The People’s Project volunteers have helped support an improved outdoor learning environment at Dumfries’ earliest school.
Dating back to the 14th century, Dumfries Academy has a wealth of history and has been in its present form since 1804.
With a Latin motto of “doctrina promovet” – meaning “learning promotes” – celebrations on Monday showed that it is always open to new ventures in its quest to educate.
The academy also has an impressive list of alumni and one of them, Scottish journalist, broadcaster and presenter Stephen Jardine, returned to help launch its new outside classroom and orchard which has been a few years in the making and has been funded by The People’s Project.
In addition to the tables, seats and network of paths there are a number of new information boards detailing various aspects of the academy’s history.
The People’s Project founder Mark Jardine said: “It is the culmination of an idea I spawned about four years ago with the headteacher Joanne Dillon.
“Over the intervening years and even through the pandemic, retired history teacher William McGair came back to work with the pupils to work on the project – so the information boards are very much the pupils’ work.
He added: “It is quite an exciting project, slap bang in the town centre, and the teachers are keen to impress the importance of ‘from the tree to the plate’ on the pupils, making pies and tarts for their own use in their domestic science classes, or for those less fortunate.”
