Hermitage School - Argyl and Bute - April 2009

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Mini report as my stay was cut very short - two nice people who had been sitting watching me on candid decided that I had seen enough .

Hermitage Academy is the largest school in Argyll and Bute. Uniquely the school catchment area straddles the Highland Boundary Fault Line and can therefore be described as both a Lowland and a Highland school.

A transcript from the time when it was built reads:

18 March 1964

Mr. Steele asked the Secretary of State for Scotland when he expects work to start on the new Hermitage Academy at Helensburgh.
Lady Tweedsmuir Provided difficulties over high tender prices can be resolved the work should start within the next month or so.
Mr. Steele With regard to what the hon. Lady has said about high tender prices, is she aware that the lowest tender which came in was 18s. 3d. per sq. ft. higher than the permissible amount to which the Department has agreed? Does this mean that if the local authority is to ensure savings to get it down to the amount which the Department says it should come down to, Helensburgh, which has waited so long for this school, will get a sub-standard school compared with the accommodation and amenities provided in other schools which have just been built?
Lady Tweedsmuir No, Sir. We are determined that Hermitage Academy at Helensburgh should be a very fine school.

The school was replaced by a new build PFI project school (as many are just now) and closed May 2008.
Yes Lady Tweedsmuir a very fine school indeed !!! 44 years and its life as a building has ended.