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St Matthew's Academy
21/05/2008
First Minister Alex Salmond joined His Eminence Cardinal Keith O'Brien this evening to officially open St Matthew's Academy in North Ayrshire, completing the full set of schools in North Ayrshire named after the four evangelists - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
The school is the only Catholic secondary school in North Ayrshire and was formed by the amalgamation of St Andrew's Academy in Saltcoats and St Michael's Academy, Kilwinning. It is the Council's second-largest school with a roll of more than 1,500 pupils and around 150 staff.
The First Minister said:
"It was Matthew who recorded the instruction to teach, and that's why I think it's fitting that he lends his name to the first Catholic secondary school in North Ayrshire - completing the set of saint's schools. I hope St Matthew's Academy will teach generations of young Scots and help them to achieve their potential.
"Faith schools can make a valuable contribution to our rich Scottish culture and St Matthew's Academy, by sharing sports facilities with local residents, is a great example of the benefits they can bring when married to their communities."
Cardinal O'Brien said:
"The Catholic community has always endeavoured to ensure that Catholic schools are centres of excellence, not only with regard to education for our young people in secular subjects, but also with regard to their formation in the Catholic Christian faith and moral values.
"Building on the foundations which have been laid by St Andrew's Academy and St Michael's Academy, I am sure that St Matthew's will continue these proud traditions and that it will become a school of which pupils, parents, teachers and all in our society, can be justifiably proud. I ask God's blessing on all who have been and will be involved in St Matthew's Academy."
Since May last year, the Scottish Government has signed off the construction of 45 new schools in Scotland - 14 under the non-profit distribution (NPD) model - while four further projects in the pipeline will take the total to over 50 schools. The Scottish Government expects to deliver around 250 new or refurbished schools over the term of this Parliament.
St Matthew's Academy was developed in consultation with staff and pupils and features a winged three storey structure with a 'drum' or curved area. In addition to a social/dining area and offices there's a 500 seat auditorium, an oratory, drama studio, café-lounge and art and music classrooms. Every classroom and tutorial room is equipped with a wall-mounted interactive electronic whiteboard and ceiling-mounted projector.
The school also provides indoor and outdoor sporting facilities which are available to the whole North Ayrshire community. These include a six court Games Hall, North Ayrshire's first synthetic floodlit athletics track and a full size, synthetic floodlit hockey/football pitch.