Case Studies   The Glasgow Case Study. The Gorbals

Appendix 4: the Hills Trust Learning Academy

History

The Hills Trust Building has a long association with education and sharing the wealth of knowledge. The Hills Trust Primary School was an endowed school named after the founder, Abraham Hill. A native of Govan, Abraham Hill became a successful merchant of Wolverhampton and through his Deed of Mortification dated March 1757; he vested the sum of £200 in trustees –

‘ to be applied in the purchase of lands lying within or near the parish of Govan. The revenue of the said lands was to be paid to the schoolmaster settled by the heritors of the parish of the village of Meikle Govan on condition of his being bound and obliged gratis or without fee, gratuity or reward conscientiously to leach, learn and instruct in reading the English tongue as many boys and girls and teach the boys arithmetic and book-keeping, as should from time to time be presented y the trustees to come from the poorest families in the forty-five merkland of Meikel Govan and of such parents who are unable to pay school wages'.

The lands purchased by the trustees extended to about thirteen and a quarter acres and up to the year 1869 they were let for agricultural purposes. With the growth of Govan these lands became valuable and in 1871 the trustees were authorised by the Court of Session to ‘feu' the lands. In 1872 the annual income of the feued lands was £633 14s 8d. Later in 1872 through a private Act of Parliament the trustees were incorporated and a portion of the income from the lands was capitalised and expended in the erection of a new school, the Hills Trust Primary School . The Act increased number of children to be education for free to 70. The school had a roll of approximately 857, however, the remainder of the pupils were required to pay ordinary fees.

21 st Century

Govan Initiative took the building over from Glasgow City Council in 1999, just as the council were about to close it down due to neglect and lack of management. GI were given 12 months to come up finance to refurbish the building and find a use for it, otherwise they would have had to return it to the council.

Govan Initiative were able to raise over £1million pounds to implement a planned refurbishment that restored the building to it's formal glory, creating a learning environment fit for the 21 st Century. The Academy focuses on industry-led training and brings the latest developments in Information and Communications Technology to the Greater Govan Community. The project enables individuals to study at their own pace and in their own time for industry recognised qualifications that will increase their chances of securing higher skilled, higher wage employment in ICT and related sectors.

The project combines the very latest in e-learning delivery with group work and lab based practical exercises. Learners can choose from a wide variety of courses ranging from introductory courses like European Computers Driving Licence (ECDL) to CISCO Certified Networking Associates (CCNA).

Whilst the building has been unofficially opened for almost a year it was officially opened just last month by Sir Alex Ferguson.

The Future

Whilst the Hills Trust Learning Academy is already a success for Govan and indeed for Glasgow , there is a bigger success story to be told. The seed funding for the Academy, the first Cisco Community Networking Academy in Europe , came from Cisco Systems. At the launch event in March this year, Cisco announced that they will be making a similar investment in another three academies in the Glasgow area, and presented a cheque to the Local Development Network for a further $1million. This is undoubtedly a terrific investment for Glasgow , which will ultimately provide access to these facilities over a wider geographical area.

Appendix 3 - The Bambury    Credits