Hillhead High School

Updated on Jan 04, 2024

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Headteacher W. Wight Students about 1000		Staff about 90 Phone +44 141 582 0100

Established 1885 (as Hillhead Primary School) Depute Headteacher T Gough, K McAlaney, J Meechan & H Campbell Location Oakfield Avenue Glasgow G12 8LJ Scotland Address 22-44 Oakfield Ave, Glasgow G12 8LJ, UK Motto Nous maintiendrons (French for "We will maintain") Similar Hillhead Primary School, Hyndland Secondary School, Knightsw Secondary School, Glasgow City Chambers, Notre Dame High School Profiles Twitter

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Hillhead High School is a day school in Glasgow, Scotland, on Oakfield Avenue, neighbouring the University of Glasgow.

Admissions

It is one of the largest schools in Glasgow.

Grammar school

Until 1972 it was a co-educational selective school. It then became a comprehensive school.

Comprehensive

In 1972 the local authority in Glasgow abolished the selectivity process and the school gradually became a comprehensive school serving its geographical catchment area of Glasgow's West End, and serving many pupils from wider afield who had attended the primary school.

Former teachers

Colin Campbell, SNP MSP from 1999–2003 for West of Scotland (taught from 1961–63)

School facilities

The school has two buildings, the Main Building and the Terrace Building. It also uses the nearby Wellington Church for mass assemblies at October, Christmas, Easter and Summer.

The X-shaped listed Main Building, acquired in the 1930s, is the larger of the two buildings, and is where most pupils begin their studies. Most of the school's classrooms and offices are situated on its four floors. Also in the Main Building is the library, where a career and exam advisor makes biweekly appearances. The main building was designed by E G Wylie in 1921, and construction finished in 1929. It is now protected as a category B listed building.

Originally owned by the University of Glasgow, the Terrace Building was acquired by Hillhead in c.2001. This building is used primarily for applied studies.

Minority Time Activity

Hillhead High School is the only school in Glasgow which has implemented Minority Time Activity (MTA). On Friday afternoons, teachers host activities ranging from football to ten pin bowling. Students who take part in extracurricular activities can alternatively use this time for additional practice.

Notable former pupils

Don Arrol (d. 1967), Glaswegian comedian and presenter of Sunday Night at the London Palladium in the early sixties

Stanley Baxter, Glaswegian actor

Menzies Campbell, former leader of the Liberal Democrats

Kari Corbett, actress

Prof Gordon Younger Craig, FRSE, geologist, James Hutton Professor of Geology 1967–84 University of Edinburgh, founder trustee of Our Dynamic Earth

Josephine Crombie, actress

Prof Jack D. Dunitz, Professor of Chemical Crystallography from 1957–90 at ETH Zurich, and known for the Bürgi–Dunitz angle

Sir Alastair Dunnett, journalist and newspaper editor, Editor from 1956–72 of The Scotsman, and from 1946–55 of the Daily Record

Islam Feruz, first footballer to play for Scotland under the school qualification rule

Alexander Fleck, 1st Baron Fleck, Chairman from 1953–60 of ICI

Laura Fraser, actress

Janice Hally, playwright and scriptwriter

Gilbert Highet, Anthon Professor of the Latin Language and Literature from 1950–72 at Columbia University, New York

Prof E. A. J. Honigmann, Joseph Cowen Professor of English Literature from 1970–89 at Newcastle University

Gordon Jackson OBE, actor, noted for The Great Escape and The Professionals

Prof Janusz Jankowski, doctor and academic

George Leslie, politician

Ian MacGregor, metallurgist and industrialist, antagonist in the UK miners' strike (1984-1985), Chairman from 1983–86 of the National Coal Board, and Chief Executive from 1980–83 of the British Steel Corporation

Harry McGowan, 1st Baron McGowan, Chairman from 1930–50 of ICI

Alexander Mackendrick, film director

Alistair MacLean, author

Saul Metzstein, film director

Edward Rosslyn Mitchell, Labour MP from 1924–29 for Paisley

Shuna Scott Sendall, opera singer

Walter Owen, translator of S.American poetry (Argentine gaucho epic Martin Fierro, etc.)

Sir Horace Phillips CMG, Ambassador to Turkey from 1973–77, High Commissioner to Tanzania from 1968–72, and Ambassador to Indonesia from 1966–68

Sir John Rennie CMG OBE, Governor of Mauritius (the last before its independence) from 1962–68

Ian Rodger, Co-Founder of Scottish Opera

Prof Archie Roy,

Robert Service, poet

Iain Shepherd MBE, Navigator HMS Brilliant (Falklands War 1982) Appointed EU Ambassador of the Sea 2007, Chair National Oceanography Centre (NOC) Advisory Council

May Miles Thomas, film director

Alexander Trocchi, novelist who wrote Young Adam

Jean Turner, former Independent MSP from 2003–07 for Strathkelvin and Bearsden

Jonathan Watson, comedian. (Only an Excuse?)

James Alfred Wight OBE, writer and veterinary surgeon from 1939–90 (pen name: James Herriot)

Sir Charles Wilson, first Vice-Chancellor from 1957–61 of the University of Leicester, then Principal of the University of Glasgow from 1961–76

John Young, Conservative MSP from 1999–2003 for West of Scotland.

References

Hillhead High School Wikipedia

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