Our Lady's High School, Motherwell


Our Lady's High School is a Roman Catholic secondary school for 11- to 18-year-olds in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, that is close to Fir Park stadium. The school educates around 675 pupils. The headteacher is Dan Cardle.

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 the first class of girls was not enrolled until 1945. In the same year, the school's famous War Memorial Chapel, built with funds raised by the school community, was opened. The current building on Dalzell Drive was built in 1974. In 1975, Our Lady's made it into the Guinness Book of Records, having a school roll of 2,325 pupils, making it 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.

Houses

The four school houses are named after famous holy people with ties to Scotland: St. Andrew, Queen Margaret of Scotland, St. Columba and the Venerable Margaret Sinclair. The house colours are red, blue, yellow, and green respectively.

Performing arts and physical education

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.
Their senior football team achieved national success in 2000 when they won the Under-18 Scottish Schools Football Shield. This was the eighth time the school has won this prestigious trophy.

Notable former pupils