| Administrative History | The school originated as the Stoneywood Works Schools, established by Messrs A Pirie & Sons, proprietors of Stoneywood Works, in 1865. The Works Schools comprised separate male and female schools, instructed by separate teachers. Two houses for teachers were provided on the same site. The two single-sex schools were combined to from a mixed school in November 1879.
Following the Education (Scotland) Act, 1872, and the establishment of Newhills School Board, Pirie & Sons intimated their resolution to exclude infants from the Stoneywood Works Schools. The School Board erected a new school for infants at Woodend, known as Stoneywood Public School. The Works Schools remained open, under the control of Pirie & Sons, but catered only for older pupils.
In 1879 Pirie & Sons announced their intention to close the Works Schools in July 1880. The School Board decided not to purchase the Works School buildings. Instead the Board decided to erect additional accommodation adjacent to the Public School at Woodend for the 200 pupils then attending the Works Schools. The Board rented the Works School buildings from Pirie & Sons, and ran the school there from August 1880 until the completion of the new school buildings in April 1881.
From 1881 the two sections of Stoneywood Public School, the infant school and the mixed school, were managed as a single unit under one headteacher. Until 1939 the school provided education for all pupils up to the leaving age: 13 years until 1901, and 14 years from 1901. Management of the school was transferred from Newhills School Board to Aberdeenshire Education Authority in 1919, and to Aberdeen County Council Education Committee in 1929.
Aberdeen County Council Education Committee resolved to provide separate accommodation for those pupils who passed the qualifying examination for secondary education. A new school was constructed at Bankhead, and Stoneywood School was reconstructed as a primary school only. During reconstruction of the school, from August 1939 to August 1940, primary pupils from Stoneywood School were accommodated in the new Bankhead School premises; the infant pupils continued to be taught in wooden classrooms on the Stoneywood School site.
The school re-opened in August 1940 as a primary school only. Pupils who had qualified for secondary education thereafter attended Bankhead Secondary School, or attended a senior secondary school in Aberdeen. |