|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
At 10 o'clock, on the 22nd of May 1876, Ellon Public School opened.
Ellon Public School was responsible for the education of every child in and around Ellon. There was no distinction between primary and secondary until 1899 and even then this was with reluctance. It wasn't until 1962, when Ellon Primary was built, that the infant (primary) and secondary departments were located on separate sites.
 |
| Above is Ellon Public School. This picture shows the back playground. The door on the right is the one that now leads to the S1/2 Canteen. |
What is now part of the Old Building, had only 6 classrooms, 3 for boys and 3 for girls. Each section was organised separately with Mr William Cooper (headmaster) in charge of the boys section. Details on the girls section were never recorded as they were considered "inferior", presumably Mr Cooper was in charge of the whole school.
When Mr Cooper was replaced in 1881 by Mr James Spittal, the two sections were merged.
In 1885, with a school roll of 372 and only 6 classrooms, it was decided to add an extra storey to the building, however, construction didn't begin for another 24 years!
During the wait, in 1904, Ellon Public School was renamed Ellon Higher Grade School.
The second floor was completed by 1911 This temporarily cured what was becoming a major over-crowding problem.
In 1920, the school's name changed to Ellon Secondary School.
In the late 1930s over-crowding had returned and the Old Building was expanded again. A further 7 classrooms and the Boy's Gym were built and the Headmaster's House, which was sited on school grounds, was demolished.
 |
| This shows Ellon Secondary School from the front. The late 1930s extension makes the building more recognisable as the Old Building. You can see the "new" section on the right which includes Rooms 1, 1A, 2, 15-19 and the Boy's Gym. The Assembly Hall would later be added to the left of the door shown here and would extend towards the camera from this point of view. |
In 1948, Ellon Secondary School became Ellon Academy.
The school coat of arms was granted in November 1951 by the Lord Lyon King of Arms. The motto, "Famam Extendite Factis", which means "Extend Your Reputation by Deeds" was chosen by staff of the time from a list of suitable mottoes.
After World War 2, minor expansion took place and in 1962, the infant department was removed from the school. This meant that Mr William Braid, the then headmaster, became Ellon Academy's first Rector.
A canteen in Union Street was also built at this time, it was demolished in 1998.
The Old Building was completed between 1963 and 1966 with the addition of the Assembly Hall and the Science and RE block (rooms 23-29). Unfortunately, this did mean the demolition of the Bell Tower, a famous landmark in Ellon.
However, none of this solved Ellon Academy's over-crowding problem, many claim it still exists to this very day, but in the past it was much worse!
In 1974, the school was at bursting point. Every single centimetre of space had to be used.
The New Building was only on the drawing board and the land was purchased in this year, temporary huts were desperately needed. Classrooms for Art now included the County Cinema (which was near the BP garage), the Church Hall (beside Costcutters) and the BB Clubrooms, which were know as "The Bothy". They were so stuck for space that the Boy's Changing Room was renamed "The Art Department"!
Eventually the temporary huts, delayed due to the coal strikes, were opened, as was a new Art Department which was situated where Ellon Library is now. Mr Smith (Art), was apparently very busy assigning "manual labour" to pupils as the new department needed cleaning up, the day after it opened.
The temporary huts were known as the Annexe, These were kept in constant use until the opening of the New Building in 1979.
Two new houses were created in 1976, Forbes and Reid joined Buchan, Gordon, MacDonald and Sinclair. Keith and Cheyne were formed in 1984 and 1992 respectively.
Unfortunately, just months after the opening of the New Building in 1979, it was flooded! Builders had failed to realise that the name of the site where the New Building now stands, Caroline's Well, indicated it was the site of a natural spring. The ground floor was left under "several inches" of water and resulted in the floors and electric cables having to be relaid.
In 1988, Ellon Academy broke it's first world record, pupils and staff constructed the world's longest sandcastle. Ellon Academy went on to break this record again in 1999, beating their old one with a new record length of six and a half miles!
With the school roll nearing 1700, it was decided that both the Old Building and New Buildings were not sufficient and that an extension to the new building was needed. It was completed in 1995 and supplemented the existing huts in the back playground of the New Building.
Most recently, in 2004, Ellon Academy broke another world record, the school now holds the record for the world's biggest Scottish Reel.
Of course, throughout all of this, the school has continued to do well academically. Pupil performance, I am told, has increased steadily since the construction of the New Building. The millennium time capsule was sealed in December 2000, and is due to be opened on the first day of school in 2100, hopefully, the school will still be doing well academically then.
Niall Emmerson 6G
Chairman, Web Team 2004-2005