WELCOME!!!

The mission of Notre Dame High School is to develop as a community of faith and learning. We aim to maximise and develop all of our talents, resources and expertise to provide the highest quality of educational experience, enabling all our young people to develop their capacities as successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors to society.  We offer formation through the promotion of Gospel values, through celebration and worship, and through service to the community.

We hope this web site will give you insights into the day to day life of the school but please do not hesitate to contact us if you require further information.

Head Teacher's Welcome

Welcome to Notre Dame High, a school where we set out to raise aspirations and to motivate young people to achieve high standards. In Notre Dame we aim to equip all our young people with knowledge, skills and attitudes for life and work in the 21st century and to pass on Gospel values which encourage in our students a willingness to participate in society as caring, responsible citizens.

We look forward to welcoming your daughter to our vibrant learning community which was described in a recent publication by Learning and Teaching Scotland as “a school concerned with personal and collective faith, overt and shared values, hopes and dreams and with a big shared vision of the future”. Our pupils enjoy learning in this atmosphere of mutual respect and encouragement, where they are challenged to achieve their full potential.

A successful and popular school, Notre Dame High attracts large numbers of placing requests from all over the city of Glasgow and beyond. The school is full with its maximum roll of 820 and demand for the 150 places in S1 always exceeds availability. The recent major programme of extension and refurbishment has resulted in a tremendously enhanced learning environment. A new games hall, six state of the art ICT rooms, Science labs, Design and Enterprise and Craft rooms as well as classrooms, all equipped with digital projectors, have been added to our Grade A listed building. In addition a network of computers, including a separate wireless network, provides up to date support for the learner in all areas.

We believe in our young people. We want them to thrive in Notre Dame and to enjoy their time with us. This website will give you insights into the day to day life of the school but please do not hesitate to contact us if you require further information.

I look forward to working with you and your daughter in the exciting years ahead.

WELCOME TO OUR SCHOOL!

Mrs. M McLaughlin
Head Teacher

Notre Dame High School is a six year Roman Catholic comprehensive school. Our school community seeks to base its words and actions on the gospel values of Love of God and Love of Neighbour. We recognise the responsibility of parents as the first and foremost educators of their children and the staff at Notre Dame work in partnership with parents to help our young people grow in faith and to develop a mature and personal response to Christ.

Through the work of the head teacher, the staff, the school chaplain and the school Pastoral Group we aim to maintain and develop the Christian ethos of the school. The carefully designed RE programme is further supported by the wider sacramental and liturgical life of the school through the regular celebration of Holy Mass, special liturgical services, retreats and other such activities.

Although Notre Dame High School is a Catholic school, each year we welcome a number of pupils to the school from different faiths. The developing spirituality of each of our young people is important as it enhances and contributes to the spiritual life of the whole school community.

Our school greatly encourages the wearing of a uniform. We consider this to be a benefit to all our young people and this policy is actively supported by parents and the School Board. The uniform is comprised of brown blazer, brown skirt and jumper, blue blouse and the school tie.

The school uniform can be purchased from ‘Mans World’, Byres Road and ‘Campbell’s’, Victoria Road. Given that there is substantial parental and public approval of a dress code, schools in this authority are encouraged to develop a school dress code. In encouraging a dress code policy, account must be taken in any proposals to prevent any direct or indirect discrimination on the grounds of race or gender. Any proposals will be the subject of widespread consultation with parents and pupils. Against this background it should be noted that it is the policy of the education committee to encourage schools to develop an appropriate dress code policy.

There are forms of dress which are unacceptable in school such as items of clothing which

• could encourage faction (such as football colours);

• could cause offence (such as anti-religious symbolism or political slogans);

• could cause health and safety difficulties (such as loose fitting clothing, dangling earrings, flammable material especially shell suits in practical classes)

• could cause damage to flooring

• carry advertising, particularly for alcohol or tobacco

• could be used to inflict damage on other pupils or be used by others to do so.

Under no circumstances will pupils be deprived of any educational benefit as a result of not wearing clothing conforming to the school’s dress code policy and, in particular, pupils will not be denied access to examinations as a result of not conforming to the policy.

Parents receiving income support, family credit, housing benefit or council tax rebates will normally be entitled to monetary grants for footwear and clothing for their children. Approval of any requests for such grants made by parents in different circumstances is at the discretion of the director of education. Information and application forms may be obtained from schools and from the education department.

The Pupil Council in Notre Dame is a well established forum for students to be involved in school decisions and to contribute to the life of the school. Each class nominates 2 representative who take the views of the class to the council meetings and who feed back information and decisions made to the class during tutor or PSE period.

The Council meets on alternate months with House Captains convening smaller House meetings in between. All meetings are attended by the Head teacher and a member of the Management Team. The council can request that any issue which they consider to be of importance is raised at the Senior Management Meeting.
Members from the council also feed into the decisions of the wider Glasgow Student Council

In recent years the council has been instrumental in achieving the following for the school and for pupils:

- Pupil Lockers for all
- Additional litter bins for the area around the school
- Outdoor Playground games for pupils
- Picnic Furniture for outside areas
- Videoconferencing with MSP’s in the Scottish Parliament to convey pupil views
- Fresh fruit on sale for pupils at tuck shop