WELCOME!!!

As your new Head Teacher I am delighted to welcome you to the Mearns Castle High School website.

As you can see from the extensive menus on our homepage the site offers you a wide range of information about life in the school. We do our best to ensure that the material on the site is always current and we are continuing to develop the range of information provided.

Practical advice like important dates in the school calendar and details of our school uniform is always available for quick reference. In addition any general letters that are issued to pupils are always posted on the site just in case they don’t make it home. Parents’ newsletters are also available for you to read.

Information is provided on subject departments and the curriculum they offer. Arrangements for supporting pupils are also described as is the work done in cross-curricular areas such as Enterprise education. You can also access useful links to other educational websites.

We regard our website as a key aspect of our partnership with pupils, parents and the local community and we are determined that it will make an important contribution to the high quality educational experience we offer at Mearns Castle.

Please enjoy the site and if you have any observations on how we can improve it, please get in touch.

Dean Smith

Secondary One and Two
This session we have 270 students in S1. The majority of our students come from five schools in out catchment area, Busby, Calderwood Lodge, Eaglesham, Kirkhill and Mearns. in all, however, our first year contains students from many different schools and we guarantee that our staff will visit all primary schools, even those which send only one student to our school. we are both pleased and proud at the way in which students from so many schools combine to become Mearns Castle's first year.

Links with our associated primary schools
The government's '5-14' programme encourages schools to look on the education of students in this age range as a continuum of training, rather than as a system divided between primary and secondary schools. To meet the requirements of such a programme there must be close links between primary and secondary schools. This is certainly true in the case of Mearns Castle and our associated primary schools.

Meetings of head teachers occur on a monthly basis and there are regular staff contact throughout the year. Curriculum development in past years has seen primary and secondary colleagues work together in creating programmes of work, which link the work done in primary schools with the syllabus tackled in S1 at Mearns Castle. One recent example is the Improving Science Education Working Group which included representatives from Mearns Castle and each of our associated primary schools. This group met on a regular basis to develop an investigative approach to Science which could be used across both sectors.

In addition, an Assessment Is For Learning Language Working Group included our Principal Teacher of English and primary colleagues. Working in collaboration, and following the recommendations of the Scottish Executive, writing materials which could be delivered in a consistent manner across all of our schools were developed, thus ensuring that the approach introduced in primary schools is built upon and developed in S1/2. Our primary colleagues provide clear information about student progress in all areas of work - information which assists us to help our students settle quickly into their new school.

The link between secondary school and the associated primary schools has now been formalised under the 'Cluster' arrangements. Together we form the Mearns Castle Cluster and share some of our finance in a common budget that is designated to fund some common initiatives to help students transfer from primary to secondary. The main target areas for our cluster plan at present are science, Formative Assessment and Enterprise.

The opportunities for co-operation among teachers are mirrored by opportunities for students. Primary staff invite senior students from our school to assist in their activities e.g. assisting with sports' days; assisting in the classroom; assisting with football matches. we organise in such a way that every first year class has two or more sixth year student attached to it. These students will meet with primary pupils before they come to Mearns Castle, will assist them in their early days in the school, and will keep close contact with them during their first year at Mearns Castle. these 'well-kent' faces will help our new students feel more comfortable in their early days in our school.

Similarly, all students coming to Mearns Castle will meet and know staff from the school before they arrive here. Pupil Support Advisers visit our primary schools to meet the pupils, to talk about Mearns Castle and, most importantly, to make themselves known to our new students. In June they are allocated the class they will enter in August and spend two days following their timetable, meeting with the new teachers and classmates. The extra confidence gained is an undoubted advantage when they face their 'first day' in August. We are looking forward to meeting our new S1 students on their two day visit in June. Our volleyball 'camps' in early August attracts more than eighty of our new S1 students. This provides yet another opportunity for pupils to 'make themselves at home' in their new school.

Ms McEachern, who is a Chartered Librarian, runs the school library. The library is well equipped with twelve networked Pcs for student and staff use, all with internet access and email facilities. It is also intensively resourced with fiction, non-fiction and reference books, periodicals, CD-ROMs, cutting files, audio and video tapes. Students and staff may search for resources using the Online Public Access Catalogue(OPAC), which is available on the school network, and it is also possible to request and borrow items from East Renfrewshire Community Libraries.

The library also houses the careers library, which includes all university prospectuses and various publications containing up-to-date information on careers, writing CVs, working abroad, gap year activities and applying for university/college. Careers information is also available in the library via the internet including the facility to make online university applications and complete aptitude questionnaires which match student interests with different careers (Matchpoint & Setpoint software). Careers interviews with the Careers Advisor also take place in the library two days per week.

Using the library is an important part of every student's education and throughout the year many different departments bring classes or small groups to use the facilities. In addition, S1-S4 students visit the library during English Classes on a fortnightly basis to change and choose books. S1 students also participate in a course, which teaches them how to use the library, thus equipping them with essential life-long information-handling and research skills. To ensure that the library has relevant materials for all staff and students, the librarian liaises closely with staff, has an extensive knowledge of the school curriculum and keeps abreast with educational developments.

The library is also open every day before school starts from 8.30a.m. and during lunchtimes four days a week, with different year groups having access on different days. Students are able to use the computers, careers library, borrow and return books and work on investigations or research projects. the librarian also runs a library club for S1 and S2 students which meets regularly once per week at lunchtime.

Our school cafeteria, headed by Mrs Muir our Catering Manager, provides meals for between 700-800 students every day. Students can purchase a two or three course meal but equally there is the possibility of purchasing a snack with sandwiches, fruit and milk. Salads are always available as well as hot dishes. The wide range of food available has proved very popular with our students.

If, for medial reasons, a special diet is required this fact should be brought to the attention of the head teacher so that arrangements can be made with the meals service.

Children of parents in receipt of income support are entitled to a free mid-day meal. information and application forms for free school meals may be obtained from the school and from East renfrewshire Council.

Mearns Castle High School is a six-year comprehensive school, which aims to provide a quality education within a caring community. The Pupil Support Team plays a major role in ensuring this aim is fulfilled.

The team aims to:
• Provide each student with ongoing personal contact throughout their school career
• Ensure each student is given opportunity to fulfill academic and social potential
• Build close links between school and home