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Printed in the East Fife Mail on September 24th 1986

The photograph above has been kindly donated by Alan and Christine Seddon. Below is the text that accompanied this photo. Many thanks for their contribution.

There was a touch of daja vu for headmaster Mr. Robert F. Mackenzie as he looked over a sea of faces - familiar if somewhat older - at a gathering in Buckhaven Community Centre recently.

It was just like an assembly at his old school, Braehead in Buckhaven, he told the group of 260 former pupils and staff attending a reunion dance.

Braehead was responsible for turning out a sizeable number of Levenmouth citizens between 1957 and 1971, after which it was closed to make way for the comprehensive system and Kirkland and Buckhaven High schools became the only secondary education establishments in the area.

Demand on skills:
Mr. Mackenzie, who is now head at Summerhill in Aberdeen was headmaster of Braehead for most of its 16 years and was considered to be something of an innovator educationally. He did not believe in corporal punishment and was a supporter of outdoor pursuits and outward bound activities for his pupils.

"It's just like being at another school assembly - all these years ago," he said "I don't know how we had such a wonderful lot of people on our staff, such a wealth of different skills."

"They came because they wanted to work in a way which made a demand on their skills."

"I believe you would want me to thank them on your behalf for the contribution they made to your lives. I want particularly to thank the members of the committee who made the reunion possible. It involved all of them in a large amount of work but your enthusiasm and the attendance shows how worthwhile all that effort was."

The school had been a success because it was a co-operative effort between the staff, pupils, parents and PTA - a proof of the richness of experience that was achieved when all worked together.

Braehead had worked in the belief that the pupils were very much abler than the old-type educationalists said and proved it - he went on.

"Lately, we have been examining the old belief and how it came about. We were brought up under the old reprimand, "dina speak back tae me.""

"More recent research in education has shown how wrong and misdirected that reprimand was."

"Children benefit from the opportunity not

merely to say what they think, but also (more difficult) to try and put into words how they feel."

"That exercise develops intelligence in the same way the PE develops the physique. We've been examining the old Scottish custom of 'no speakin back'."

"It arose from the desire of our rulers to keep us from expressing our opinions."

"If we get little practice in arguing and discussing at home and in school, we're not very good at it when we grow up; and the politicians and professors and inspectors have been using that inability to claim that we're not very bright and therefore should leave the running of our country in their hands: put a cross on a wee ballot paper every five years or so and leave it to us."

Democracy's meaning:
It was because it had been left to them that Scotland was in such a bad way. These rulers the politicians, professors, judges and industrial chiefs, were not all that good.

Not that they were bad characters, just that they were far more ordinary than than they would like people to think.

"The only way out for Scotland is for you to take a hand in it," he went on. "That's what democracy means, - the rule of the people. There has never been democracy on earth."

"And that was what finally Braehead School was about. It was a school for young democrats, giving you the confidence first to ask questions and going on asking questions until you understand the answer."

"It's the birthright of every Scottish child to ask questions about everything. We want you to have the confidence to take over the making of your own decisions, choosing your own values (what you really want out of life) running your lives in your own way and participating actively in running your own country."

The organisers of the reunion dance thanked everyone who supported them and they had announced a surplus of £190 after all expenses had been paid.

"The money will be divided between two local charities", said one of the organisers, Mrs Shirley Scott, who was once Mr. Mackenzie's secretary at the school and now a tutor at Glenrothes Technical College. We intend to donate half the sum to the Homecrafts Activities Group for the Disabled which meets at the Buckhaven Community Centre and the other half to the local branch of Age Concern."
 


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