The transition from primary to secondary school had always been a difficult time for youngsters as they tried to come to terms with new surroundings, new teachers, and especially new classmates. This transition was now all the more difficult since the new comprehensive intake was drawn from a wide variety of backgrounds and abilities with the inherent danger that classes might easily split into small cliques.

In an effort to ensure that all pupils mixed happily together and that every child felt that he or she was an essential part of the school, each first year class was to spend three days at Falkland Youth Hostel, under the watchful eyes of staff and prefects. In his youth, Mr Hamilton had been an enthusiastic and active member of the scout movement and was well aware of the importance of friendships forged in the informal atmosphere of annual camps. The Falkland experiment, it was hoped, would fulfil a similar purpose. Pupils would get to know each other better, friendships would be formed, and each pupil would see that the school was not concerned solely with the more academic amongst them.

The great experiment began early in 1974 when, in the words of a somewhat apprehensive prefect, "an enterprising squad, consisting of two teachers and four misguided prefects, boarded a bus which was Falkland bound in the company of a rebellious, cut-throat crew of first year pupils". After the initial chaos of settling in at the hostel and the inevitable scramble for the best bunks, the pupils were introduced to the "delights" of healthy exercise:

As former Falklanders will know, the dreaded "Hill" - speak of it in whispers - was the first item on Monday afternoon's agenda. Dressed in the traditional kagoule and its fashionable accessories - wellies and tammy - we ignored the hysterical laughter of rural bystanders and attacked East Lomond. On asking why we were climbing this natural edifice, we were given the firm reply, "Because it's there".

On the Tuesday night, the practical and, at times, outlandish dress of the "great outdoors" was exchanged for more formal collar and tie for this was Guest Night:

The formal dinner was the social highlight of our stay at Falkland. Teachers fought amongst themselves, it is said, in the Harris staff rooms for an invitation. The festivities were under the control of Miss Kippen whose bidding of "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow it's back to school dinners", was lustily followed, while in the kitchen Mr Hall performed some inspired work with the dish towel.

The planned side to the three day stay included a nature trail, and visits to Falkland Palace and a local dairy farm. As always, however, much of the fun was unplanned and stemmed from the inevitable horseplay in the dormitories.

All classes have their own memories of Falkland. For some, it was the malicious delight with which they watched the rather portly figure of a less than fit teacher struggle to complete the hillwalk rather than face the inevitable comments which would result from failure. For others, it was the relationship with the prefects who were no longer austere figures of authority but merely older pupils who were more than willing to join in the fun. Individual incidents tended to stand out - the night a first-year boy was "accidentally" locked in the toilets; the excitement when one boy was certain that he had seen a ghost; the look on the faces of the youngsters who decided to test the farmer's assurance that silage was perfectly edible; the guest night when Mr Gilmore provided an impromptu entertainment with a tune on a penny whistle. The individual experiences might vary but, for each class, the benefits were the same. The shared enjoyment of the three days at Falkland had formed a class of comparative strangers into a friendly social group, all of whom felt that they were a welcome and valued part of the Harris Academy.

The inauguration of the annual Falkland visits was only one of the innovations which were introduced to cope with the new demands being made on the school. On the administration side, the structure of promoted posts was expanded in the years after 1972 by the creation of the new posts of Assistant Head Teacher. The first holders of these posts - Miss Hamilton, Mr Paterson and Mr Wiseman - will be familiar names to present-day pupils and, shortly afterwards, they were joined by Mr Hall and Mr McDonald while Miss Hamilton received further promotion to the position of Depute Rector. At the same time, new Guidance posts were created. The role of guidance had long been carried out on an informal basis within the school. As long ago as 1885, for example, the first school prospectus had stressed the need for moral training:

It will be the duty of every member of staff to give careful attention to the personal comfort and training of the pupils; and the School Board invite the co-operation of parents and teachers in their endeavour to "bring up the children in habits of punctuali ty, of good manners and language, of cleanliness and neatness, and also to impress upon them the importance of cheerful obedience to duty, of consideration and respect for others, and of honour and truthfulness in word and act".

While all staff were still expected to play their part in the social development of their pupils, the more complex world of the seventies necessitated a number of specialist appointments and Miss Kippen, Mrs Nicoll and Mr Crichton were given new responsibilities as principal teachers of Guidance.