Notre Dame High School is an 11–18

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

situated in the town of

Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...

in the

Inverclyde Inverclyde (, , , "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 historic county of Renfrewshire, which ...

area of Scotland. During 2023–2024, the school had a roll of 903 pupils, serving the central, west and east areas of Greenock. The incumbent Head Teacher, Anne Munro, was appointed to the position in August 2021.

History

Notre Dame High School opened in 1973 and was situated on Peat Road in Greenock. The school later served in another three locations – Dunlop Street and Dempster Street, before moving back to Dunlop Street in 2011 following the completion of a new £29 million new building constructed to replace the former Notre Dame High School on Dempster Street. The construction of the replacement school began in 2009 and was designed by architecture firm Archial. The project was funded via a

Public–private partnership A public–private partnership (PPP, 3P, or P3) is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sectors, private sector institutions.Hodge, G. A and Greve, C. (2007), Public–Private Partnerships: An International Performance Revie ...

(PPP) agreement between the

Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...

and

Inverclyde Council Inverclyde Council is one of the 32 Local authorities of Scotland, local authorities of Scotland, covering the Inverclyde council area. In its current form the council was created in 1996, replacing the previous Inverclyde District Council which ...

. The new school building was constructed to accommodate a total of 850 pupils. The school celebrated its 40th anniversary in June 2013 by holding a special mass at St Patrick's Church in Greenock as an opportunity for former pupils and staff to gather to reminisce about the schools history.

Overview

Attainment and achievement

During the 2023–2024 academic year, the number of pupils in

Fifth year Fifth Year refers to the fifth year of schooling in secondary schools in Scotland and Ireland. It was also the traditional term for the same year group in England and Wales, until about 1990 when most schools replaced it with Year Eleven and Y ...

(S5) or

Sixth year In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare ...

(S6) attaining a

National 5 ''Curriculum for Excellence'' (Scottish Gaelic: ''Curraicealam airson Sàr-mhathais'') is the national curriculum in Scotland, used by Scottish schools for learners ages 3–18. The implementation of ''Curriculum for Excellence'' is overseen by ...

qualification increased. The percentage of pupils attaining at least one National 5 qualification in

Fourth year Fourth year, also known as S4, is the fourth year of schooling in Scottish, Venezuelan, Ecuadorian, Colombian, and other Latin American countries secondary schools, and is roughly equivalent to Year 11 in England and Wales and Year 12 (Sixth Fo ...

(S4) consistently ranks above the local authority average. In 2019, 87.04% of pupils attending Notre Dame High School in S4 achieved at least one qualification at National 5 (Level 5) against the local authority average of 81.6%. In the subsequent years, the percentage remained higher that the local authority average, with 89.77% in 2020, 83.23% in 2021, 85.81% in 2022, 91.61% in 2023 and 88.21% in 2024. Pupils in S4 who achieved a total of five National 5 qualifications in 2019 stood at 32.10%, slightly below the Inverclyde Council average of 34.1%. Between 2019–2022, the number of pupils achieving five qualifications at National 5 remained lower the local authority average before increasing 2023 and 2024 to exceed the local authority average. Pupils attending the school in S5 following a similar pattern to S4 pupils, with the percentage of pupils in S5 attaining at least one qualification at Higher (Level 6) being above the local authority average between 2019–2024. Between 2019–2021, the percentage of S5 pupils achieving three Higher qualifications was above the local authority average, before decreasing in 2022 to 33.5% against the local authority average of 36% and 30.9% in 2023 against a local authority average of 33.8%. In 2024, the school increased its percentage of S5 pupils attaining three Higher qualifications to exceed the local authority average. The number of pupils in S5 achieving five Higher qualifications had mostly been in line or above the local authority average since 2019.

Primary transition

Sports pitches at Notre Dame High School - geograph

The associated primary schools in which pupils in Primary 7 (P7) transition to Notre Dame High School are St Mary’s Primary School, St Patrick’s Primary School and All Saints Primary School. As part of the transition process to Notre Dame High School, regular visits are conducted to the schools associated primary schools during the course of the academic year (August–June) by members of school staff whilst some of the primary pupils of the associated primary schools participate in the Notre Dame High School orchestra and junior band.

Catholic practices

As a Roman Catholic secondary school, pupils participate in a prayer each day before the commencement of the school day. The school celebrates

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

within the school Oratory each Thursday of each week, with this increasing to two times a week during

Lent Lent (, 'Fortieth') is the solemn Christianity, Christian religious moveable feast#Lent, observance in the liturgical year in preparation for Easter. It echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring Temptation of Christ, t ...

and

Advent Advent is a season observed in most Christian denominations as a time of waiting and preparation for both the celebration of Jesus's birth at Christmas and the return of Christ at the Second Coming. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Chri ...

. All pupils within Notre Dame High School celebrate mass on

Holy Days of Obligation In the Catholic Church, holy days of obligation or precepts are days on which Catholic Christians are expected to attend Mass, and engage in rest from work and recreation (i.e., they are to refrain from engaging in work or activities that hinder ...

and special devotion days such as

Ash Wednesday Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and marks the first day of Lent: the seven weeks of Christian prayer, prayer, Religious fasting#Christianity, fasting and ...

. The school is allocated its own School Chaplain, currently Father Eoin Patton of St Laurence’s Parish. Parents of children attending Notre Dame High School have the right under

Scots law Scots law () is the List of country legal systems, legal system of Scotland. It is a hybrid or mixed legal system containing Civil law (legal system), civil law and common law elements, that traces its roots to a number of different histori ...

to withdraw their child from the corporate acts, worship or religious instruction that is practiced within the school. In order for any child to be excluded from religious practice, agreement must first be sought by the schools Head Teacher.

References