Forfar Academy

Forfar Academy Academy Street 1815-1965

Too late to photograph the original Forfar Academy before it had become Chapel Park Primary School and a bed of shrubs had materialised in front of the original building which still exists in Academy Street. It was completed in 1815 and the west wing extension was added later. In 1957, Miss Milne taught English and History in Room 16 which was at the extreme left end of the west wing on the ground floor. There was no fire escape from the upper floor back in the 1950s. The same architect who designed Montrose Academy was also responsible for Forfar Academy and the original buildings of both schools bear a resemblance to one another. The 1910 building (above right) housed the gymnasium and music rooms. When these photographs were taken in the early 2000s the buildings had passed to Chapel Park Primary School - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

In 2016 the Old Academy was on the Royal Burgh of Forfar's Heritage Trail and was being converted into apartments but the plaque has now been removed - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

The Old Academy has been transformed into affordable homes for social rent with the former playground forming the car park (2018) - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Although transformed into apartments there has been little change to the façade of the buildings - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Forfar Academy Taylor Street 1965-2017

The main entrance to Forfar Academy which was relocated to Taylor Street, the school buildings being completed in 1965 and opened by the Queen Mother - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Forfar Academy as it was in the early 2000s - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Main entrance and foyer in the building's last year of existence - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Roll of Honour for the Great War and the Second World War (left); the Honours Boards (right) which date back to to the 1840s were brought over from Academy Street - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Tributes to past masters - James Brodie, who taught mathematics from 1871 to 1899 and Adam Smith Thomson who was the Rector from 1897 to 1925. Other rectors, including Dr Allardice and Mr Gillespie had their photographs displayed around the walls of the Boardroom. The School Archives contain pupils' records dating from the 1840s - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

The quadrangle and duck pond to which the ducks used to return every year to bring up their broods of ducklings - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Every year the ducks came and nested in the quadrangle. The playing fields on which the 2017 school has been built - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

The Hall doubled as a refectory and an auditorium and is seen here set for lunch. Meals were cooked on the premises and the serving hatches can be seen in the centre of the photograph on the left. The honours boards show the prize winners dating from 1965 when the Taylor Street campus opened - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

The last year (2016) when birds and the ducks could nest in the quadrangle - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Taylor Street and the Hall (left); the block which housed the Technical, and Music and Art rooms (right) - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Dreich winter days as the end draws nigh for the demise of the Taylor Street complex - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

1 September 2016 - the day when pupils were released from class to observe the solar eclipse. A quote from Burns' "To A Louse" printed on the wall of a ground floor corridor - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

By autumn 2016 the end was nigh for the Taylor Street campus - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Views from Taylor Street with demolition under way in July 2017 - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Within weeks the site had been completely cleared - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow
Ironically the 1965 building lasted just 52 years while the 1815 building, albeit no longer a school, will go on for many years past its bicentennial - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Forfar Academy Kirriemuir Road completed and opened in 2017

19 January 2015. The ground is cleared for the third Forfar Academy building - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

20 January 2015. Work continued on most days in nearly all weathers - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

21 January 2015 - looking towards the Kirriemuir Road where the buildings and yard of the agricultural engineers, Peter Small Ltd, can be seen left of centre in the above photograph. The complex was taken over by the Council when Peter Small Ltd ceased to exist in the mid 1960s - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

27 March 2015. The tower crane would be removed after the building reached its maximum height - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

June 2016. The Old and the New - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

22 June 2016. The new school viewed from the old - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

31 January 2017. The new school and a new games pitch under construction seen from the old school some weeks later - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Kirriemuir Road - Forfar Community Campus incorporating Forfar Academy
opened 16 February 2017

Forfar Community Campus incorporating Forfar Academy, August 2018 - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Forfar Community Campus or, in keeping with Angus Council's policy of promoting Gaelic, Àrainn Coimhearsnachd Fharfair - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow
	Forfar Academy Ducks
The Forgotten Forfar Academy
There was another Forfar Academy, now almost forgotten. Forfar Academy primary school, unlike the Higher Academy, was a fee paying school situated off Lour Road at the end of Kirkriggs and behind the old South School. There were three buildings and a dining hall arranged around a large playground. The dining hall was also used by pupils attending the Higher Academy and in 1957-8 S1 pupils at the Higher attended music lessons in the old South School. In 1952 Helen Langlands taught Primary 2, Nancy McLean Primary 3 and Jean Rodgers, well-known for her "Chronicles of Mary Ann", which appeared regularly in the Forfar Dispatch, taught Primary 4. The headmaster (the term head teacher was not used then) was Mr McLaren. Forfar Academy primary school pupils did PT (not PE!) under the watchful eye of Iain Henderson in the Higher gym in Academy Street. By the early sixties Forfar Academy Primary was no more. The site was cleared and new buildings erected which formed part of a primary school.
Home Page www.mccrow.org.uk	Tayside Today