120th Anniversary
Education was a growing problem in the late 19th century
EDUCATION was one of the biggest issues featured in the Herald in its first decade, including the opening of Lenzie Academy in 1886 and Townhead School in 1890.
The Academy was built to satisfy the demands of the local commuter population of Lenzie, which at that age had grown to over 1500.
The Glasgow and Edinburgh Railway Company offered free rail travel to new Lenzie householders, but only to homes worth over £500. By doing this, they hoped to establish a middle-class community in Lenzie housed in the stone built villas and cottages built in the 1870's and 1880's.
On the day of the school's opening on 1st September 1886, 220 pupils enrolled, many of whom were from the local private schools of Young and Gemmel in South Lenzie.
The building - which has remained as the Lenzie Primary School building on Kirkintilloch Road - housed the congregation of St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church and acted as a meeting hall for the people of Lenzie until the erection of the Public hall in 1892. An extension to the original building was completed in 1910, which allowed the school to accommodate more pupils.
It wasn’t until 1959 when the roll of the school, both primary and secondary, was approaching 1000 that it was decided to build on a new site. And on 21st September 1960, the new Lenzie Academy building at its current location, was opened.
WHEN Townhead School was opened in 1890 it was hailed as a great example of the new free education system.
Kirkintilloch Burgh School Board was formed in 1872 after the Government of the time passed the Education Act which meant free education had to be provided for children.
Townhead School was one of the first schools to be opened in the area on June 6, 1890, with space for 600 pupils.
FREE EDUCATION
At the time of the opening, the Kirkintilloch Herald wrote: "The building presented a very bright appearance, and was much admired for that and for the completeness of its equipment.
"The total cost of the school, including the price of the site ... will be about £6,500."
Chairman of the school board, Reverend William Patrick, a minister at St David's Free Church, after whom Kirkintilloch’s library was named, led the proceedings at the grand opening.
The Herald wrote about the speech given by his guest Sir John Neilson Cuthbertson, the chairman of the Glasgow School Board, which highlights some of the views held on education at the end of the 19th Century.
The paper wrote: "Referring to the fact that no fees were being charged, he (Sir John) said that was a circumstance that marked an era in the history of education of which he thought too little had been made.
"He had not noticed ... any special rejoicings at the introduction of free education, but it was the biggest thing that had been done in his day."
And the report went on: "He remembered well the state of things that immediately preceded ...it was quite inadequate for the necessities of the times.
"... the large cities and centres of mining and industry had outgrown local provision and arrangements for education.
"In Glasgow at that time they had not accommodation for much more than half the number of children that were in the city. If all the children insisted on turning out in 1872 there would have been a deficiency of about 30,000 places."
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