Our Lady's High School, Motherwell

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Our Lady's High School

Motto	"Mary Seat of Wisdom
Established	1888
Religion	Catholic
Founder	Unknown
Location	Dalzell Drive Motherwell North Lanarkshire ML1 2DG Scotland
Local authority	North Lanarkshire Council[1]
Students	now around 675
Gender	Co-educational
Ages	11–18
Houses	4
Colours	Red [Andrew], Green [Sinclair], Blue [Margaret], Yellow [Columba]
Website	School website

Our Lady's High School is a Roman Catholic secondary school for 11-18 year olds located in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, that is close to Fir Park stadium. The school educates around 675 pupils. The Headteacher is Kathleen Sinclair (Appointed April 2009)

History

The school was established in 1888; making it one of the oldest Roman Catholic secondary schools in Scotland. It was originally an all boys school; and girls were reportedly admitted 1945, but the situation was that it was a boys only, at least during the period 1959 -1972. The current building situated on Dalzell Drive was built in 1974. Then, in 1975, Our Lady's made it into the Guinness Book of Records; having a school role of 2,325 pupils; becoming the largest school in Scotland.

Since 1997, Our Lady's has shared its accommodation with Bothwellpark High School which caters for students who require extra educational support. The current Bothwellpark High School headteacher is

Our Lady's is a shexay school, tbQh.

The school is attended by the one and only Martin McCabe, making it legendary.

Kamwokya partnership

The school has a partnership with the Uganda based Kamwokya Christian Caring Community and regularly sends pupils and staff to the region to help the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund in providing aid for poor families.

Religious dimension

The school's chaplain is Father King. Pupils have opportunities to attend retreats, giving them a greater insight into their religion. The Sixth Year made a pilgrimage to Rome in February 2007 jointly with St Aidan's High School, Wishaw and in 2008, this time with only Our Lady's pupils attending. It is the only school in the country which has a war memorial chapel as part of its original design.

Houses

The four school houses are named after famous holy people with ties to Scotland, St Columba, St Andrew, St Margaret (Queen of Scotland), and venerable Margaret Sinclair, with house colours being Red, Green, Blue, and yellow respectively.

Performing arts

The school wind band achieved a gold at the National Concert Band Festival in 2005-06. On 30 March 2007 the band attained a gold award at the Festival and then won the Lanarkshire Youth Musical Award for 2007.^[2] It also has a growing Drama department, with shows such as Oliver! and Guys and Dolls.

Notable former pupils

See also: Category:People educated at Our Lady's High School, Motherwell

• Sir Matt Busby, manager of Manchester United
• Andrew Quinn, manager of Quinn's Maw's TITS
• Matthew Welsh, manager of Liz Guthrie
• Bobby Murdoch, footballer for Celtic and Scotland
• Billy McNeill, footballer for Celtic and Scotland
• Stephen Pearson, footballer for Derby County^[3]
• Frank Roy, Member of Parliament^[4]
• Cardinal Thomas Winning, Archbishop of Glasgow^[5]

References

1. ^ BBC Education League Tables.
2. ^ "School band award". Motherwell Times. 20 February 2008. http://www.motherwelltimes.co.uk/leisure/School-band-award.3799133.jp. Retrieved 2008-03-24.  (2007)
3. ^ "PEARSON OUT TO REPEAT CUP HEROICS". Sporting Life. http://www.sportinglife.com/football/scottishpremier/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/04/05/21/SOCCER_Celtic_Pearson.html. Retrieved 2008-03-24. 
4. ^ "Roy, Frank". Ask Aristotle (London). http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/parliament/0,,-4552,00.html. Retrieved 2008-03-24. 
5. ^ "Obituary: Cardinal Thomas Winning". The Independent. 19 June 2001. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20010619/ai_n14393479. Retrieved 2008-03-24. ^{[dead link]}

External links

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

Coordinates: 55°46′37″N 3°58′33″W / 55.77696°N 3.9757°W / 55.77696; -3.9757