Our History

The original Alva Academy was established in the 1860s by public subscriptions from concerned residents of the town to overcome the shortcomings of educational provision.

In 1875 a new school was built facing onto the park. The Academy was located here until 2009.

Educational change and a constantly rising school roll forced regular change to meet growing demands.

The advent of comprehensive education in 1967/68 saw the link of Tillicoultry and Alva Schools into a six year comprehensive. The annex at Firs Park, Tillicoultry saw the provision of education for S1 and S2.

The original site of the Academy was redeveloped in 1969.  The 'main block' was bounded by Queen Street, Park Street, Beauclerc Street and dominated by the concrete water tower.

The school extended outwards towards Park Street in 1980 with the development of the swimming pool and the sports complex. A 'new block' was built in 1982 and saw the start of the spread across Queen Street. This newer portion of the school building soon became inadequate to meet requirements and the huts which had begun to cluster around the school were eventually replaced by and extensive new building which was opened in 1990 (officially 1991 when the first new S1 used the building). This allowed years S1 and S2 to join the main body of the school after 30 years of division.

In April 2009, the school moved to the new campus located in the former Springburn fields next to Alva Industrial Estate.