School Chooser

Mearns Academy

Secondary · ages 11-18MixedCouncilNon-denominational677 pupilsLaurencekirkAberdeenshire
School Chooser ScoreNot scoredScotland doesn't publish results or inspection grades for individual schools, so we can't give its schools a score. Pupil numbers, free school meals, extra support, staffing and class sizes are below.
Pupils registered for free school meals14%P6 and above; Scotland 20%
Pupils getting extra support29%Scotland 50%
Pupils per teacher12.5Scotland 12.1
Pupils from the poorest fifth of areas0%Scotland 21%
Pupils on roll677Census September 2025
NeighbourhoodAmong the wealthiest areasScottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2020

Mearns Academy is a council school in Laurencekirk for boys and girls aged 11 to 18. It has 677 pupils. About 14 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far fewer than at most schools in Scotland.

Aberdeen Road, Laurencekirk, KINCARDINESHIRE, Laurencekirk, AB30 1ZJ01561 400700mearns.aberdeenshire.sch.ukAll details

Inspection

Schools in Scotland are inspected by HM Inspectorate of Education. Its reports grade a few areas on a scale from excellent to unsatisfactory, but the grades aren't published as a list we can use.

Results

Scotland publishes no school-level exam results as open data.

Leaver attainment and destinations for individual schools appear only on the Scottish Government's School Information Dashboard, which cannot be reproduced here. Open the dashboard and search for Mearns Academy.

Getting a place

Catchment area

Aberdeenshire council has drawn an official catchment area for this school. You can see it on the map below; it covers about 318 square kilometres. If you live inside it, your child has the right to a place here. Families outside it can ask for a place (a placing request), which is only given if there is room.

Set your home postcode at the top of the page to see whether you live inside it.

There is no entrance test. Every address in Scotland has a catchment primary and secondary school. If you want a different school, you ask the council for a place there (a placing request).

You apply through Aberdeenshire council, not the school.

Who goes here

Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.

Pupils on roll677Census September 2025
Pupils registered for free school meals14%P6 and above. Every P1 to P5 pupil gets a free meal in Scotland
Pupils getting extra support29%Additional support needs
Pupils from the poorest fifth of areas0%Scotland 21%
Pupils from the wealthiest fifth of areas23%Scotland 17%
NeighbourhoodAmong the wealthiest areasIf Scotland's neighbourhoods were split into ten groups from poorest to wealthiest, this one is in group 9 (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2020)
By stage
Pupils in each year, 2025/26
Year groups up to S4 are about the same size. Pupils can leave after S4, so S5 and S6 are smaller.
126S1
132S2
134S3
126S4
97S5
62S6
Trend
Pupils on roll
2022 to 2026
2022: 68668620222023: 67767720232024: 68768720242025: 67367320252026: 6776772026
Since 2022: -9
How the school has changed
Year2025/262024/252023/242022/232021/222020/212019/20
Pupils on roll677673687677686
Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals13.6%12.5%12.2%10.0%
Pupils getting extra supportAdditional support needs (ASN)29.4%50.4%52.0%50.5%47.5%
Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language0.9%1.6%1.3%
Pupils per teacherPupil to teacher ratio12.512.211.712.112.612.612.3

Staff

From the pupil and teacher census of September 2025.

Teachers54.2full-time equivalent
Pupils per teacher12.5Scotland 12.1

Nearby schools

The closest secondary schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.

Well aboveAboveIn lineBelowWell belowNot scored

No other schools of this phase within 8 km.

Questions parents ask

Is Mearns Academy a good school?

We don't have enough published data to score Mearns Academy yet. Scotland doesn't publish results or inspection grades for individual schools.

How many pupils does Mearns Academy have?

677 pupils aged 11 to 18 were on the roll in September 2025.

These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.

Contact and details

Address
Aberdeen Road, Laurencekirk, KINCARDINESHIRE, Laurencekirk, AB30 1ZJ
Telephone
01561 400700
Website
www.mearns.aberdeenshire.sch.uk
Type of school
Council school (Local authority school, local authority maintained schools)
Phase
Secondary school, ages 11-18
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
Non-denominational
Local authority
Aberdeenshire
Setting
Accessible small towns
SEED code
5252032
Medium of education
English medium only
Email
[email protected]

Where these figures come from