# Wallace Hall (Thornhill)

Wallace Hall is a 2–18, state-operated comprehensive school in Thornhill, Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. The school serves all school-aged children in the local area, with three distinct schooling types operating under one building. These are; The ELC (Early Learning Centre or Nursery), Primary School, and Academy. The ELC and Primary School serves children aged 2–12 located within Thornhill's local catchment area, whilst the academy serves children aged 11–18 located within Thornhill's local catchment area, as well as a plethora of surrounding rural located Primary schools. As of November 2024, the school operates with a roll of 551 pupils (secondary), and 156 pupils (ELC and primary).

## History

The original Wallace Hall was founded by John Wallace, a merchant in Glasgow and a native of Closeburn, who, in 1717, endowed £1400 for the purpose of erecting the school, on the basis for it to teach English, Latin, Greek, Writing, and Arithmetic, all for the children of Closeburn. Upon his death in 1723, his executers purchased five acres of land, as well as farmland providing income for the rector, a year later the first schoolmaster was appointed. The school established itself over time as its reputation increased, in 1817, it was described as "indeed, one of the most celebrated academies of Scotland". In 1911, a new building was constructed which would home Wallace Hall until 1978, and now lives on as a Category B listed building, styled as Closeburn Primary School. The original building is now a Category A listed privately owned specialist education centre styled as Closeburn House. Furthermore, the John Wallace Trust continues to support young people in the Thornhill area by offering bursaries to help with the cost of higher education.
Until the early nineteen seventies, there were two secondary schools in the local area: the six-year Wallace Hall at Closeburn and the four-year Morton Academy in Thornhill. In 1972, the two schools amalgamated and the new school at Thornhill took on the name of Wallace Hall. Prior to this amalgamation, an extensive building programme was started in 1970 and completed in 1978 in order to accommodate the pupils of both schools. The school continued to flourish on this site until, however, as part of Dumfries and Galloway Council's £100 million project to build nine new schools, this building was replaced with a new Wallace Hall School, which was built opposite the original school, beside the school playing fields. The construction of the building started on 16 January 2008 and the new school opened in January 2010.

## Recent Events

In July 2017, a campaign was launched to buy and transform the building that, built in 1909, and Category C listed, originally housed Morton Academy, and then later Wallace Hall Primary, and which up-until this point had sat derelict and disused opposite to the modern Wallace Hall building. This campaign gathered steady traction over the coming months, amounting in money being awarded for the purpose of renovation and purchase, from the Scottish Land Fund, as well as the Architectural Heritage Fund and Thornhill Community Council. In June 2019, a charity is formed under the name of Old School Thornhill (OST), which allows for more funding to be collected from the Holywood Trust, Dumfries and Galloway Council and South of Scotland Enterprise. In total, OST claims to have raised more than £2.5 million towards renovation works, of which lasted from 2022 until 2024. The building was officially opened for public usage on the 20th of April 2024.
Throughout the first half of 2023, the school held celebrations in order to mark its 300 year old milestone. In the lead up to the celebrations, a competition was held by the Wallace Hall Community Group for current pupils to design a commemorative 300 year logo for the occasion, after voting, it was won by Darach Smyth, with a 62% vote share. When the celebrations did take place, they included (but where not limited to): a handbook being produced covering the extensive history of Wallace Hall, a film being produced documenting experiences from pupils past and present, with a look around the former Wallace Hall, now Closeburn Primary School, and 3 days of consecutive celebratrions being held at Wallace Hall, Closeburn Primary School, and Closeburn House. In addition, on the 13th of June 2023, Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, submitted a motion to the Scottish Parliament congratulating Barry Graham and Wallace Hall for reaching the 300 years milestone.

## COVID-19 response

In March 2020, the school closed temporarily following a government imposed national lockdown, as well as the announcement by the then First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, that all schools and nurseries would be closing, all to prevent the spread of COVID-19. During the later half of 2020 (August until December), the school reopened, however with severe mitigations in place (such as a One Way System in the corridors, staggered lesson times for each year group, Social Distancing, and later on, mask wearing), this following a (then ongoing) formal risk assessment conducted by Barry Graham and other senior management staff on behalf of Dumfries and Galloway Council, as well as guidance issued by the Scottish Government on the matter.
In March 2021, following government restrictions easing, the school reopened again, implementing similar mitigation measures (such as mandatory mask-wearing and social distancing) to guard against the spread of COVID-19. In Spring 2022, all mitigations were dropped and the school returned to normal operations.
In May 2022, the school held its first diet of SQA examinations since 2019, having returned to normal operations after the COVID-19 pandemic.

## Notable former pupils

* Dr Aglionby Ross Carson, educator
* Andrew Coltart, European Tour golfer
* Prof John Hunter joint founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Principal of two colleges at St Andrews University
* Leo Kearse, Comedian
* Emily Smith, Scottish folk music singer
* Nicky Spence, opera singer
* Andrew Wallace Williamson, KCVO and Chaplain-in-Ordinary to the King in Scotland; also Dean of the Order of the Thistle and the Chapel Royal in Scotland, 1910–25; Moderator of the Church of Scotland 1913–1914