The Shaw Family

Stories by Julie Keys (nee Shaw), Elizabeth Donald (nee Shaw) and Emily Keys

Julie: I attended Airdrie Academy from 1988-1994. My brother, Fraser Shaw, attended at the same time as me (he was one year above). My cousins Stuart, Graeme and Euan Donald were Academy pupils too. My daughter Emily is currently in S2 and my son Sam is due to start S1 in August 2024- right at the 175th Anniversary!

My family have a long association with the school. My dad’s side of the family all come from Airdrie. My paternal grandmother, Helen Gardner was a pupil back around the 1920s and as the youngest of 13 children I would assume not the only one to attend Airdrie Academy. As the only boy, Dad (Harry Shaw) was sent to a high school in Glasgow, but both his sisters attended Airdrie Academy in the 1950s. My Aunt Elisabeth Shaw was Head Girl. She has a few memories from her time at the school.

Elizabeth Donald (nee Shaw) - pupil 1954-1960

Liz: I was at Airdrie Academy from 1954 to 1960. At that time, it was a senior secondary school. You sat an exam in the last year of primary school and the successful candidates were picked to attend ‘The Academy’.

At the time there were only around 400 pupils in attendance. The curriculum was focused on subjects such as Latin, Maths, Science, French, English, and Gymnastics. There were separate gyms for boys and for girls. Girls were not permitted to do certain classes.

The teachers at the time I was there nearly all had nicknames. We called the Rector, WC Henderson, “Flush”. There was also ‘Lollipop legs’ in Domestic science, ‘Claude’ in music, ‘Tearer’ the Latin teacher and ‘Annabel’ the French teacher.

We had religious services three times a week held in the beautiful domed assembly hall. We would stand to sing the hymns and then sit down on the floor to hear announcements. No seats: the students all sat on the floor. The girls and boys had separate playgrounds each on either side of the dome.

The lunchroom was divided in two half hours sittings. One week we would go early the next late. We would buy a week’s worth of dinner tickets on Monday. We would sit eight to a table. The food was delicious too. If we did not play outside during lunch time, we could go to our home room.

This is my class photograph from 1959:

You can see the style of school uniform we wore. The skirts were either pencil skirt or a man made pleated material and the schoolteachers were very strict about the length. We used to roll them up and some girls wore “stick out” petticoats to make them look sexier! We also wore our school ties and blazers. Your badge was coloured according to the house group: Cleddans (blue) Faskine (yellow) Monklands (red) or Rochsoles (white). As it went by surname, my house group was Rochsoles.

The positions of Prefects, boys’ and girls’ Captains and School Captains were highly sought after. In order to secure votes, you needed to organise a meeting, make a speech to the other pupils then be successful in a vote.This photograph is from school year 1959/1960. My best friend Ann Macpherson was Girls Vice-Captain, and I was Girls Captain. We were so proud and happy!

At certain some points in the year, we had social dances. We practiced our steps in PE and then came into school on an evening to socialize

In the trio, I am on the right, then Elizabeth Jarvie (now Fleming) in the middle and Ann MacPherson on the left.

In the duo, I am on the right then Ann Macpherson on the right. We are wearing our “Californian Cotton” frocks, these were very “in” at the time! The height of fashion!

We are all still friends to this day and it is lovely to share memories going back over seventy years, which all started during our time at Airdrie Academy.

Julie

You asked for some memories I have from my time at Airdrie Academy? Quite a few spring to mind. I have great memories of hanging about in the Technical block with all our friends at break and lunch in first and second year. Heaven forbid if you needed to go down the corridor as we would sit at both sides with our legs stretched out making it impossible for anyone to get past!In 4th and 5th year one of our French teachers (possibly Mrs McMeekin) allowed us to use her classroom at breaks and lunch so we have our own space to hang out with friends.I remember a joint school exchange trip with St Ambrose High School to Châtellerault in France. Mrs McMeekin came with us. It took place between the 15th and 24th of June 1993 when I was in S4. The visitors had come to Scotland the year before. I have a few pictures:

Julie Keys (nee Shaw)pupil 1989-1995

A lot of the lasting memories I have are from my sixth year at Airdrie Academy in the school years 1994-1995.

The 6th Year common room was traditionally in the house block, but the space was stuffy, and a lot of the furniture and facilities had been wrecked by previous students. We asked our headteacher, Mr Smith, if we could clear out the area which I believe had previously been a library in the A block and had gardens directly outside.

Thankfully he agreed and when our exams were over, and we started our 6th year timetable in the June of 1994 we all got together and tidied and cleaned up what ended up being our 6th year common room! Some of us even did some gardening to make it a bit nicer. It was a great place to hang out, study and catch up every day, although a wee bit cold at times. The main point is that it was ours! We even had a sixth year Christmas lunch with pupils and teachers in attendance.

In the run up to Christmas we had lunch together in the s6 common room with some of our teachers and then our dance in the main assembly hall. Looking back at these pictures, it doesn’t seem so long ago. We will pretend it’s not thirty years ago…

I used to love the school discos in the old dome assembly hall where we had our Christmas dance. When it came to 5th and 6th Year it was always both year groups together. It was a big event! You would spend time at your friend’s house getting ready. We would fill days beforehand talking about it and it was always a great chance to chat up boys or dance with your friends.

I remember the scandal and gossip the next day. It was fun to discover who got caught sloping off with their boyfriend/ girlfriend by the teachers. I really feel for Emily's generation missing out on this social side of school. Discos are now on a Friday afternoon, so they don't really get that buzz of going for a night out. Granted there are so many other social events such as the theatre and trips to so many different places I’m sure she won't miss out.

This is my senior year group photo in 1994/95. We voted not to have prefects or captains that year- we wanted to boycott all that nonsense!

In 1995 the students organised the first ever Airdrie Academy trip to Alton towers. That’s a tradition that is still going strong to this day. It was a fantastic day and a great set of memories to leave school with too! Here are some pictures of the day. They still make me smile!

My memories overall of Airdrie Academy are positive. It is lovely to see how much my daughter, Emily is enjoying it since starting in 2022. She has a great group of friends, and they are involved in several activities across the school. She is very sporty and has represented Airdrie Academy at County sports and netball. Emily has attended several trips including Alton Towers. Emily plays in the junior band and has taken part in numerous performances over the last two years. Emily also took part in storytelling visits to local primary and nursery schools in S1 which she enjoyed. Its lovely to see her enjoying so many aspects of secondary school just like her mum, uncle, second cousins, great Aunties, and great Gran Shaw before her!

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