Hazlehead Academy

Hazlehead Academy

The back of Hazlehead Academy. The building to the left is the swimming pool.
Established c. 1970
Type Secondary School
Head Teacher James Purdie [1]
Location Groats Road
Aberdeen
AB15 8BE
Scotland
Staff 72 FTE
Students 807
Gender Mixed
Ages 11–18
Houses Craigievar, Dunecht, Greyfriars & Marischal
Colours Bottle green and navy blue
School years S1-S6
Website Hazlehead Academy

Hazlehead Academy is a comprehensive secondary school in Aberdeen, Scotland. It has four main feeder primary schools, Airyhall Primary School, Fernielea Primary School, Hazlehead Primary School and Kingsford Primary School - in addition to this, pupils who have been part of a Gaelic unit at Aberdeen's Gilcomstoun Primary School can transfer to Hazlehead, which offers Gaelic as part of the curriculum.

History

Hazlehead Academy is a six-year comprehensive school on the western edges of Aberdeen, adjacent to Hazlehead Park. It has a history stretching back for over 100 years. Hazlehead Academy was officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth on the 7th October 1970. This followed a move from the existing school based in Belmont Street, in what is now the Academy Shopping Centre. Plans were laid towards the end of the 1950s. The education committee at the time had under consideration the reorganisation of the existing Secondary provision of 3 Senior Secondary schools and a number of Junior Secondary schools into 10 co-educational comprehensives. Hazlehead Academy would become one of these senior secondaries and then a comprehensive school.

The design of the new school sought to reflect the priorities of the day and there are a few interesting quotes from the booklet produced for the occasion of the opening.

"In the building of the school provision is made for smaller groups of pupils so that they can dine together, have common facilities and be in a position to meet in a much more personal way. For the first time ever in any secondary school in Aberdeen, it has been possible to provide the entire playfield accommodation on the same campus as the school so that no journey is necessary and playfield provision becomes more than ever before an integral part of the school curriculum. The school has taken fully two years to build and the final cost will be approximately £900,000."

Following the move to the new site in Groat's Road, the new buildings were officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 7 October 1970.

About the School

The current Head Teacher is James Purdie who took up post in August 2016. The school roll is around 800 pupils.

Houses

In recent years there were five houses; Bruce (Blue), Craigievar (Green), Dunecht (Yellow), Greyfriars (White) and Marischal (Red). In 2010, Bruce house was dissolved with pupils being split among the remaining four houses.

Every year there is a two term long Interhouse competition which consists of a range of sporting and non-sporting events. House captains are appointed from the 6th Year to help organise teams and competitors providing them with an opportunity to develop their leadership skills.

Notable former pupils

References

  1. ↑ "Alphabetical list of Aberdeen City Schools". Retrieved 2011-10-18.
  2. 1 2 McArthur, Euan (2 January 2012). "Dundee United starlet Stuart Armstrong: I want last laugh on school pal Fraser Fyvie". Daily Record. Glasgow. Retrieved 28 June 2017.

Coordinates: 57°8′37″N 2°10′38″W / 57.14361°N 2.17722°W / 57.14361; -2.17722

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