| Administrative History | The Girls Academy was established by Aberdeen School Board in 1874. The school at first offered only an elementary education but, from 1878, also offered advanced classes. The school was designated a Higher Class School in 1881, and at the same time, the school's name was changed to the Aberdeen High School for Girls. The school was organised into the 'lower school' (later known as the primary department), for girls aged up to 12 or 13 years, and the 'higher school' (later known as the secondary department), for older pupils. Until 1911, the school also admitted boys to the kindergarten or infant department. On the advent of junior secondary schools in the 1920s, the High School for Girls was classified as a 'senior secondary' school.
Payment of fees for education at Aberdeen School Board schools was abolished in 1890, with the exception of pupils at Aberdeen High School for Girls and Aberdeen Grammar School. Fees were payable for pupils of both the primary and secondary departments at the High School for Girls until the abolition of school fees in 1947. Thereafter, pupils were selected for the primary department on the basis of a test to determine whether the pupil might be suitable for secondary education. The method of entry to the secondary department remained unchanged from 1947: pupils were admitted to the secondary department from the High School for Girls primary department and from other primary schools in the City, on the results of the control, or transfer, examination.
The Girls Academy was housed first in Little Belmont Street, in buildings formerly occupied by the Town's Schools. In 1891, Aberdeen School Board purchased 19 Albyn Place, originally built as Mrs Emslie's Institution (the Aberdeen Female Orphan Asylum - see AET/AFOA), and the school was re-housed there in August 1893. A new building, opened in May 1904, provided a gymnasium, school hall, rooms for cookery and laundry, and laboratories for chemistry, physics and biology. The School Board purchased 18 Albyn Place in April 1919 to provide accommodation for the primary department. Following a major fire in March 1935 in which the hall and the rooms for cookery and laundry were destroyed, the Town Council education committee purchased 20 Albyn Place to provide additional accommodation. The school underwent an extensive reconstruction which was not completed until after the second world war.
The organisation of the school was altered fundamentally in the 1960s. In 1963, the Town Council Education Committee decided to abolish the primary departments at the Girls High School and the Grammar School. The final intake of primary children took place in August 1964.
The Aberdeen Town Council Education Committee resolved in 1966 to pursue a one-tier comprehensive system for secondary education. This scheme envisaged re-organising the schools in the City to provide one secondary school in each area, drawing pupils from a number of feeder primary schools. Under the scheme all pupils would transfer to a secondary school aged 11 or 12 without any selection based on level of attainment. The scheme of re-organisation included abolition of the senior secondary schools, including the High School for Girls.
Comprehensive secondary education was introduced in August 1970, at which point the school's name was changed to Harlaw Academy (Girls' High School). All female pupils from Ashley Road, Mile End, Skene Street and Skene Square Schools, plus the sole remaining class of the High School for Girls primary department formed the first intake for the school in August 1970. Female pupils from the four primary schools formed the intake to Harlaw Academy up to and including September 1972. Boys from same primary schools went to Rubislaw Academy (Aberdeen Grammar School).
Harlaw Academy (Girls' High School) merged with Ruthrieston Secondary School in August 1972, and the school was thereafter known as Harlaw Academy. The headteacher of Harlaw Academy (Girls High School) became the headteacher of the combined school in November 1972. See GB 228 AT5/22 for the administrative history of Ruthrieston Secondary School.
The feeder primaries for Harlaw Academy changed on the introduction of co-education in August 1973. From then, both male and female pupils from Ferryhill, Broomhill and Inchgarth Schools were admitted as the new intake. Initially all the first year pupils were housed in the Ruthrieston building which was known as the Harlaw Ruthrieston Annexe. In turn, Ruthrieston Secondary School's 5th year pupils and half the 3rd year pupils were moved to the main building from August 1973, sharing the premises with the 2nd to 6th year female pupils admitted to Harlaw Academy (Girls' High School) prior to June 1973.
The school remained on split-site until August 1979, since when all pupils have been accommodated in the main building on Albyn Place. |