History of St Mungo's Academy

St Mungo's Academy was founded by the Marist Brothers in 1858 to educate poor Catholic boys, largely Irish immigrants in the East End of the City.  The Marist Brothers is an international religious institute established in 1817 by St Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from France.  He founded the order with the goal of educating young people, especially those most neglected. While most of the brothers minister in school settings, others work with young people in parishes, religious retreats and spiritual accompaniment, at-risk youth settings, young adult ministry and overseas missions. 

Our school was named for the patron saint of Glasgow and had ambitions to create a Catholic professional class by educating the boys to secondary level and preparing them for university. 

Marist Brothers played a large role in shaping the educational and social life of the Catholic residents of Glasgow in the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. In addition to founding St.Mungo's Academy they were active in the running and staffing the primary schools of St. Mungo's, St. Alphonsus’, St Patrick's, St Mary's and Sacred Heart.  

After only two and half years the school moved to St. Mungo Street in Townhead and in 1883  again to Parson Street in Townhead where it remained until 1973. In the wake of the Education Act of 1918 the demand for admission to the school grew considerably and the school roll increased, rapdily, within 10 years standing at 1,147. With access to the school opening up, more lay teachers were recruited to support the Marist Brothers.

In 1973 the buildings in Parson Street were declared unsafe and work began on the new school in Crownpoint Road, with the school moving in 1976.  As time passed the Brothers moved to other work and by 1988 the first girls arrived from Our Lady and St Francis Secondary School, more commonly known as Charlotte Street.  By 1989 the school was a comprehensive, co-educational state Roman Catholic school, still called St Mungo's Academy with equal numbers of boys and girls.  In October 2001 staff and pupils transferred to a new purpose-built school, still on the site at Crownpoint Road. 

The school roll, after some years of decline, has now risen again to over 1000 young people, serving the increasingly multi-cultural community of the East End areas of Calton, Bridgeton, Parkhead and Barrowfield.  At last count over 50 different languages were spoken by St Mungo's young people, all of whom add greatly to our school community.