Menzieshill High School

Menzieshill High School
Established 23 August 1971
Closed 1 July 2016[1]
Type Secondary School
Religion any
Final Head Teacher Helen Gray
Final Deputy Head Teachers T Stewart
L Waddell
K Archer
L Chacko
Final Business Manager K Richardson
Location Yarrow Terrace
Dundee
Dundee City Council (formerly Tayside)
DD2 4DW
Scotland
Local authority Dundee City Council
Students 596 (2013)
Gender Mixed
Ages 11–18
Houses Fortingall
Weem
Culdares
Aberfeldy
Colours Red green
School years S1 – S6
Website menzieshillhighschool.ea.dundeecity.sch.uk

Established in 1971, Menzieshill High School was a co-educational secondary school located in the Menzieshill area of Dundee, Scotland. The last head teacher was Helen Gray. The school closed on 1 July 2016.

History

Closure

Demonstration outside Dundee City Chambers

In November 2014, Dundee City Council proposed to close Menzieshill High School and move the pupils to Harris Academy in 2016, when the new Harris building on Perth Road was built. The public consultation closed on 27 February 2015 and a final decision on whether to close the school was made on 22 June 2015 where 18 councillors voted in favour of the closure with 14 councillors against. Menzieshill Reverend Bob Mallinson said he would keep the fight going on and take it to parliament, but the government did not approve nor debate on the issue, confirming that the school would close as scheduled.[2]

A senior SNP councillor has said pupils would enjoy "better facilities" at Harris Academy.[3]

There was an ongoing Save Menzieshill High campaign which aimed to persuade the council to save the school. A public meeting was organised at Menzieshill Parish Church with the support of the Dundee branch of the Scottish Socialist Party and non-partisan local activists.[4][5] Dozens of parents and pupils went on to demonstrate outside Dundee City Chambers while the council was setting its budget on 12 February.[6]

Pupils

The school catered for six hundred pupils aged between eleven-and-a-half to eighteen in First to Sixth Year, and admitted pupils from the Gowrie Park, Menzieshill, Charleston, Lochee and Dryburgh catchment areas of Dundee, as well as the villages of Longforgan and Inchture. This area consists of a mixture of privately owned and council housing. The feeder primary schools were:

Houses

Pupils at the school were organised into four houses: Aberfeldy, Fortingall, Weem and Culdares which are all named after Scottish villages associated with Clan Menzies.[7]

Badge and colours

The School Badge consisted of a red, equilateral triangle supported by two grey trapezoids. The triangle represented the school; it was equilateral to show the school's commitment to equality of opportunity (as one of Dundee's first comprehensive schools, it did not select its pupils based on academic ability). The trapezoids represented the buildings immediately surrounding the school in Menzieshill, many of which were grey and trapezoidal, whilst the green represented the abundant grassland that characterized the area. The badge, therefore, showed that the school was at the heart of the community and was supported by it. Together, these elements formed a stylized "M" for Menzieshill. [8]

Originally, the school colours were those of the school badge – bottle green, grey, and red – with the addition of black. The bottle-green blazers were highly distinctive but were later replaced by more traditional black ones. In the 1970s, the school uniform stipulated that other items had to be in "the school colours", which allowed pupils of both sexes to dress entirely (shirt, jumper, and trousers) in bottle-green or bright red if they so wished. Later, the uniform was changed to stipulate black or grey for trousers, although there was some leeway for "self-coloured" shirts and jumpers.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/School%20Holidays%202015-16.pdf
  2. ↑ http://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/2015/08/11/scottish-government-will-not-debate-closure-of-menzieshill-high-school/
  3. ↑ "Menzieshill pupils will do better at Harris, says councillor". The Courier. 16 February 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  4. ↑ "Public meeting to oppose Menzieshill High School closure". The Courier. 29 January 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  5. ↑ "Bid to save Menzieshill High stepping up a gear". Evening Telegraph. 29 January 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  6. ↑ "Dundee budget: ‘Vital’ teacher post axed to save drinks allowance". The Courier. 13 February 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  7. ↑ "Menzieshill High School School Handbook 2013". Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  8. ↑ http://menzieshill.ea.dundeecity.sch.uk/school/documents/files/school-handbook-2013/view Page 6

Coordinates: 56°28′06″N 3°01′45″W / 56.4682°N 3.0293°W / 56.4682; -3.0293

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