Figure 1.--This is the primary 6 class at Scotus Academy in 1966. Click on the image to see the rest of the class. The uniform was a colored blazer abd cap, both with the school crest. Boys could wear either kilts or short trousers with the blazer. Boys wearing kilts had the option of wearing a tweed jacket rather than a blazer. |
We have been able to find little information about Scotus Academy. The school was founded in 1953. It was a Catholic School run by the Christian Brothers located in Edinburgh. The school had both primary and secondary units. An internet search turns up references to the school concerning people who attended the school, but little about the school itself. Perhaps some of our Scottish readers will know more. Some images provide us information on the school uniform. Quite a number of the boys chose to wear kilts.
One type of school characteristic to Scotland is the academy. Americans think of academies as military schools, but this was not the case in Scotland. The word "academy" has several meanings in the English language. The primary definition is a school with a specialized academic program. This is the sence that academy was adopted by American military schools, meaning a school with a s;evcisalized military program. Schools specializing in the arts are also often called academies. This as not the sence in which academy came to be used in Scotland. We do not yet have details on when academies first began to appear in Scotland. We do not know what individual or group adopted the term. We do know that it was adopted because of its clasical connotations. The classical Academy was of course was the classical school of philosophty based on Platonic thought. It was name after a grove of trees in Athens where Plato thought. We do not know when the first academy was founded in Scotlsand. We do know that academies were well established throughout Scotland by the late 19th century.
Most Scottish academies are well-established institutions founded in the 19th century. For many years following the Reformation, Catholics were denined civil rights in Britain. I'm not sure when they were first allowed to open schools. Scotus was of recent creation and operated from 1953-77. It was a Catholic School operated by the Christian Brothers.
The school is located in Edinburgh, one of the two principal Scottish cities..
The school had both primary and secondary sections. It closed in 1977.
The school had a stringent uniform policy. The uniform was a royal blue blazer abd cap, both with the school crest. Here we see a primary class in 1966 (figure 1). Boys could wear either kilts or trousers trousers with the blazer. Primary boys wore shorts as did the younger secondary boys. I think the shorts were grey. Older secondary boys wore long trousers. Boys wearing kilts had the option of wearing a tweed jacket rather than a blazer. The boys wear kneesocks and leather shoes. I'm not sure if the school promoted the kilt or why certai boys chose to wear kilts. We do not know, for examples, if this was the boys' or parents' decession. At many Scottish schools today, boys wear kilts for church on Sunday or for special occasions. The boys here appear to be wearing kilts on an ordinary school day. I do not know if the fact that the school pgotographs were being taken affected that. A HBC reader is convincedc that it did not.
The Scottish kilt as a child's garment is a relatively recent phenomenon. The modern kilt, in fact, dates from only from the 18th century. It's use as a child's garment was largely due to Queen Victoria in the mid-19th century and her infatuation with Scotland. The young Queen, showing the romantic outlook of her younger years, outfitted her sons in flamboyant kilts. I'm not sure if this was actually the Queen'd idea or someone on her staff or even Prince Albert. Nor am I sure weather it was an inovative idea or just a popular fashion the Queen picked up on. Whose ever idea it was, the decission had an enormous impact on popularizing the style--at least among mothers. And it was the mothers that for generations had the virtual absolute disgression in choosing their sons clothes--usually with no consideration of the boys' opinions. The result was a long-lasting dress style for generations of British and American boys. Several variants of the kilts introduced by the Queen developed. The kilt suit was the most ubiqutous. Other styles in which kilt suits were made include sailor and Fauntleroy suits. While kilt suits have passed from the boys' fashion scene, the Scottish kilt continues to be worn today by schoolboys, Scouts, dancers, pipe bands, and participants at various formal occasions such as weddings where ring bearers, attendants, and even the groom might wear kilt.
One question we have about kilts in Scotland is common they were worn by different schools in Scotland and during different periods. Here we have a view at one private schools in one of Scotland's two major cities. A Scottish reader provides us some insights. "Taking up your thought (re Pitcalnie School) on whether boys in Edinburgh or Glasgow would have worn kilts to a similar extent, I
enclose two photographs from Scotus Academy and some notes on this particular aspect."
A forrmer student writes, "The point I want to make in this e-mail is to confirm and dismiss some of the assumptions made about wearing kilts as part of a school uniform. I was one of these pupils who wore a kilt to school. The kilt was part of the optional dress-code for Scotus. There were a number of reasons for opting to wear the kilt, I will list a few here. 1) Because the wearing of long trousers was restricted to only those over a certain height or age the rest of us had to wear short trousers, in doing so we were subject to some ribbing from pupils of other schools, in wearing the kilt we got some respect. 2) The kilt was often worn in the winter and short trousers in the summer, a kilt is very much warmer that short trousers. 3) Cost, a kilt would last 2 or 3 years, where as trousers would be replaced two or thee times a year. Even when allowed to wear long trousers, a kilt was often preferred, with the way boys play they could easily trip or fall and rip their trousers four or more times a term, (the kilt however did not stop you getting skint knees). (skint - Scottish word for cut, scrapped or bruised). As for the cap, this was part of the formal school uniform but was not worn when at school. The wearing of cap was mandatory while travelling to and from school, however it was often discarded as soon as we were out of sight of the school and teachers. Again it was the subject of ridicule and ribbing and would often get stolen by boys from other schools." [Dougan]
More information about the school is available on the school website.
Dougn, Maurice. E-mail message, May 25, 2006.
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