McLaren High School

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The Badge of McLaren High School.

McLaren High School is a state comprehensive, non-denominational secondary school in central Scotland. It was founded in 1892 by Donald McLaren and is situated in the town of Callander. The school has a catchment area of about 400 square miles and contains approximately 700 pupils. Its national exam averages are slightly above the Scottish averages and the school supports Standard Grade, Intermediate Grade, Higher and Advanced Higher courses. The current school building has been in place since 1965 and work on an upgrade started in summer 2006. The schools unofficial motto is Order, Respect, Care and Achievement or ORCA and the schools mascot is also an Orca. The Schools current head teacher is Mr P Martin and his deputies are Mr A McAllister, Mr N Cotter, Mrs E McKay and Mr J Anderson. Pupils enter McLaren at 11-13 years old and can stay for up to 6 years but have the option to leave at 16, after 4 or 5 years (If pupils are not 16 by the end of 4th year they may leave at Christmas).

[edit] History

A labelled aerial shot of McLaren High form google earth. Please note due to resent construction work this photo is now out of date.

An aerial shot of McLaren High form google earth detailing the new hut arrangements.

McLaren High Schools benefactor and founder was Donald McLaren, a banker, originally form the Strathearn area, the traditional lands of the Clan McLaren. Donald McLaren was born in 1831 and during his life time funded and supported the program that eventually founded McLaren High School in 1892, he died in 1894.

The original McLaren High School building on Bridgend Road, Robertson House, (now used as Callander primary school) was gifted to the school in 1912, but became too small in 1965 and the school was relocated to a new building 500 meters away on Mollands Road. In 1986 the school was once again deemed to small so a library extension and 5 prefabricated huts (four with 2 classrooms each and one with 3) were added to current building. In 1997 an arson attack on the school left the swimming pool in ruins and in response the McLaren Leisure Centre (complete with swimming pool) opened on the campus in 1998. In 2002 the school was again deemed too small and 2 more prefabricated huts (one of 6 classrooms and the other of 4) were added to the campus as well as plans for a major extension to the main building being put in place. Work on the extension was scheduled to start in summer 2005 but was delayed due to problems with other schools in the projects. Work on the extension started in summer 2006 but a completion date has not been announced. Part of the construction work saw all the old prefab huts (19 class rooms in all)knocked down and new prefabricated huts being set up on the playing field (13 new classrooms in all) in what has been termed the 'Courtyard Development'. As space restrictions only allowed a single leaf door to be installed to access these mobile classrooms, a one-way system was instituted leaving the music department by the new exit and returning via the main entrance doors of the school. This route has proved unpopular with both pupils and staff and has been jokingly referred to by some as "the world's first ever bi-directional one-way system". Due to the heavy construction work many areas of the campus are out-of-bounds and care should be taken when approaching the complex from the centre of the village proper.

The Badge of McLaren High School, including the motto “Ab Orgine Fides” (Faith from the Beginning) is derived from the coat of arms of the Clan Labhran.

[edit] Staff

McLaren High School currently employs 52 teaching staff (including rectors), several pupil/teacher support staff and several kitchen staff. As of autumn 2006 the janitorial staff and cleaners were not employed by the school (or by Stirling Council). A list of McLaren teaching staff is listed alphabetically below (first names/initials shown where known):

[edit] Subjects

The schools range of subjects is quite poor (due to its small size) but it offers the basic courses, the subjects McLaren offers and at what levels are listed below.

The school also supports several half-year-courses such as PC Passport and several distanced learning courses such as Latin; in general these courses are only offered in 5th and 6th year and only take up 3 periods a week (most subjects take up 6).

[edit] See also

• Wallace High School
• Standard Grade
• Higher (Scottish)
• Advanced Higher (Scottish)

[edit] External links

• McLaren High School's home page
• McLaren High's League tables
• McLaren High on "Rate my teachers.co.uk"
• McLaren High's Physics department home page