Menzieshill High School

Menzieshill High School
The school building and surrounding area

Established in 1968, Menzieshill High School is a secondary school in the Menzieshill area of Dundee, Scotland. The current headteacher is Helen Gray.

Contents

Pupils

The school caters for one thousand pupils aged between eleven-and-a-half to eighteen in First to Sixth Year, and admits those who live in the Gowrie Park, Menzieshill, Charleston, Lochee and Dryburgh catchment areas of Dundee, as well as the villages of Longforgan and Inchture. This area consists of a mixture of privately owned and council housing. The feeder primary schools are:-

  • Gowriehill Primary School
  • Hillside Primary School
  • Lochee Primary School
  • Charleston Primary School
  • Longforgan Primary School
  • Inchture Primary School

School Houses

Pupils at the school are organised into four Houses: Aberfeldy, Fortingall, Weem and Culdares which are all named after Scottish villages. Pupils are placed into a House randomly upon admission, or depending on previous or current family allegiances. Points can be won for the Houses by winning sporting events or being involved in charity work on the school's behalf with the aim to compete for the House Championship. For each House, there is a male and female House captain, who are usually pupils in their Sixth Year, and a teacher who serves as Head of House.

School Day

The school day begins at 8.54am and ends at 3.40pm with a fifteen minute morning break and an hour long lunch break. There are six periods of lessons a day, each 52 minutes long. There is a 19 minute slot between first and second period when pupils assemble in their tutor groups. Tutor groups consist of two to three pupils from each year group and allow time for the daily school bulletin to be read out, along with any other information which pupils may require.

School Badge and Colours

Menzieshill High School badge

The School Badge was designed to represent the school's ethos. It consists of a red, equilateral triangle supported by two grey trapezoids. The traingle represents the school; it is equilateral to show the school's commitment to equality of opportunity (as one of Dundee's first comprehensive schools, it did not select its pupils based on academic ability). The trapezoids represent the buildings immediately surrounding the school, many of which are grey and trapezoidal, whilst the green represents the abundant grassland that characterizes the area. The badge, therefore, shows that the school is at the heart of the community and is supported by it. Together, these elements form a stylized "M" for Menzieshill. Originally, the school colours were those of the school badge - bottle green, grey, and red - with the addition of black. The bottle-green blazers were highly distinctive but have been replaced by more traditional black ones. In the 1970s, the school uniform stipulated that other items had to be in "the school colours", which allowed pupils of both sexes to dress entirely (shirt, jumper, and trousers) in bottle-green or bright red if they so wished. Again, the current uniform stipulates black or grey for trousers, although there is some leeway for "self-coloured" shirts and jumpers.

Academic Achievement

In terms of academic achievement the school has struggled in the past, although its Music and Art departments are highly rated; in 2009 less than 2 percent of its pupils achieve 5 Highers or more.[1] The 2005 HMI inspection stated that while the school's facilities, curriculum and teaching were all "good", levels of academic attainment were "weak". It also cited a lack of mutual respect between staff and pupils and said that teachers did not feel as though they were given the opportunity to influence plans for the future direction of the school. Also because of the area and gangs of youth that attend this school respect for teachers will never happen so long as these gangs are allowed to operate throughout the school. The same report said that the school enjoys a "very good" partnership with parents and the local community.[2]

Extra Curricular Activities

Menzieshill High School provides a number of extra curricular clubs for pupils to participate in, including Science Club, chess and various music and sporting activities. A number of pupils have gone on to participate on an international level for the school water polo, swimming and football teams. The school football team has also established links to an American high school Calvert Hall College and boys have visited the United States, staying with families of pupils who attend the College. The Languages department of the school has maintained close ties with a French secondary school for the past two decades. An exchange programme is ran so that Second Year pupils can have a French pupil stay with them for a week then, the following year, the Menzieshill schoolchildren will travel to France to stay with their French counterpart.

Responsible pupils in their Fifth and Sixth Year can volunteer to act as prefects, taking on various duties such as assisting teachers maintain discipline over break and lunch, take assemblies and guide visiting Primary Seven or new First Year pupils around the school. Every June, children who have excelled in school work or sporting activities are invited to the city's Caird Hall where they are awarded merit certificates, prizes and trophies in front of proud fellow classmates, parents and teachers.

References

  1. ^ "School League Tables 2009". The Herald. 5 June 2010. http://www.heraldscotland.com/go/schools. Retrieved 2010-06-05. 
  2. ^ "HMI Report, Menzieshill High School 2005". HMI. 14 March 2006. http://www.hmie.gov.uk/documents/inspection/MenzieshillHS.html. Retrieved 2010-06-05. 

External links

Coordinates: 56°28′06″N 3°01′45″W / 56.4682°N 3.0293°W / 56.4682; -3.0293


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