The Glasgow Academy

The Glasgow Academy is a coeducational private day school for pupils aged 3–18 in Glasgow, Scotland. In 2016, it had the third-best Higher level exam results in Scotland. Founded in 1845, it is the oldest continuously fully private school in Glasgow.

History
In May 1845, William Campbell of Tullichewan convened a meeting in the Star Hotel in George Square with Free Church ministers to discuss establishing "an Academic Institution in the City". As a result of this meeting, The Glasgow Academy was formed.

The school war memorial was designed by former pupil Alexander Nisbet Paterson in 1922.

In 1981 the school admitted girl pupils for the first time.

In 1991, Glasgow Academy merged with Westbourne School for Girls, adopting the distinctive purple of its uniform in the school badge and tartan. It is located in the Kelvinbridge area and has approximately 1350 pupils, split between three preparatory school sites and a senior school. The current rector is Matthew Pearce, who has held the position since 2019.

The Academy is one of the schools in Scotland which are Stonewall School Champions, an LGBT initiative which provides training for staff and pupils against homophobic bullying.

The Glasgow Academy's preparatory school is the first school in the UK to have been awarded the Diana Gold Award for Anti-Bullying.

HMIe last inspected the school in November 2008.

House system
The school has a well established house system, which divides all pupils in the school into four different Houses, each represented by a School Colour:
 * Arthur
 * Fraser
 * Morrison
 * Temple

All of the houses are named after notable alumni or previous Rectors that have influenced the Academy greatly.

In the Senior School, House assemblies are normally held once a week and are run by two teachers, one male and one female, as Head of Houses.

Senior Pupils enter a wide range of activities competing in Houses. These activities include football, rugby, hockey, debating, Netball as well as an annual House singing competition and an annual Sports Day.

Notable alumni

 * Frederick Anderson, Chairman, Municipal Council, Shanghai International Settlement, 1905–06.
 * John Arthur, Church of Scotland missionary to East Africa.
 * J. M. Barrie, writer of Peter Pan
 * Laura Bartlett, British hockey international and Olympic athlete
 * John Beattie (rugby player), rugby player for Scotland and British Lions
 * James Bridie playwright, screenwriter and physician
 * Jack Buchanan, actor, singer & dancer.
 * Sir James Caird (1864–1954), founder of the National Maritime Museum.
 * Sir David Young Cameron (1865–1945), Scottish painter and etcher.
 * Billy Campbell, winner of the 2009 Scottish BAFTA Best Fictional Film award for 'Life of a Pigeon'.
 * Sir John Cargill, Chairman of Burmah Oil Company, 1904–1943
 * Jackson Carlaw, Scottish Conservative Party MSP
 * Horatio Scott Carslaw (1870–1954), Professor of Pure and Applied Mathematics at the University of Sydney.
 * Archibald Corbett, 1st Baron Rowallan, politician and philanthropist.
 * Douglas Crawford, Scottish National Party MP
 * Pippa Crerar, Political Editor of the Daily Mirror
 * Darius Campbell (born Danesh), singer-songwriter & actor
 * Ryan Dalziel, professional racing driver
 * Donald Dewar, Scottish Labour Party MP and MSP, first First Minister of Scotland
 * Professor Ronald Drever, Professor of Physics at Caltech and part of the team that first detected gravitational waves
 * Andrew Dunlop, Baron Dunlop, Conservative peer
 * Walter Elliot, Scottish Unionist Party MP, Secretary of State for Scotland
 * Niall Ferguson, Professor of History at Harvard University
 * Alexander Forrester, cricketer and cricket administrator
 * George MacDonald Fraser, author
 * John Gardner (law), Professor of Jurisprudence, University of Oxford
 * Thomas Dunlop Galbraith, 1st Baron Strathclyde, Scottish Unionist Party MP
 * Group Captain Sir Louis Leisler Greig, KBE, CVO British naval surgeon, and intimate of King George VI (1880–1953)
 * Sir Angus Grossart, Chairman and executive director of merchant bank Noble Grossart
 * Rev. Dr Andrew Harper, Scottish–Australian Biblical scholar and Principal of the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne and St Andrew's College, Sydney (also attended Scotch College, Melbourne)
 * Sir Michael Hirst, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party MP and chairman
 * Sir William Wilson Hunter, KCSI CIE (1840–1900)
 * Andrew Innes, rhythm guitarist for Primal Scream
 * Andrew Innes, cricketer
 * Sir Jeremy Isaacs Founder of Channel 4
 * William Paton Ker, literary critic
 * John Kerr, Baron Kerr of Kinlochard, diplomat and crossbench life peer
 * Colin Kidd, Professor of Modern History at University of Glasgow
 * Alexander Dunlop Lindsay, 1st Baron Lindsay of Birker, philosopher
 * Maurice Lindsay CBE Scottish broadcaster, writer and poet (1918–2009).
 * Sir James Lithgow, shipbuilder and industrialist; 1883–1952
 * Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum
 * Robert Maclennan, Baron Maclennan of Rogart, leader of the Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Democrats
 * Alan MacNaughtan, actor
 * Guy McCrone, author and founding member of the Glasgow Citizens Theatre
 * George Matheson theologian and preacher (1842–1906)
 * Jim Mollison pioneer aviator (1905–1959)
 * W. H. Murray, mountaineer, explorer and writer
 * Robin Nisbet (1925–2013), professor of Latin literature
 * David Omand Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, former senior British civil servant, visiting professor at King's College London
 * Alexander Pollock, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party MP, sheriff
 * James Prime, keyboard player for Deacon Blue, lecturer at the University of the West of Scotland
 * William Ramsay, Nobel laureate (Chemistry 1904), discovered the gas 'Argon'
 * John Reith, 1st Baron Reith, founder of the BBC
 * Albert Russell, Scottish Unionist Party MP, Solicitor General for Scotland
 * James Scott, obstetrician and gynaecologist
 * William Sharp, poet and literary biographer
 * Chris Simmers, professional rugby union player and Scotland rugby league international
 * Ninian Smart, scholar of religion
 * Norman Stone, historian
 * Euan Stubbs, cricketer
 * Iain Vallance, Baron Vallance of Tummel, ex-Chief Executive of BT, Liberal Democrat politician
 * Herbert Waddell Scottish rugby internationalist and president of the Barbarians (1902–1988)
 * William Walker, cricketer, cricket administrator, and British Army officer
 * Sir James Wordie, polar explorer and geologist

Notable alumnae of Westbourne School for Girls

 * Vivien Heilbron, actress
 * Fiona Kennedy, singer, actress and broadcaster
 * Kate Mavor, CEO of English Heritage
 * Jacqueline Lee, Chair, Association for Heritage Interpretation, Founder Artemis Scotland.