ANGRY parents will today launch an advertising campaign in a bid to keep Scotland’s last remaining all-girl state school free of boys.
Parents of pupils attending Notre Dame in Glasgow are taking action after a consultation was launched over its future.
Some say they are against the call to make the Downhill secondary single sex. Notre Dame High School Parent Council will today launch an advertising campaign in Glasgow.
A billboard van will tour the city with a sign that reads: “Keep Notre Dame High School a positive choice for Glasgow’s girls.”
Michelle Watt, chairwoman of the parent council, said there was an overwhelming feeling against the move to making the school mixed sex.
She said: “The ad is to show the strength of feeling many parents have about wanting to keep the school as a positive choice for families.
“For more than 120 years the school has opened its doors to girls from Pollokshields to Partick, from the west end to Easterhouse.
“The school is almost full, with a roll currently made up of 78 per cent placing requests, showing that families are actively choosing to send their girls to benefit from its inclusive and girl-centric environment.”
Following campaigning from primary school parents in the catchment area, Glasgow City Council agreed to launch a public consultation last month.
Three public meetings are also being held with the first one taking place at Notre Dame High School, in the west end, tomorrow.
The consultation runs until Sunday, May 26.
There are three options that can be commented on: keep the school as it is with the same catchment; keep the school as it is with an increased catchment area; change the school to allow boys.
Ms Watt added: “Notre Dame High is one of the top performing secondaries in Glasgow and is actively contributing to narrowing the attainment gap between the city’s wealthiest and most deprived pupils.
READ MORE: Talking sense on Notre Dame
“Many girls are from our vibrant ethnic communities; many have shared beliefs and many come from disadvantaged backgrounds.
“It is important we keep their choice of education available and their voices heard.”
She added: “At a time when young women are still being disadvantaged because of their gender, this school is empowering them to reach their full potential.”
The historic Notre Dame High School was recently placed third in the top performing schools’ league table.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel