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Paisley Grammar School

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Established
  
1576

Staff
  
100 Full-time staff

Phone
  
+44 141 889 3484

Number of students
  
945

Head Teacher
  
Janice Levens

Gender
  
Coeducational

Local authority
  
Renfrewshire

Founded
  
1576

Paisley Grammar School

Location
  
Glasgow Road Paisley Renfrewshire PA1 3RP Scotland

Houses
  
Mull, Skye, Iona and Lewis

Address
  
Glasgow Road, Paisley PA1 3RP, United Kingdom

Similar
  
Castlehead High School, Gleniffer High School, Park Mains High School, St Andrew's Academy, Renfrew High School

Paisley Grammar School is a secondary school in Paisley, the largest town in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The school was founded in 1576 by royal charter of King James VI and is situated on Glasgow Road. The school is recognised as one of Scotland's oldest schools with an established history.

Contents

The present school building (which was called the 'Paisley Grammar School and William B. Barbour Academy' due to a bequest by the former Member of Parliament for Paisley, William B. Barbour, and until recently was the school's proper title) was opened in 1898 by Lord Balfour of Burleigh, then Secretary of State for Scotland.

The school was fee paying until the mid-1960s and in 1986, when threatened with imminent closure by Strathclyde Regional Council, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher intervened personally to ensure the survival of the school. The law was changed so that local councils could no longer close schools which were more than 80% full without approval by the Secretary of State for Scotland.

The Head Teacher is Janice Levens, who joined the school in January 2016 as Acting Head Teacher and was formally appointed to the post on 13 May 2016.

Notable former pupils

Notable former pupils include:

  • Sir William Cockburn (1891–1957), banker and cricketer
  • Colin Campbell – former Member of the Scottish Parliament (SNP)
  • Rev James Carlile (1795–1841) – Irish Commissioner of National Education
  • David Chaplin - CIO BP
  • Alasdair Fraser – aquaculture pioneer and businessman
  • Prof Thomas Gibson FRSE (1915-1993) eminent plastic surgeon and bioengineer
  • Fred Goodwin – former CEO of Royal Bank of Scotland
  • Peter Howitt (1970) – actor and film writer/director
  • Omer Hussain – Scottish cricket internationalist
  • John Jackson (1887–1958) – astronomer
  • Jacqui Lait (née Harkness) – former Member of Parliament (Conservative) and first ever female Conservative Party Whip
  • Lord McEwan – former Judge in Scottish Court of Session and High Court of Justiciary.
  • Ann McKechin – Member of Parliament (Labour)
  • Archibald McLardie (1889–1915) – lawyer and footballer
  • John Macquarrie (1919–2007) – sometime Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, University of Oxford, and Canon Residentiary, Christ Church, Oxford
  • Alexander Munro MacRobert KC (1873–1930) – former Lord Advocate and Member of Parliament (Conservative)
  • Jim Mather – former Member of the Scottish Parliament (SNP)
  • Andrew Neil – journalist and broadcaster
  • David Nish – Chief Executive of Standard Life plc
  • Brian Reid – former professional footballer and present manager of Ayr United Football Club.
  • Andrew Robertson (businessman) – former President of the Montreal Board of Trade etc.
  • Robert McGill - actor, The Hobbit Film Trilogy etc
  • David Stow
  • David Tennant – actor, (the tenth Doctor in Doctor Who)
  • Frank Walker (Scottish footballer) (1897–1949), Scottish footballer
  • Kenyon Wright – former Chairman of the Scottish Constitutional Convention
  • Lord Wylie (1923–2005) – former Lord Advocate and former Member of Parliament (Scottish Unionist Party)
  • Kenny Ireland (1945-2014) Theatre Director & Actor, notable for his role as Donald in ITV's Benidorm
  • Scott Reid actor, known for playing Methadone Mick in Still Game

    • Old Grammarians

    The Old Grammarians Club is a society formed by and for former pupils and staff of Paisley Grammar School. The club has been running in some form since 1928 and was founded with a need to 'keep in touch' after school years following world war I.

    Mrs Faye Carruthers is the current president who was elected to office in 2015.

    The Club are committed to organising social gatherings throughout the year including a yearly ball and a gold club with yearly tournament. The Old Grammarians Club also contributes to the school's annual prize-giving; giving the Old Grammarians Prize to one pupil in the sixth year.

    References

    Paisley Grammar School Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA