Rosshall Academy is a secondary school in the

Rosshall Rosshall is an area in the south-west of Glasgow, Scotland, within the Cardonald ward of Glasgow City Council. It has a fairly isolated location, with the White Cart Water forming a border to the south and east, the Paisley Canal Line railway ...

( Crookston) area of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland. The school was formed in August 1999 to merge Penilee Secondary School (

Penilee Penilee is a small housing scheme and suburb on the southwestern edge of Glasgow, Scotland. The area is bounded to its east by the Glasgow suburbs of Cardonald and Hillington, and to the west by the Renfrewshire border and the farms of North a ...

) and Crookston Castle Secondary School (

Pollok Pollok ( gd, Pollag, lit=a pool, sco, Powk) is a large housing estate on the south-western side of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. The estate was built either side of World War II to house families from the overcrowded inner city. Housing 30,0 ...

) and moved to a new building roughly equidistant between them on Crookston Road in 2002. It holds over 1,100 pupils. Rosshall Academy has five main feeder primary schools – Cardonald Primary, Craigton Primary, Crookston Castle Primary, Hillington Primary and Sandwood Primary, along with a part association with Mosspark Primary (Mosspark's catchment being split between Rosshall and

Bellahouston Academy Bellahouston Academy is a non-denominational state-run secondary school in Bellahouston, south-west Glasgow, Scotland. History Bellahouston Academy first opened in 1876 as a private school run by Alexander Sim. It was taken over by the Govan ...

Building

Less than a year after opening, the Rosshall school was at the centre of an investigation into so-called "

sick building syndrome Sick building syndrome (SBS) is an unsubstantiated diagnosis where health problems are attributed to buildings. The cause of the health problems are unknown. Symptoms attributed to SBS may or may not be a direct result of inadequate cleaning or ...

". Staff blamed their suffering health on classrooms being too small and ventilation so poor that they had to leave fire doors wedged open. Teachers suffered myriad illnesses including headaches, throat problems and eye conditions such as

conjunctivitis Conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye, is inflammation of the conjunctiva, outermost layer of the white part of the eye and the inner surface of the eyelid. It makes the eye appear pink or reddish. Pain, burning, scratchiness, or itchiness may ...

. Doctors and opticians consulted by staff blamed the illnesses on the environmental conditions at the school, particularly the fact that the classrooms were far smaller than those in the schools it had replaced. Professor Derek Clements-Croome of Reading University, an expert in sick building syndrome, said that Rosshall appeared to conform to the general profile of "unhealthy" buildings: "Hot air rises, so generally in normal classrooms, the heat and any pollutants in the air will rise above the head of a class. Lowering the ceiling height means anyone standing up will find their nose and mouth at exactly the level where this fog of carbon dioxide can be found."

Death

Euan Craig, a 14-year-old pupil, died after being punched five times in the head by a fellow pupil in the academy's gymnasium on 23 May 2012. The other boy, also 14, who had been accidentally hit by a sponge ball Euan had thrown to friends, admitted walking over and punching Euan. The youth was sentenced on 23 November 2012 by

Lord Bracadale Alastair Peter Campbell, Lord Bracadale, KC is a retired senior Scottish judge. Early life Campbell was born on 18 September 1949 in Skye, Scotland, to Rev. Donald Campbell and Margaret Campbell. His family moved to Edinburgh when he was tw ...

at the High Court in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

to three and a half years in custody for the "violent" assault. Darren Taylor, the youth who killed Euan Craig, was released after 20 months in detention on 22 August 2014.

References

External links

Rosshall AcademyRoss Hall Academy's page on Scottish Schools Online
{{authority control Secondary schools in Glasgow Educational institutions established in 2001 2001 establishments in Scotland