The Campaign to Save Irvine Royal Academy (1983)

To be honest, Irvine Royal Academy (IRA) was the only decent school in Irvine in the 80s. Naturally this meant that the local authority definitely wanted to close it down. However, as this BBC film shows, there was some pushback from the townsfolk and Strathclyde Regional Council decided that discretion was the better part of valour and relented.
This was first shown on BBC2 at 1.38pm on Monday 7th November 1983.
Narrated by Alec Heggie. The documentary features a few characters including Matt Brown, a former Provost of Irvine, and Minister James Gregg. However, the highlight for me is the speaker at 13:00 who describes the rival school just up the road, Ravenspark Academy: "Going into Ravenspark must be like clocking into General Motors. I don't want my kid processed through an educational sausage factory by faceless teachers and bussed by irate bus conductors who want to see the back of the we devils as soon as they can."

In the event Irvine Royal Academy won and lost. The school was saved in 1983 but later merged with the Ravenspark Academy "sausage factory" in August 1992. The two academies were amalgamated into "Irvine Royal Academy" and in June 1993 the old school and its annexe were closed down with the school locating itself at the Ravenspark building. The old school built in 1901 was converted into offices, while the Annexe was demolished, the site being redeveloped for housing.

"Thanks" to sliding demographics, the school roll currently stands at 550 pupils.