Banchory Academy

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Banchory Academy is a secondary school serving Banchory, Scotland and surroundings, including the neighbouring communities of Raemoir, Crathes, Strachan, Drumoak, Durris, Inchmarlo and Glassel. It currently accommodates roughly 779 pupils.RectorThe Rector is Judith Wight, assisted by Depute Rectors Graham Bett, Colin Nicoll and Scott Phimister.Academic performanceBanchory Academy ranks amongst the top state schools in Scotland, performing consistently well in SQA examinations. A consistently above average proportion of pupils remain at school for fifth and sixth year to take Intermediate, Higher and Advanced Higher courses. The HM Inspectors of Education report in 2006 judged school accommodation as being 'weak', noting that it was insufficient for the rising school roll. All other school quality indicators were rated 'good', 'very good' or 'excellent'.Banchory in the newsIn 2008 turf lawn was laid in the sixth year common room. In 2014, Banchory Academy was involved in a legal battle with a previous S6 student for remakes made on the social networking site, Twitter. It is believed that the comments made were directed towards the senior management team at the time. The student was removed from the school with immediate affect and the legal case was dropped. The identity of the student has never been disclosed nor were the comments posted onto the site. The legal case was dropped soon after and no further action was taken.Notable former pupilsMatt Prodger, JournalistAndrew Considine, Professional footballer, Aberdeen Football ClubPeter Pawlett, Professional footballer, Aberdeen Football Club, Scotland YouthAshly Rae, Hollywood actressPete Cashmore, new media expert, founder of Mashable Stuart Donaldson, Former SNP Member of Parliament for West Aberdeenshire and KincardineBen Kilner, Professional Snowboarder