Some say our school days are the best of our lives.
When we are studying, most of us hate the very mention of school but, once we leave, you can’t help but feel nostalgic and rekindle special memories.
We have been searching high and low in the DC Thomson archives to find old school pictures of classes, trips and sports teams from Whitfield High School in Dundee.
These striking pictures span the decades — from the 1970s until the 1990s — and they are sure to stir some fond memories for former pupils.
So let’s go back to school for a trip down memory lane!
1970s
Where it all began in August 1976.
Whitfield High was the “school at the tap o’ the brae” and Peter Murphy was the first rector to take charge on a salary of £3,700 per annum.
The 1,250-capacity, £2 million complex at Berwick Drive was a “purpose-built comprehensive” which would initially take S1, S2 and S3 pupils.
The Evening Telegraph sent a photographer to capture the opening day of term and these first year pupils were getting to know each other in the common room.
Assistant rector George Young sits alongside pupils from the Whitfield High School Community Council during a meeting in August 1977.
Pop star David Essex is among the posters on the common room wall.
Check out some of these fashions and hairstyles from January 1978!
The badminton players were taking a break during a session in the gym hall, which will be well remembered for the brick walls which gave many pupils the odd bruise.
This looks interesting!
Whitfield High pupils were visited by beekeepers and were being taught the connection between the bees, the flowers, pollination and honey.
1980s
Whitfield High School won the BBC television We Are The Champions title in 1980 where teams of children competed against each other from across the UK.
The team comprised first year pupils Fraser Cooke, Steven Doyle, John McGlashan, Gary McGregor, Susan Lorimer, Lorraine Patullo, Kathleen Smith and Denise Robertson.
Move over, Bob Geldof and Band Aid.
Whitfield High pupils made a demo tape at Sound Logic Studio, Seagate, Dundee, as part of a project organised by Yvonne Cook of the College of Commerce.
Music played a big part in the life of the school.
This troupe of characters are pictured with speech and drama teacher Sheila Allan and bagpipe teacher Ian Duncan ahead of a variety concert in October 1981.
Prince Philip arrived in a flame-red helicopter on the grassed playing field in July 1982, following a dummy run that almost landed in a construction site.
The Duke of Edinburgh was in the city to meet 600 Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme participants and he signed the school’s visitors book at the end of his visit.
Smiling faces all round in these images from June 1983.
A sports day was taking place on the school playing fields.
It was sponsored by Barratt’s, which was building a housing estate just over the school fence.
You can see the building site and some of the 1980s Skarne blocks in the background as these girls do all they can to cheer on their house members at the sports day.
Can you remember all the house names?
A former Nazi youth movement leader who became a minister and went on to found the Austrian Bible Society gave a talk to pupils at the school in October 1985.
Pastor Tony Pokorny’s uplifting story and message was one of love and peace and he spoke about his conversion and how he fled Germany for England during the 1930s.
Whitfield High School Brass Band performed in the Wellgate Centre in June 1987.
Can you spot anyone you know?
1990s
The school was holding its annual cross-country championship in March 1990.
The running race was once a compulsory rite of passage.
Grease was the word in June 1993.
Can you recognise any of the pupils behind the shades and make-up who were strutting their stuff as T-birds and Pink Ladies in the school production?
What goes up must come down…
It’s January 1994 and these girls from the school’s basketball team were posing for a photo in the gym with strips which were sponsored by the Whitfield Partnership.
Whitfield High pupils join rector Alan Wilson as part of a bullying helpline launch.
The Tayside initiative was encouraging victims and their parents to seek help through a confidential bullying helpline that was being displayed at the photo call.
A sign of things to come in this photograph from June 1994?
Members of Whitfield and Linlathen High School Jazz Orchestra are posing for the camera at Bell Street Music Centre, where they were practising for a show.
A group of pupils were pictured taking questions from BBC Radio Scotland reporter Jimmy Black at the school railings on a chilly day back in February 1995.
Can anyone remember what this was all about?
A report drawn up by education director Anne Wilson which landed in 1996 earmarked Linlathen High and Rockwell High for closure along with primary schools Greenfield, West March, St Matthew’s and Rockwell to save £2m from its budget.
Linlathen High’s pupils would go mainly to Whitfield High under the plans.
Pupils at both schools staged noisy and public demonstrations against the decision to merge the two when they downed pencils and walked out in January 1996.
The old Whitfield became Braeview Academy to mark the union in August 1996.
A new £60 million campus to replace Braeview Academy and Craigie High is being constructed off Drumgeith Road and is scheduled to open in 2025.
It’ll mark a fresh chapter in the story of the former Whitfield High School.