Prestwick Academy

Prestwick Academy is the high school serving the area of Prestwick and is run by South Ayrshire Council. The school is Non denominational school. The school has a capacity of 1400.

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coat of arms

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block 1(first building

History

Prestwick Academy was opened in 1902 as a primary School with one buildng currently known as block 1. The building was extended in 1910 and 1913 to provide more classrooms as the town of prestwick grew.All secondary school children in the area had to Ayr Academy. The school went through major expansion to accomdate secondary pupils in the 60s and more buildings were built with Primary children being moved into block 7. For children in the 50s children wanting to do exams had to go to Ayr Academy. The school leaving age was raised to 15. To cope for this expansion, block 7 was taken over by the secondary school and primary students being moved to other schools.

Departments and blocks

• Administration
• Art
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Computing studies
• English
• French
• Geography/Modern studies
• H.E
• History
• Maths
• Music
• P.E
• Physics
• R.E
• Technical

Future

As part of PPP it was announced that Prestwick Academy would be re-built with work starting in summer 2006 starting with block 7(geography)being demolished. The new school should be in oparation for 2008. The new school will a three storey building in the position of block 7. Prestwick and Belmont Academy are the only secondary schools in South ayrshire getting rebuilt withKyle Academy getting extended. All blocks will be demolished one by one.

Famous pupils

• Peter Howson -Internationally Acclaimed Artist
• Raymond Alexander Hubbard - PE Teacher & World Indoor Running Record Holder
• Laura Macdonald Smith - Saxophonist, Recording Artist & former Co-Director National Youth Jazz Orchestra
• Alastair John Malcolm - Community Police Constable
• Anne McGillvray - Director of Lifelong Learning at the University of Paisley
• Alistair Moir - Post Graduate & International Charity Worker
• Yonnie McInnes - Chief Reporter at the Ayrshire Post
• Hugh Smith - Former SAS Commander. Now an international business executive and globalscot
• Professor David Purdie - Leading authority in osteoporosis medical research
• Christine Sadler - Jewellery designer
• Ian Welsh - Chair of Borderline Theatre Company and the Scottish Advisory Committee of the Voluntary Sector National Training Organisation, a Board member of Scottish Enterprise Ayrshire, Kilmarnock College, the LIFE project in Drumchapel, the Space Place in Prestwick, and a Director of the Glaisnock House Trust
• Professor Norman Lewis -Research Scientist

Headteachers

The curent headteacher is a Colin Paterson. Previous and current known headteachers have been:

• Colin Paterson (2002-present)
• Micheal Goodwin (1999-2002)
• Roy Storie (1988-1999)
• Douglas Monikendam (1976-1988)
• Mr Murdoch(????-????)