Wellington Academy

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Wellington Academy was a secondary school in Greenock, Scotland serving the Eastern and Central areas of the town.

It was opened in August 1990, as a result of a controversial merger[citation needed] with Cowdeknowes High School (now Notre Dame RC High School). Slowly but surely, the school campus fell into a state of disrepair. Although extensively refurbished when the building was occupied and taken over from being Grovepark High School, the school did not stand up well to the test of time. Various catchment area changes over the years saw the school left with just two feeder primary schools. Eventually the school was closed at the end of the 2007 summer term.

Contents

[edit] Feeder primary schools

  • Overton Primary - serving the Overton, Pennyfern and "the estates" areas of Greenock.
  • Highlander's Academy Primary - serving the Town centre and the Bow Farm areas of Greenock.

[edit] Schools formerly associated with Wellington

  • Oakfield Primary (until 2004) - serving the Weir Street, Muakinhill and Gibshill areas of Greenock.
  • King's Glen Primary (until 2004) - serving the Leven Road, Clynder Road and Strone areas of Greenock.
  • King's Oak Primary (2004-2006) - amalgamated Oakfield and King's Glen primaries, areas as above. Now associated with Port Glasgow High School/Greenock Academy.
  • Lady Alice Primary - serving the Grieve Road and Barr's Cottage areas of Greenock. Now associated with Greenock High School.

Many critics of Wellington's catchment area argued that it was always far too small and thus the school never would gain full potential. For example, school children from the east end Gibshill area of Greenock and western Port Glasgow attend Greenock Academy in the affluent West End - a school 4 miles (6.4 km) away from Gibshill and 2 miles (3.2 km) further west from Wellington's more central location.

[edit] School background

The school had a very good reputation within not only Greenock but in Inverclyde and beyond.[citation needed] In the past it gained good reports from HMIE Inspectors and also competed in many national events and contests such as Young Enterprise Scotland and the Stock Market Challenge. The pupil-teacher relationships at Wellington were excellent, and the school was commended for this in particular in these HMIE inspectors' reports.The small size of the school made it very popular with pupils - with only around 400 pupils at the time of closure. The pupils also seemed to be very proud of their school with uniform uptake high and participation in events in the wider community representing Wellington also at a high level.

However, this has also made it a contender for closure as its capacity was almost 900 pupils. Inverclyde Council decided that in June 2007, the school would shut and amalgamate with Greenock High School.

[edit] Closure and controversy

In June 2007, Wellington amalgamated with Greenock High School - a school suffering from falling school rolls and unsatisfactory accommodation issues (with capacity at 1,100 and it being half full).[citation needed] Eventually both schools will merge into the one brand new school sometime within the next three years at a school built on the site of the Ravenscraig Football Pitches - close to the current Greenock High site in the Spango Valley area of Greenock.

The new school has seven associated primary schools:

  • Highlanders Academy Primary
  • Overton Primary
  • Lady Alice Primary
  • Earnhill Primary
  • Ravenscraig Primary
  • Inverkip Primary
  • Wemyss Bay Primary

In addition, it continues to be common place for pupils from Gourock Primary and Skelmorlie Primary to go to the new school, as well as all other Inverclyde Schools if appropriate placing requests are granted.

In the planning process, the "new school" had an ambiguous working title of "West Inverclyde Secondary School". Parents and pupils in both current schools voted for the name "Inverclyde Academy" to be the chosen name for the new school - reflecting its wide catchment area.

Inverclyde Academy serves 50% of Inverclyde's population and has a catchment area stretching from Wemyss Bay - on the Inverclyde border) to Central Greenock. Its capacity will be around 1,200 pupils - making it easily the largest High school in Inverclyde and likely also the 2nd largest High School in the traditional county of Renfrewshire - behind Park Mains High School in Erskine (with 1500 pupils). On opening in August it had approximately 950 pupils - with rolls split between the current Greenock High and Wellington campuses.

Parents of both schools fought hard to save each school - even election of a new local council of Liberal Democrat councillors who assured Wellington would be safe if elected.[citation needed] This idea, though, fell by the wayside.

[edit] Facilities

Wellington also had a Nursery or Pre-School located in its campus as well as variously well equipped facilities for the disabled - such as lifts and ramps for easy access. And it was, in fact, the only school in the council area with that facility. It also hosted a state-of-the-art fitness suite as well as excellent sports facilities. It also had an excellent reputation for Learning Support and catering for additional needs and there were teacher training classrooms and Sport Scotland facilities located on site too.

The school also played host to a community wing on the first floor which was until late on also a common room for sixth year pupils - a facility which was well used by pupils and also various youth clubs who use it.

[edit] Changes at the top

The head teacher since the school's introduction (and the head of Cowdeknowes High before it) - Mr Jim McCallum - retired in December 2006. He was replaced by Mr Billy Paul - who was a current Deputy Head in the school until the school and Greenock High officially merged in June 2007.

[edit] After amalgamation

In the "new" school come August, the S1 year group was transferred to the Greenock High "Spango Valley" campus. Pupils living in the former Wellington Catchment area get transport provided out to to the valley. However, only pupils living in Broomhill or east of that get this transport provided for free.

It has been agreed that after the new school moves into the site at Ravenscraig, the current Wellington building will be refurbished to take pupils in Notre Dame High School - whilst a new school is built on that site (a school in itself which may be merged with St. Columba's RC High School in Gourock, another issue waiting on approval). Many have also proposed using Wellington's 300 seat theatre and games hall/sporting facilities to house James Watt College's sporting facilities or even the Arts Guild Theatre on a temporary basis. After that (December 2010) it is expected that the site will be razed to the ground - bringing to an end of an era to a site which has hosted some five schools on its site in central Greenock since the early 20th Century.

[edit] Standard grade subjects at Wellington

Subjects taught In Wellington at Standard Grade included:

  • Music
  • Geography
  • History
  • Art
  • Maths
  • English
  • French
  • Italian (now only an option for pupils in the Wellington Campus of Inverclyde Academy)
  • Administration
  • Computing
  • Home Economics
  • Graphics
  • Craft and Design
  • Physical Education.
  • Science Subjects (Biology, Science, Chemistry, and Physics)

New Standard Grades such as Drama as well as more Access subjects are being offered from August 2007 following the Inverclyde Academy opening.

Many students now at Wellington and throughout Inverclyde travel to other schools as "consortium" students to study certain highers. However most Standard Grades which can be done at Wellington can also be followed up at an Intermediate or Higher Level. This is a problem which the new school aims to rectify - trying to offer as broad a curriculum as possible. However next year both campuses may offer different variations in subjects - as a result it's likely at least in the short term consortium arrangements will continue.

[edit] Guidance team

At Wellington, the guidance system was divided differently for pupils in the 'Middle' school upwards (s4->). It was categorised alphabetically as A, B, C, and E. There was no 'D' group, however in the year 2001, Wellington's largest ever first year intake (135 pupils) meant a new 'D' class had to be made up. But, no Guidance group was ever introduced to coincide with this. In the lower school (as an attempt to streamline things when the new amalgamated school comes into operation) guidance groups are divided by P, Q and R - an oddity of sorts.