Williamwood High School

Williamwood High School is a non-denominational comprehensive secondary school in Clarkston, East Renfrewshire, Scotland, with a roll of around 1700 pupils. It was originally opened in the 1930s as Eastwood Senior Secondary School, located on Seres Road in the Williamwood area of Clarkston. In 2006 the school relocated to a new site at Eaglesham Road on the southern edge of Clarkston, with fields and farm roads to the south, west and north, about 1.5 miles from the original site. As of 2018, the school contained 1632 pupils out of a capacity of 1710.[1]

Williamwood High School
Address
Eaglesham Road

Clarkston
,
G76 8RF

Scotland
Coordinates55°46′34″N 4°16′33″W
Information
Former nameEastwood Senior Secondary School
TypeSecondary
MottoMighty Oaks From Little Acorns Grow
Established1930
Local authorityEast Renfrewshire
Head teacherNicola MacGlashan
GenderMixed
Enrolment1700
Colour(s)Black, blue, green and gold     
Feeder schoolsNetherlee Primary School, Carolside Primary & Busby Primary
Websiteblogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Williamwood

History
Partial view of two-storey school building and its main entrance
The old Williamwood High School in 2005

The school was originally opened as Eastwood Senior Secondary School in Seres Road, Williamwood in the 1930s, later being renamed Williamwood High School. It was announced in 2003/2004 that a new school would be built to replace the ageing facilities at Seres Road. It was funded under the PPP scheme by the private company HBG.[2]

In August 2006 the new £29 million school opened at the Eaglesham Road site. It features over 70 classrooms, each fitted with interactive whiteboards. The school has high quality sports facilities including astroturf pitches and running track, a video editing suite, and high standard drama studios. The new school was officially opened by the First Minister of Scotland, Jack McConnell, on Monday 11 December 2006.

Following an inspection in 2009, Williamwood became the first school in Scotland to be awarded a maximum of five "excellent" ratings by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education.[3]

The unoccupied former building was damaged by fire in February 2007. Within around a year of this, the school was demolished, and townhouses were built on the old site. The former playing fields were redeveloped into the Eastwood Health Centre, alongside the old Isobel Mair School building. Some parts of the playing fields remain brownfield, however. Former headteacher John Fitzpatrick was awarded the OBE in 2011 for services to education, whilst at Williamwood.[4]

In April 2015, the S6 year group from the school went viral on the internet after filming a video of themselves and various staff members miming to the song Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson. The video was made to be shown at their end of year graduation but amassed over one hundred thousand views after being posted online.[5][6]

In June 2015, following the retirement of John Fitzpatrick, William Inglis became headteacher.[7]

In 2021, Nicola MacGlashan took over as headteacher, having previously been the headteacher at nearby Woodfarm High School. Soon after the appointment, the school implemented a controversial new rule that toilets were to be locked during class time to prevent truancy. This prompted backlash amongst the school community, with an online petition set up to oppose the decision. The school later reversed the rule in view of the negative response.[8]

Departments

The subject areas at Williamwood are separated into different departments. Each department has a principal teacher who has overall management responsibility and leads the learning and teaching. The departments are:

  • English
  • Design & Technology
  • Home Economics
  • Mathematics
  • Modern Languages (French/Spanish/Mandarin)
  • Creative and Performing Arts (Art/Photography/Drama/Music/Music Technology)
  • Social Subjects (History/Geography/Modern Studies)
  • BICT
  • Physical Education
  • RMPS
  • Science (Biology/Chemistry/Physics)

Curriculum

Williamwood follows the Curriculum for Excellence, the national curriculum for schools in Scotland. In the senior phase (S4-S6) students study for SQA qualifications starting at National 1–5 in S4, progressing to Highers and Advanced Highers in S5 & S6 respectively.[9]

Associated Primary Schools and Nurseries

Primary Schools
Map of catchment areas for Williamwood and associated schools

Netherlee Primary School is located in Netherlee, which is Clarkston's neighbour. Netherlee also has nursery facilities in buildings called the "Saplings" and "Acorns" buildings. The catchment for Netherlee Primary also includes the Stamperland area of Clarkston.

Carolside Primary School is located in the Carolside area. It also has nursery facilities, some of which are currently being extended (as of March 2020). Its catchment covers the large Carolside and South Williamwood areas, as well as the small area of Overlee (not to be confused with the Stamperland park of the same name), as well as most of Clarkston's town centre.

Busby Primary School is located in the village of Busby, next to Clarkston. A nursery is also currently under construction at this location. The catchment mostly covers the village of Busby, however small parts of Clarkston, including the Williamwood High School itself, are in the catchment for Busby.

St Joseph's Primary School, located in Busby, shares Williamwood's catchment area, but is a Catholic school, and students from this school normally attend St Ninian's High School.

Notable alumni

References
  1. Education background report eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk
  2. "McConnell hails schools projects". BBC News. 11 December 2006. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  3. "Report first for five-star school". BBC News. 24 November 2009. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  4. "New Year Honours: Work of heroes in communities is recognised". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. 30 December 2010. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  5. "Williamwood graduation video goes viral". www.glasgowworld.com. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  6. Williamwood High School Uptown Funk, archived from the original on 18 December 2021, retrieved 21 August 2021
  7. "New head for Williamwood High". East Renfrewshire Council. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  8. Ferguson, Laura (21 August 2021). "School in U-turn over decision to close toilets during class time after backlash". GlasgowLive. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  9. "Williamwood High School Clarkson Inspection" (PDF). HM Inspectorate for Education. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  10. "Queen's Park youngster Aidan Connolly's big test is to be like his dad". Daily Record. 19 January 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
  11. "Richard Lochhead: Personal Information". Scottish Parliament website. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  12. Smith, Duncan (3 June 2015). "Euan Murray leaves Glasgow Warriors to join Pau". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  13. "Michael Oakley Interview". Electricityclub.co.uk. 30 November 2017.
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