St. Luke's High School

St Luke's High School

School Logo

Head Teacher	Mrs Patricia Scott
Depute Head Teacher	Jim Drennan, Tony McKinney
School Type	Public, Secondary
Religious Affiliation	Roman Catholic Church
Founded	19??
Location	Springfield Road, Barrhead
Roll	601
School Colours	Green, Purple & White
Feeder Schools	St John's, St Mark's, St Thomas'
Free School Meals	15.4% Of Pupils
Clothing Grants	26.7% Of Pupils
Ethnic Minority Proportion	2.5% Of Pupils
Attendance	92.7% (2004/2005)
School Website	http://www.ea.e-renfrew.sch.uk/stlukes/

St Luke's High School is a secondary school situated in the Auchenback area of Barrhead, East Renfrewshire, in the Greater Glasgow area. The school is over 25 years old and Mrs Patricia Scott is the current head teacher, recently preceeding Mr John Fitzpatrick. The school focuses on its Catholic ethos in teaching, and its close relationship with the communities of Barrhead and Neilston, as well as areas further afield including Paisley and Uplawmoor.

Presently, the 1st and 2nd year social area and gymnastics hall on the main level are out of bounds due to the SQA exams that are in progress until June 2007, when the new timetable will come into place and the exams will end; the school will operate as normal.

Departments

The school is subdivided into departments, each with their own subjects. Some (such as English, Computing and Drama) have specific SQA courses with awards; others are more personal subjects with no awards (such as Religious, Personal Social and Health, and core Physical Education).
The departments are divided as follows:

• Language And Communication
  • English
  • Modern Languages
    • French
    • Italian
    • Spanish
• Social Subjects
  • Geography
  • History
  • Modern Studies
• Creative Arts
  • Drama
  • Art
  • Music
• Business, Technical & ICT
  • Business
    • Business Management
    • Administration
  • Technical
    • Product Design
    • Graphic Communication
    • Craft & Design
  • ICT
    • Computing
    • Information Systems
• Mathematics
• Science
  • Biology
  • Chemistry
  • Physics
• PE & Health
  • Physical Education
  • Home Economics
  • Hospitality
• Religious Education

Associated Primary Schools

Also known as "feeder" schools, they include:

• St John's Primary School, Commercial Road, Barrhead.
• St Mark's Primary School, Roebank Drive, Barrhead.
• St Thomas' Primary School, Broadlie Road, Neilston.

Associated Churches

St Luke's is known for its ethos, and its general awareness of the local catholic churches:

• St John's Church, Aurs Road, Barrhead.
• St Thomas' Church, 70 Main Street, Neilston.

The Senior School

The senior school is composed of s5 and s6 pupils.

Head Boy & Head Girl

Josh Polson and Carlyn Coyle were the head pupils for '2006 to 2007'. Elections for the new head pupils will take place in the near future for the '2007 to 2008' representatives.

The Student Council

Although mostly dorment, the student council in St Luke's has made a great contribution to the school.

Issues including the condition of the water fonts and fund raising have been dealt with in the past.

In 2005, a new range of school uniforms that modernised the current ones were proposed by students Aidan Smeaton and Chloë Polson, and by 2006 this became a reality. Bottle-green tops were manufactured and are allowed to be worn to the school to this day.

Other uniform issues such as new blazers have been debated extensively, and although there is a current 'senior school' blazer, many have been disappointed in the school's lack of consultation with the pupils regarding appearance and price.

Past Events

The X Factor

The school has an annual talent show, usually running around Spring time. This year, it was held on Monday the 30th April, and was a huge success. Like the television show with the same name, acts in any form can audition in Winter, and 8 are chosen to compete on the night. There are 3 knock-out stages, as 8 acts are whittled down to 5, then 3, then the final winner. At each stage, the surviving acts have to perform a new song as their fight for first place.

This year's winners were Nicole Bryers and Barry McCormack (both s6), who sang and played guitar respectively. Nicole wowed the judges with her unique vocal talents and Barry did the same on his acoustic guitar. Their performances included "Nothing Compares 2 U" and "Cannonball".

Future Events

Following the success of the February 2006 trip to Vermont and Boston in the USA, the school have planned another trip in February 2008. It's possible that a trip may be planned to London by the drama department in November 2007, following the success of the winter trip, 2005.

Notable Incidents

2005 Fire

Extensive damage had been done to the kitchen facilities and drama department of the school in October 2005. Pupils and staff were given the day off while the fire brigade fought the blaze, and teachers attempted to salvage anything of value. The fire started approximately 7:30 in the kitchen.

Consequently, the Drama department had to be temporarily relocated to two English classrooms, while a new temporary dining hall was created in the smaller of the two gym halls.

In April 2007, the downstairs regeneration had been fully completed, and both the drama department and kitchen had been relocated back to their original locations. The layout of the kitchen is the same, although there is a plasma screen on one of the walls of the dining hall and kitchen appliances are new. The drama department's design varies slightly, with a brand new classroom (previously the office, toilets, make-up room, and cloakroom), a new make-up room (previously the storage cupboard), a new office (previously the small classroom), and completely revamped studio and technical room. Mrs Amanda Gracie, head of the creative arts department in St Luke's has commented that she is very pleased with the new area, and all classes have resumed as normal downstairs. The higher, advanced higher and intermediate classes are soon to sit their exams toward the end of May 2007, and will be the first to do so since the department's make over.

Famous Pupils

Christopher Brookmyre