Forty Years of Education at Lockerbie Academy

New School is Now Open

On 28 May the keys to the new Lockerbie school campus were handed over to the Council.

On Monday 31 May staff went across to spend their first day at the new Campus. For four days they have been unpacking and preparing the school for the first group of pupils who will arrive on Friday 4 June. One of the most exciting aspects of the new school is the fact that the Primary is next door and their staff and pupils must be equally excited.

A team of Academy Staff have been preparing a new map of the school which will be given to all the pupils and staff and will assist with the fire evacuation procedures as well as general movement around the new school.

African Mural ready for the New School

Ashley Candler of S6 was the winner of the African Malawi Link Project mural, and despite a very tight deadline we are delighted that the winning mural is ready to be displayed across at the new school, along with dozens of other heritable items.

Arrangements for moving to the new school.

Secondary Section - 10 June 2010	Primary Section - 10 June 2010
With effect from Monday 31 May 2010 our contact details are as follows: Lockerbie Academy Glasgow Road Lockerbie DG11 2AT Telephone: 01576 205170 Fax: 01576 203829 Email: loffice682@ea.dumgal.sch.uk Two members of staff Hugh Young, Senior Technician, and Gordon Ferrie, Depute Rector (Senior) reflect on the last 40 years. 1970-1990 Just after the October Holiday in 1970, a fresh faced and innocent young man took up the Laboratory Technician post in Lockerbie Academy. The post was salaried and paid the handsome sum of £660/annum. After deductions that equated to about £37 per month, it seems a pitiful amount now, it was then as well! Part of the school had only recently been finished, the Music and Maths Departments. The technical drawing room is where the library is currently sited while the English Base and Room B009 was a large technical room with a large door that allowed cars to be brought in to make use of the inspection pit. The Geography Department was sited where Business Studies is now, while Science was split between the top of A block and B block. There were well known staff, William Anderson (Rector), George Gronbach (Depute Rector), Harry Reid (PE) and his wife Ruby (Library), Jack Geekie (Technical) and his wife Jan (PE), Reg Crichton (Art) and many more besides but not forgetting Sandra Marshall and Eileen Craig who dutifully manned the school Office and John Beck and Jimmy Sloan who kept the boilers stoked and the school open. Looking back at school days, it is not the buildings that we particularly remember but friends, teachers & colleagues. I well remember my first encounter with two teachers who when passing me in the corridor turned on to the other and said, “What the **** are they letting into the school now” Who would have thought that after nearly 40 years there are probably many who still have the same opinion now! Of course there have been many changes, no longer does the loud crack of Lochgelly leather hitting the raised palm of some transgressor resounding in the corridor. Technology consisted of an old film projector and coloured chalk. No video, CD or DVD, no Smart Boards and computers, no digitised video and LCD projectors even the audio cassette was unknown. In the early 70’s senior students from Langholm and Moffat attended Lockerbie to take their Highers. The school had a roll of approaching 1200 as opposed to the less than 800 which it currently has. Courses have changed too. No longer is there Latin or Greek, no more touch typing on old manual typewriters and even more amazing boys are learning to cook and girls woodwork. So here we are, on the threshold of moving to a new building which we are told is fit for purpose and the requirements of the 21st century curriculum, more importantly, Lockerbie Academy is fortunate to have staff who care for the students and students who care for their school. Hugh Young 1990-2010 On 21 December 1988 the town of Lockerbie became infamous for the Pan Am air disaster and the school and its staff were also deeply affected. Parts of the school were taken over by the police, rescue services and Pan Am. The old Primary school was used as an incident centre and never returned for Academy use. Various temporary huts appeared around the campus, but gradually the school fabric began to fall into disrepair. It was ironic that in the aftermath of the Air Disaster there may have been an opportunity from the Government to build a new school for the Lockerbie Community. This moment finally arrived 21 years later. In the aftermath of the Lockerbie disaster the school developed a very positive approach to improving Global Citizenship and international understanding. The Syracuse Scholarship was set up and 21 pairs of Lockerbie scholars enjoyed wonderful experiences as undergraduates at Syracuse University. Lockerbie Academy became the first school in Scotland to offer the International Baccalaurate, and the LEAP Project linked the Academy with schools in Norway, Finland, Italy and Poland. The Figeac exchange still continues and our pupils travel throughout the globe to the Battlefields of Belgium, USA and skiing in Italy. Africa is on the horizon Lockerbie Academy pupils were fortunate to be educated in a very creative environment and the school has achieved great success in National Burns Competitions, Dumfries Music Festival and National Public Speaking Competitions. The School Shows have always been part of the school ethos with many memorable nights with shows including Grease, Oliver, Fiddler on the Roof, Joseph and many others. Parties from the school frequently travel to London, Glasgow and Edinburgh for theatre nights. Sport has always been important to the school and few schools in Scotland can claim to have as many National, European and World Champions. The Lockerbie Academy Sports Club was set up to encourage participation and achievement and the annual Sports Awards ceremony has always been a great afternoon. Last year the school reached outstanding heights by winning the Scottish Schools Curling Championship for a record seventh time, and the Under-13 Football team winning the Scottish Cup, the first time a Regional team has ever won the “big one”. Academic achievement has always been the main drive of the school and to support this the popular Celebration of Achievement event was introduced eight years ago, along with the reintroduction of Dux and Proxime Accesit. Responsibility and leadership opportunities has been given to hundreds of pupils who became Head Boys, Head Girls, Prefects, House Captains, class reps, S3 monitors and Sports Captains. Pupils who leave Lockerbie Academy can have a Record of Achievement portfolio full of achievement and participation. Like all schools Lockerbie Academy’s greatest resource to support learning has always been the teaching staff. The school epitomised the value of team work from Head teachers Blake and Herbert to inspirational teaching staff and the vital contribution by non teaching staff. Over the last twenty years we have lost valued members of staff during service – Brian Watson (Principal Teacher, English), Graham Myles (Assistant Rector), Sandra Marshall (Rector’s secretary), Ian Gilchrist (Art Teacher) and Rab Kerr (Head Janitor), (Tommy Smail (Janitor). Many other staff have moved on to promotion in other schools and reflect back on how Lockerbie Academy allowed them to become outstanding professionals. To support staff Lockerbie Academy became the second school in Scotland to achieve IIP (Investor in People) status and has been successfully re-assessed on three more occasions. Lockerbie Academy has never rested on its laurels and this year there has been many innovative developments including our African Malawi Link, becoming a Fairtrade school having a Glee Club and achieving great success in Enterprising Activities. The school staff, pupils and parents look forward with great anticipation to stepping forward into the new campus and Education in the 21st Century. Gordon Ferrie