Lasswade High School Centre

Lasswade High School
Usque conabor (I shall try my utmost)
Address
11 Eskdale Drive Bonnyrigg, Midlothian, EH19 2LA Scotland
Information
Type	State secondary
Established	17th century
Founder	Robert Marshall (1646)
HeadTeacher	Alan Williamson
Deputy Headteachers	Fiona Wightman (Pupil Support) Colin Mitchell (S5/S6) Simon Rhodes (S1/S2) Graham Paris (S3/S4) Neil Chisolm (Depute Teacher)
Years	S1 to S6
Number of students	1,500
Houses	St. Leonards, St. Annes & Mount Esk
School Colours	Strictly Black, White with school tie
School Tie Colours	St Leonard's: black tie with green stripe St Annes: black tie with red stripe Mount Esk: black tie with gold stripe
Website	http://lasswadehsc.mgfl.net/

Lasswade High School is a non-denominational secondary state school in Bonnyrigg, Midlothian, Scotland.

History

Education has flourished in the parish of Lasswade from medieval times in various church and monastic establishments, but schooling as we know it dates from the 17th century. Lasswade Kirk Session records list the names of the parish schoolmasters from 1646, and some of these, particularly the famous Scottish poet, William Tennant, LL.D., later Professor of Oriental languages at the University of St. Andrews, and Robert Marshall, who resigned in 1899 after 32 years as headmaster, laid the foundation of Lasswade's excellent record as a higher grade school. The school dux to this day is presented with the Marshall Memorial Medal. There are obvious connections with noble estates of Melville, Dalhousie and Roslin and the school coat of arms reflects these and other educational connection within the area. On petition by the former headmaster, the late F. Webster, M.A., the Lyon Court granted to the school a coat of arms.

The Melville "fess" or bar in red on a gold background, with the "engrailed" edges refers to the great House of Roslin. The falcon's heads are the heraldic charge of the Nicolson Family, closely associated with Lasswade, and the Golden Key represents Gibson of Pentland, the family most prominently associated with the school. The black spread eagle represents the House of Dalhousie and the open book represents learning.

In 1956, Lasswade Senior Secondary School transferred to a new building on the present site with improvements and extensions opened in 1978 to provide new accommodation for Business Studies, Home Economics, Music, Art & Design, Science, Craft, Design & Technology, Library, Computer Room, Kitchen, Dining Room and Sports Centre. During session 1999/2000, a new Mathematics and Support wing was built and formally opened by Jack McConnell, at the time Education Minister for Scotland. This included state of the art fully equipped Mathematics classrooms, Guidance classrooms, offices and meeting rooms and a Learning Support base with tutorial rooms.^[1] The school also has a purpose built Sports Centre which comprises a game hall, squash courts, fitness training rooms, activity movement studio, cafeteria, creche and spacious playing fields.

Lasswade has been further developed as a community school since 1979.

Schools Curriculum Award 2000

Lasswade High School received the prestigious award at a ceremony in London in recognition of the school's involvement with the local community. The award was open to all schools - nursery, primary and secondary - in the United Kingdom. Assessment of the school was made in two stages - an initial written submission followed by a visit by two external assessors - to ensure that the school met the challenging criteria set by the Trustees. The award is sponsored by the government departments and private industry.

Fittest School in Britain 2009

The school took the top prize in the Fitter Schools Challenge,^[2] in which 3,000 UK schools put their sporting prowess to the test. The school was presented with a trophy and £10,000 worth of sports equipment by Olympian Roger Black. The challenge was open to first and second year pupils at every school in the UK. Each school had to complete in three challenges which tested their skills and stamina. Pupils were asked to complete a shuttle run, which tested their ability to accelerate and change direction. They were also challenged to see how many star jumps they could do in a minute.^[3]

Links with China and South Africa

In recent years, the school has developed educational links with Tianlin No 3 Middle School in Shanghai, People's Republic of China. The collaboration is part of a wider initiative to develop a closer relationship between Scotland and China, and will include teacher and pupil exchanges as well as using e-mail and the internet to develop joint projects.^[2][4]

Eco-Schools

Following a visit by an Eco-Schools inspection team in 2008, Lasswade High became the first and currently only secondary school in Midlothian to be awarded the Green Flag. The Green Flag is an internationally respected environmental award, indicating that a school is committed to the highest standards in environmental education and management.^[5]

School building

In 2009, it was announced that a new Lasswade High School Community Campus is to be built, with construction beginning October 2011. Lasswade High School has a new school building which is built in with Bonnyrigg Leisure centre but now called the Lasswade Centre. It contains state of the art facilities, it cost 32.5 million pounds to complete. Contains 90 classrooms to accommodate around 1500 pupils.

Queens Baton Relay 2014

For the run up to Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, the Queens baton passed through the school building circling the school floors before eventually moving on.

Inspection

The school was last inspected by Her Majesties Inspectors in 2014 and was given a better report than the last school building which was classed category D and was unsafe.

• The school's promotion of pupils' personal and social development and pastoral care.
• Success in encouraging pupils' wider achievements.
• Involvement of pupils in productive decision-making and action.
• High-profile community links, including partnership with parents.
• Exam results
• Teaching
• School building

Notable former pupils

• A.J. Aitken, lexicographer; scholar of the Scots language.
• Christopher Anderson, theologian.
• Gary Locke, professional footballer.^[6]
• Rajiv Joshi, Chairman of the Scottish Youth Parliament (2005–2007).^[7]
• Sean Fraser, swimmer and bronze medallist at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing.^[8]
• Canon Stewart Mallin, Episcopalian cleric, Dean of Moray, Ross and Caithness (1983-1991).
• Gary Mason, professional footballer.
• Brian McCabe, author and poet.
• Gary Naysmith, professional footballer.^[9]
• David Pryde, Labour MP, 1945-1959
• Graeme Randall, former World Judo champion (1999).^[10]
• Craig Thomson, professional footballer.^[11]
• Albert Watson, fashion photographer.
• Steven Whittaker, professional footballer.
• Peter Wright, former rugby union international.

References

External links

• Midlothian Council website
• School website
• Lasswade's page on Scottish Schools Online

Coordinates: 55°52′26″N 3°07′02″W / 55.87378°N 3.1172°W / 55.87378; -3.1172