ABOUT US

Saint Columba's High is a six-year Catholic comprehensive school serving the northern part of Clydebank, the village of duntocher and the Drumchapel area of Glasgow. Other pupils come in substantial numbers from Old Kilpatrick, Knightswood and Scotstoun. Five primary schools provide the great majority of the first year intake. These comprise Saint Mary's, Saint Joseph's, Saint Eunan's, Saint Stephen's and Saint Clare's, although a variety of others add to this number.

The school roll for the year 2001/02 was 850. This broke down into 419 boys and 431 girls. A total of 63 teaching staff were in place. The support staff included a Business Manager, 7 admin staff, a librarian, 4 technicians and 3 janitors.

The main purpose of the school is to provide an effective learning environment for each of our pupils set in the context of a Christian faith community. We aim to achieve this by:

• ensuring that Christian values and Catholic tradition permeate all aspects of school life and our links with the community;
• providing a curriculum with breadth, balance and choice which integrates the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for life in a changing society;
• raising standards of educational achievement for all pupils and promoting improved performance in national examinations;
• providing learning and teaching experiences which are planned, purposeful and matched to the needs and abilities of pupils;
• providing a caring and considerate climate among pupils, staff and parents based on a sense of fairness and equality and supported by an ethos of high expectations and achievement;
• enhancing the suitability of school resources and developing the skills of both teachers and pupils;
• preparing pupils for the challenges and responsibilities of citizenship and promoting mutual respect by valuing the contribution of others to the school community.

The schools pastoral care programme, which focuses on the well-being of pupils, continued to be a major part of the development plan. Our well-established P7/S1 transition programme was further developed by the introduction of an Open Evening which allowed both parents and pupils to view the school. a large turnout was impressed by our rapidly improving facilities and parents had the opportunity to talk to staff about any issues they considered important. Another very popular addition to our liaison programme involved pupils from P6 and P7 attending Health promotion workshops in Saint Columba's. This arrangement will be further enhanced during this session with secondary staff taking Healthy Eating and Fitness programmes to our partner primaries.

Guidance staff continued their contacts with pupils and parents by means of letters, appointments and parents evenings.

Support for the most vulnerable in our society is a high priority in a Catholic school. Our existing provision was enhanced during the year through a number of initiatives including settling-in, self-esteem and behaviour management groups which were organised by our Pupil Support Teachers in association with external agencies. These groups met in the newly refurbished pupil support base.

The Support for Learning staff numbers were increased during the year as planned. They worked with Guidance staff and senior pupils in an extensive programme of buddying, paired-reading and in-class support.

The lunch time Drop-In Zone continued to grow with more than 150 pupils choosing to join the daily activities. Last year saw some additions to the enjoyment with school bands and music pupils singing to hushed audiences.

Throughout last year a group of senior pupils worked with the Mark Scott Foundation on community projects while others helped at the Wayside Homeless Club. A total of £3000 was raised for SCIAF by a variety of means, including a sponsored 24 hour fast.