Greenock Academy
The Greenock Academy Building as 'Waterloo Road' in 2012
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| Motto | 'Hinc Vera Virtus' ('From This Place Comes True Worth') |
|---|---|
| Established | 1855 |
| Closed | 2011 2015 (Waterloo Road Demolishment Building) |
| Type |
Secondary School (1855–2011) Secondary and Primary School (1855–1976) |
| Headteacher | Moira McColl (2001-2011) |
| Location |
Madeira Street Greenock West Renfrewshire PA16 7XE Scotland Coordinates: 55°57′22″N 4°46′44″W / 55.956°N 4.779°W |
| Local authority | Inverclyde |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Colours | Maroon / white (Greenock Academy Colours) Black And Yellow (Waterloo Road) |
| Website | greenockacademy |
The Greenock Academy was a mixed non-denominational school in the west end of Greenock, Scotland, founded in 1855, originally independent, later a grammar school with a primary department, and finally a Comprehensive school only for ages eleven to eighteen. On 24 June 2011, Greenock Academy closed after a history spanning 156 years. In 2012 the school became the former home of BBC One school drama Waterloo Road.
The Greenock Academy was opened as a fee paying secondary and primary establishment in September 1855 in Nelson Street, Greenock. The school lay at this central Greenock location for almost a century of its lifetime before the building was demolished and moved to a modern building in Madeira Street of Greenock's west end, on the site of the old Balclutha mansion. The Nelson Street site is now occupied by the Finnart Campus of James Watt College.
The new Academy featured both a secondary and primary school with the later named 'south wing' area being the primary school. On 29 December 1968 BBC Scotland's version of Songs of Praise came from the school; the rest of the UK saw it from Holy Trinity Platt Church in Rusholme, Manchester.
The school had a yacht club, and competed in the Clark Cup of Mudhook Yacht Club at Helensburgh. Another similar school with a yacht club was Rothesay Academy on the Isle of Bute.
The primary department was abolished in 1976 and the lower door handles and alphabet tiles still remained into the years as a secondary school.
The Madeira Street campus remained open through into the new millennium as Greenock Academy clocked up its 150th year in 2005. Three years later, the school was named as the best non-denominational school in Scotland and still remained within the top 10% of Scottish secondary schools long after the announcement. The disrepair of the ageing building overthrew the academic performance of the academy and in 2011 the school prepared to shut its doors after 156 years in service.
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