Mintlaw Academy

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Mintlaw Academy is a secondary school in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

History It was opened in 1981 with about 600 enrolled students, and in August of 2003 it had about 920 enrolled students with a capacity of 1,000. The rector is Willie McWhirr. It serves the rural communities of Central Buchan and draws pupils from the villages of Mintlaw, Fetterangus, Longside, Maud, New Deer, New Pitsligo, Strichen and Stuartfield and the surrounding area.

The school has a range of extra-curricular activities available to pupils.

Known as the best school for Girls Football in Scotland^{[citation needed]} and one of the best in the UK, Mintlaw Academy has had much success in this area. As of January 2007 the senior girls team has remained unbeaten for over three years.

At Mintlaw Academy there are five houses. Aden (named after the nearby Aden Country Park), Brucklay (named after Brucklay estate between Maud and New Deer), Deer (named after Deer Abbey a few miles from the school), Mormond (named after Mormond Hill near Strichen) and Ugie (named after the river Ugie flowing past Mintlaw). In the past there was an annual Activities Day involving various typed of inter-house competition and after a number of years without Activities Day, this was reinstated in 2005. The current title-holder is Mormond house.

Also since the school opened there has been an annual ski-trip, usually to Switzerland but there have been other destinations as well. These trips have always been lead by head of Aden house John Peterson. The other main excursion is the German trip for Standard Grade German pupils. For a long time Mintlaw Academy was the only school in Scotland to have more pupils studying German than French^{[citation needed]}.

Mintlaw Academy has a school newspaper, run solely by pupils. "The Quartet" is released four times a year; it features interviews with new teachers and various other articles.

Once every two years the school holds a sponsored walk, in which all pupils walk from Mintlaw to Maud and back again along the old Buchan railway line. Normally this raises in the regions of £15,000 for student facilities.

Also annually is the Burns supper for senior pupils and teachers. Held in the Ban Car in Lonmay, the mid January celebration of Robert Burns has been a longstanding tradition at Mintlaw Academy.

Extra-Curricular activities available as of 2007 include Netball, boys and girls hockey, boys and girls football, badminton, alpha-beta club, debating club, running club, drama club, rugby union, book-explorers club and warhammer club. Also available to the senior pupils are a variety of committees. Burns Supper, charities, amnesty international, yearbook, anti-bullying and parents evening.

2007 is the 25th anniversary of the school's opening. A small book has been released discussing the last quarter century and a ceilidh has been organised for the Beach Ballroom in Aberdeen to bring together former students, teachers, current pupils and staff. This is hoped to be a major success.