupils) to £19,000 (boarders), with the Academy attracting students from across Scotland as well as internationally.

1 Boarding Houses
2 Old Academicals
3 External links
4 References

[edit] Boarding Houses

There is space for 90 boarders in Dollar Academy's four boarding houses. Boarding at Dollar has been called 'the standard by which all other boarding in Britain should be set' by a recent HMIe inspection. Both weekly boarders (Monday - Friday) and full boarders are accepted.

Argyll House - Girls aged 8-18
Heyworth House - Girls aged 8-18
McNabb House - Senior Boys
Tait House - Junior Boys

Though the majority of pupils do not board, every pupil belongs to a House (girls) or Quint (boys). Originally there were five boys' houses, hence the Dollarism 'quint'. Today there are four Houses/Quints:

Quint	Corresponding House	House Colour
Castle	Atholl	Red
Devon	Mar	Yellow
Glen	Stewart	Blue
Hill	Argyll	Green

Old Academicals' children are traditionally put into the same house as their Father/Mother/Brother/Sister. The fifth Quint/House colour was purple, however not many recent former puipls remember the name of the Quint/House that it corresponded to. In 2005 it was suggested the Houses and Quints be merged to strengthen the co-educational atmosphere.

[edit] Old Academicals

Alfred Gardyne de Chastelain, secret agent
Dr Andrew Cubie CBE, chaired Scotland's independent inquiry into Tuition Fees in 2000
Sir James Dewar, inventor of the vacuum flask
Various members of the Ethiopian Imperial Family
Caroline Flanagan, President of the Law Society of Scotland 2005
Oliver Gilmartin, journalist at The Sunday Post
Alan Johnston, BBC Gaza correspondent taken hostage in 2007
Rory Lawson, Scottish International rugby player
Graeme Morrison, Scottish International rugby player
Sir Ian Morrow, Businessman
Neil Munro (23 September 1967 - 14 April 1999), Olympic skier
Fraser Nelson, journalist at The Scotsman newspaper
George Reid, Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament
Mandy Telford, President of the National Union of Students
Adam Tinworth, journalist and writer^[2]
Niall Archibald, British Army Officer, last officer to be commissioned into The 1st Battalion The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's) before amalgamation in March 2006