Stonelaw High School
| Established | 1970 |
|---|---|
| Type | Secondary School |
| Religion | Non-Denominational |
| Head Teacher | Brenda McLachlan |
| Location |
140 Calderwood Road Rutherglen Glasgow G73 3BP Scotland  |
| Local authority | South Lanarkshire |
| Staff | 91 FTE |
| Students | 1,141 |
| Gender | Co-educational |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Houses |
Dryburgh Jedburgh Kelso Melrose |
| Website | Stonelaw High School |
Stonelaw High School is a non-denominational state high school located in Rutherglen, Scotland near the city of Glasgow.
Admissions
Stonelaw High School is a leading Scottish school delivering the new National 4/5 qualifications introduced by the SQA.Stonelaw ensures the pupils leave as great individuals ready to face the world and be a credit to Stonelaw but most importantly themselves. It was established in August 1970 as a four-year school based in the former Rutherglen Academy building at the corner of Stonelaw Road and Melrose Avenue. Eventually Stonelaw High became a six-year school and was relocated to new premises on Calderwood Road, Rutherglen (1998). The current head teacher is Brenda McLachlan who took over from Brian Cooklin in 2012. On 18 September 2012 the school was evacuated due to a chemical spill, no one was injured.Stonelaw was awarded sports hub status on the 05/11/13, by MSP Shona Robison - Minister for Commonwealth Games and Sport.
There are around 100 FTE staff members at Stonelaw.The school's SMT is led by Brenda McLachan.
History
Grammar school
Prior to 1970 a selective secondary education system existed in Scotland that involved two grades of secondary schools: Senior Secondaries, like Rutherglen & Hamilton Academies, and Junior Secondaries, like Gallowflat (mentioned below) and Gateside in nearby Cambuslang. At the heart of this selective system was an exam called the 11-Plus taken by all children in the last year of primary school. Those who passed the 11-Plus went to one of the Senior Secondaries (six-year schools) while all others attended one of the Junior Secondaries (four-year schools).
Senior Secondary pupils were expected to stay on at school until aged eighteen and proceed to some sort of tertiary education at university or college. Whereas Junior Secondary pupils had to leave school aged fifteen for jobs and/or apprenticeships, which were quite easy to come by in those days. Before 1972, fifteen was the minimum school leaving age in Scotland.
Comprehensive
Stonelaw High School was first formed by merging some of the pupils already at Rutherglen Academy with pupils from Gallowflat Junior Secondary. But only those existing Academy pupils who had attended primary schools in Rutherglen were retained at the new Stonelaw High. Other Academy pupils who had been at primary schools in Cambuslang, Carmunnock and Burnside largely went up to the brand-new (1970) Cathkin High School then at the corner of East Kilbride Road and Western Road Whitlawburn (demolished 2009). Unlike Stonelaw, this new Cathkin High had all mod-cons, including a swimming pool. Subsequently, Stonelaw pupils wishing to do Highers or Certificates of Sixth-Year Studies (CSYS) - these being pre-university qualifications - transferred to Cathkin High for their last two years.
Stan Laurel (1890–1965) attended Stonelaw High School when it was called just Stonelaw School, as chiselled above the Melrose Avenue door of the current building, now a block of private flats called Academy Gate. Rutherglen Academy operated from 1925 until 1970.
Former teachers
- Norman Buchan, Labour MP from 1983-90 for Paisley South
- Adam McNaughtan, Scottish folk singer, noted for his songs on post-War Glasgow. Amongst his works are The Buildings and The Jeely Piece Song, a humorous song about tower blocks and Where Is The Glasgow That I Used To Know?, which was quoted by Prince Charles at the opening of the 1988 Glasgow Garden Festival.
House system
The school operates a house system. The four houses Dryburgh, Jedburgh, Kelso, Melrose, named after local avenues which are in turn the names of abbeys in the Borders.
Extracurricular activities
The school has many extra curricular activities and clubs including football, volleyball, a table tennis club, a cricket club and a soul band. They also have a junior band and senior band with full brass, woodwind and percussion sections. The music department also hosts a choir, brass ensamble and a recently started Samba band.
Fairtrade
There is also a very successful Fair Trade Group ran by Mrs Gilchrist which is held in the Humanities Faculty.The group sell a range of fairly traded merchandise.All the profits go to educate aids orphans in South Africa.
Duke Of Edinburgh Award
The school runs the Duke Of Edinburgh Award scheme, Mr J Moonan (Head Of IT & Business Faculty) is in charge of the scheme.The award is based upon making young people better citizens for the future teaching them valuable skills such as team work this will help them in what ever path they choose to go down when they depart from Stonelaw, the whole scheme compliments the core values of curriculum for excellence.
Alumni
- Partick Thistle and former Celtic, and Scottish international Simon Donnelly
- Rangers player William McLachlan
- Ross County player Steven Saunders
- Airdrie United player Alan Trouten
- Motherwell Performance Analyst Ross Clarkson
- Jonathan Saunders- Notable Fashion Designer
Rutherglen Academy
- Sir Denis William Brogan, historian, Professor of Political Science from 1939-68 at the University of Cambridge, father of Hugh Brogan
- Janet Brown, well-known female impressionist, who married the Carry-On actor Peter Butterworth
- Steven Campbell (artist)
- James Davidson CBE, former Managing Director of the Clyde Port Authority
- Merlyn Evans, painter
- Alexandra Gardner, portrait painter
- Duncan Glen, poet
- Roy Hamilton MBE, railway enthusiast (who lost both legs in an accident slipping under a train)
- Stan Laurel, famous actor, writer and comedian ("Laurel and Hardy"), Honorary Oscar in 1961
- Adam Little, footballer
- Jim McColl OBE, entrepreneur and Scotland's richest man (£800 million in 2008) who owns Clyde Blowers
- Sir Ian McGregor CBE, expert on malaria at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
- Prof Edwin Morgan OBE, Titular Professor of English from 1975-80 at the University of Glasgow, and National Poet for Scotland from 2004–10
- Alexander Pollock, Conservative MP from 1983-7 for Moray, and from 1979-83 for Moray and Nairn
- William Proudfoot, Chief General Manager from 1969-90 of the Scottish Amicable Life Assurance Society
- Dr John Rae, Chief Executive from 2000-01 of the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE plc), and Chief Scientist from 1986-89 at the Department of Energy
- Sir Adam Thomson CBE, founder of British Caledonian (Managing Director from 1964–70 and Chief Executive from 1970–88)
- musician Midge Ure