St Columba's School is a 3–18 mixed

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

day school A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children and adolescents are given instructions during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compar ...

Kilmacolm Kilmacolm () is a village and civil parish in the Inverclyde council area, and the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies on the northern slope of the Gryffe Valley, southeast of Greenock and aroun ...

Inverclyde Inverclyde ( sco, Inerclyde, gd, Inbhir Chluaidh, , "mouth of the Clyde") is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Together with the East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire council areas, Inverclyde forms part of the histo ...

, Scotland. It is split across two sites and is a member of the

Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) is an association of the head teachers of 361 independent schools (both boarding schools and day schools), some traditionally described as public schools. 298 Members are based in the United ...

. The school provides both

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

and

secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final pha ...

between its Junior and Senior Schools. In 2016, the School built a new building called the Girdwood Building which is home to Transitus, English, Guidance and Modern and Ancient Languages

History

St Columba's was founded in 1897 at Duchal Road where the red sandstone building is still located. The preparatory school at St Columba's was formerly located at Shieldhall on Bridge of Weir Road. Boarders were once accepted and accommodated in Shallott, the current junior school building. The junior school was then located at Shieldhall on the Bridge of Weir Road. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Shieldhall was used as dormitories for evacuees from other schools, particularly those also owned by the Girls' Schools Company. The Knockbuckle Road site, which now houses the Junior School, was once occupied by boarders. When boarding ceased in 1970 it was developed and has been the site of the Junior School ever since. St Columba's first admitted boys around 1978, and became fully

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

in 1982.

Sites

The senior school is on Duchal Road to the north of

's village centre. The junior school and new sports facilities, including rugby pitches are located on Birkmyre Park, with the hockey ground being a 3G artificial pitch.

Notable staff

Margaret Paulin Young Margaret Paulin Young (4 December 1864 – 15 January 1953) was a Scottish educator. She attended and was later headmistress of the Park School for Girls in Glasgow, where she introduced classes on art and science. Early life Young was born in ...

, Founding Head 1897-1900 *

Norah Neilson Gray Norah Neilson Gray (16 June 1882 – 27 May 1931) was a Scottish artist of the Glasgow School. She first exhibited at the Royal Academy while still a student and then showed works regularly at the Paris Salon and with the Royal Academy of Scotl ...

taught art here, where she was nicknamed "Purple Patch".Norah Neilson Gray
Helensburgh Heroes, accessed July 2010 *Sandra McGruther, author of the Detective Lorimer novels, writing as Alex Gray was an English teacher here

Notable alumni

Ruth M. Arthur Ruth Mabel Arthur Huggins, sometimes misspelt as Higgins (26 May 1905 – 6 March 1979) was a Scottish teacher and writer whose books were published under her maiden name as Ruth M. Arthur. She mainly wrote for children and young adults in E ...

, author *

Winifred Drinkwater Winifred Joyce "Winnie" Drinkwater (11 April 1913 – 6 October 1996) was a pioneering Scottish aviator and aeroplane engineer. She was the first woman in the world to hold a Commercial pilot licence, commercial pilot's licence. Biography Drin ...

, aviator and aeroplane engineer *

Mairi Hedderwick Mairi Hedderwick (born 2 May 1939) is a Scottish illustrator and author, known for the '' Katie Morag'' series of children's picture books set on the Isle of Struay, a fictional counterpart of the inner Hebridean island of Coll where Hedderwic ...

, illustrator and author *

Eleanor Laing Dame Eleanor Fulton Laing, (' Pritchard; born 1 February 1958) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for the Epping Forest (UK Parliament constituency), Epping Forest constitu ...

, MP * Helen M. Laird, leader within the Girl Guide movement *

Rona Morison Rona Morison is a Scottish actress having had roles playing Chell ''Our Ladies'' in 2019 and as Thompson in '' Absentia'' 2020. Early life and career Morison was born and raised very close to Glasgow in Scotland. Morison attended St Columba's ...

, actress *

Myrtle Simpson Myrtle Lillias Simpson (née Emslie; born around 1930) is a Scottish skier and the tenth woman to receive the Polar Medal. She has been called the "mother of Scottish skiing". She was the first woman to ski across Greenland on an unsupported expe ...

, skier

References

The Times Independent School of the Year entry

External links

*
Profile
on the

Independent Schools Council The Independent Schools Council (ISC) is a non-profit lobby group that represents over 1,300 schools in the United Kingdom's independent education sector. The organisation comprises seven independent school associations and promotes the busin ...

website *

HMIE Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIe) was an executive agency of the Scottish Government, responsible for the inspection of public and independent, primary and secondary schools, as well as further education colleges, community learning ...

Inspectio
Reports
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Columba's School, Kilmacolm

St Columba's School, Kilmacolm St Columba's School is a 3–18 Mixed-sex education, mixed Independent school (United Kingdom), independent day school in Kilmacolm, Inverclyde, Scotland. It is split across two sites and is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conf ...

Independent schools in Inverclyde Educational institutions established in 1897 1897 establishments in Scotland