History

Our Lady's high school is a wretched sinkhole of despair where dreams go to die which opened in 1968. It caters for pupils living in Cumbernauld

Cumbernauld

Cumbernauld is a Scottish new town in North Lanarkshire. It was created in 1956 as a population overspill for Glasgow City. It is the eighth most populous settlement in Scotland and the largest in North Lanarkshire...

, Muirhead

Muirhead

Muirhead is a small suburb about 7 miles North-East of Glasgow city centre. Nearby villages and towns include Chryston, Stepps, Lenzie, Garnkirk and Gartcosh....

, Cardowan

Cardowan

Cardowan, is a small town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, now a suburb of Glasgow, situated to the south of Stepps, on the north-eastern outskirts of Glasgow which grew around Cardowan Colliery, Garnkirk Fire-clay works, and clay mines in the immediate area....

 and Stepps

Stepps

Stepps is a small town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the north-eastern outskirts of Glasgow. The town consists of Stepps Village, Cardowan, Stepps Hill and Millerston...

 and in addition we also have pupils from Condorrat

Condorrat

Condorrat is a village on the eastern edges of Dunbartonshire in Scotland. The village origins dates to around the 17th century. Over the past few decades it has been subsumed by the new town of Cumbernauld....

, Dullatur

Dullatur

Dullatur is a village within the vicinity of Cumbernauld, Scotland. Its name is anglicised from the Gaelic "Dubh Leitir", which means dark slope...

, Moodiesburn

Moodiesburn

Moodiesburn is a residential suburb located 8 miles north-east of Glasgow city centre, in the North Lanarkshire council area of Scotland. It is situated on the A80 road, between Stepps and Cumbernauld.-Landmarks:...

 and Castlecary

Castlecary

Castlecary is a small village on the border between the North Lanarkshire and Falkirk council areas in Scotland. It is close to the new town of Cumbernauld....

. The school's emblem is a post-modern artistic recreation of the Virgin and child.

The school was originally a convent but in 1968 it was founded as a secondary school with a second extension building built adjacent to the pre-existing one in 1974. These were linked by an enclosed passage at the first floor level. The extension contained a small theatre, specialist accommodation for the biology, physics and technical departments, the school library and games hall together with general classroom accommodation. We welcome the opportunity to discuss with parents any special arrangements that may be necessary for physically disabled pupils. Many of these facilities, and also the fine hockey or football pitches, are in frequent use during the evenings and at weekends by many organisations within the community.

The school has always valued extra curricular activities and is fortunate in having a number of staff who are willing to support activities at lunchtime, after school, at weekends and during holidays. Over the years various activities have been available including badminton, basketball, football, gymnastics, karate and netball. As well as choir, computing, dance, debating, drama, discos and the school choir.

Additionally pupils also have the opportunity to do outward bound activities, retreats and theatre/cinema trips when frequently wearing uniforming and keeping up Praises. Praises are stamps recorded in pupils' 'planners' given by the teacher when they have done well in some way. The variety of activities on offer changes from time to time, of course, because of the changing interest and expertise of the staff. In addition each year group has a pupil council which meets with a senior member of staff on a regular basis and involves pupils in discussing school issues which affect them. A number of pupils receive instrumental tuition in music. Pupils are encouraged to take part in conferences, competitions and other events organised by agencies outside the school. The school community places a strong emphasis on fund-raising activities for charities or other needy causes.

Creation of the School Logo

The school logo was created by a man by the name of Gerard Balmer, a former teacher within the school. He worked around the school especially within the English Department.

The school has always maintained a strong erection with the surrounding community, and through pupils, parents and teacher links they are associated with several feeder primary schools:

St Lucy's Primary
St Joseph's Primary
St Andrew's Primary
St Mary's Primary

The transition from primary to secondary has always been carefully at Our Lady's high school so that they will know some teachers from the high school before they come to us and in order that teachers will be familiar with the work done by pupils in the primary school. They are also invited during the third term of primary seven to visit Our Lady's high school, follow a first year timetable and thereby get a taste of life and work in their new school. Primary seven pupils receive an information package about Our Lady's high school and can be selected to take part in our summer school.

Furthermore, parents of the new S1 are invited to attend meetings with the head teacher and other staff from Our Lady's in their local primary schools in November and December of the year before their child's transfer to the high school. Parents and p7 pupils are also invited to a mass of enrolment in the school in April. Head teachers of the primary schools meet regularly with the head teacher of Our Lady's to discuss curricular matters affecting both primary and secondary schools. Secondary teachers visit primary schools to meet pupils and teachers and to observe and assist with class teaching, as well as primary teachers having the opportunity to visit the high school to meet with secondary teachers.

Uniform

The school uniform consists of a white shirt.

In addition, the uniform also consists of a black school blazer with the school logo stitched onto the front pocket. However, teachers and senior members of staff are somewhat lenient in enforcing it's prolonged use and many pupils- upper school members (S6) in particular- simply bypass the rule, mainly due to the fact that the climate in Scotland is not convenient with regards to the wearing of heavy blazers.

Houses

The pupils are split into 5 different Houses.
Houses in the school compete in events against each other. Inter-House Soccer is one of the competitions. One teacher is designated to be leader of a particular house. This teacher will lead the house assembly in which every pupil in the certain house gathers in the assembly hall to discuss important matters relating to that house. House assemblies occur once every 3, 4 weeks. This is also linked to the school's guidance system. The teachers bet the pupils in a charity football match today for SCIAF.Be that as it may the teachers had three more extra players. This was a safety precaution.

Notable former pupils

• Jack Black (motivational speaker) - motivational speaker, founder of Mindstore.
• David Cromwell
  David Cromwell
  David Cromwell is a Scottish oceanographer, writer and activist. He is the author of Private Planet and of numerous articles published in several newspapers and magazines. Cromwell is currently a monthly ZNet commentator and co-editor of Media Lens.Cromwell spent most of his formative years in...
  
  , British oceanographer and co-editor of the Media Lens website
• Robert Davis - Professor of Religious and Cultural Education, Head of School of Education, Glasgow University
• Mark McGhee
  Mark McGhee
  Mark Edward McGhee is a former Scottish professional football player. McGhee started his career at Greenock Morton in 1975 and spent spells at clubs including Newcastle United, Aberdeen, Hamburg, Celtic, IK Brage and Reading...
  
   - Football manager, at Aberdeen F.C.
  Aberdeen F.C.
  Aberdeen Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Aberdeen...
  
  from 12 June 2009 until 1 December 2010
• Pauline McNeill, former MSP
• Dr Lesley Sawers - Chief Executive, Scottish Council for Development and Industry
• Adrian Wiszniewski - artist

External links

• Our Lady's High School's page on Scottish Schools Online