Our Lady's High School is a

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 ...

for 11- to 18-year-olds in

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns, and villages. It also borders East Dunbartonshire, Falkirk (co ...

, that is close to

Fir Park Fir Park Stadium is a football stadium situated in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The stadium plays host to the home matches of Scottish Premiership club Motherwell and was the temporary home of Gretna for the 2007–2008 SPL season. ...

stadium. The school educates around 850

pupils The pupil is a hole located in the center of the iris of the eye that allows light to strike the retina.Cassin, B. and Solomon, S. (1990) ''Dictionary of Eye Terminology''. Gainesville, Florida: Triad Publishing Company. It appears black becau ...

. The headteacher is Louisa McGraw.

History

The school was established in 1888, making it one of the oldest Roman Catholic secondary schools in Scotland. It was originally an all-boys school and the first class of girls was not enrolled until 1945. In the same year, the school's War Memorial Chapel, built with funds raised by the school community, was opened. The current building on Dalzell Drive was built in 1974.

Performing arts and physical education

Performing Arts is strong in the school with both Music and Drama (Drama being set up in 2005 to successful acclaim). The school wind band achieved a gold at the National Concert Band Festival in 2005-06. On 30 March 2007 the band attained a gold award at the Festival and then won the Lanarkshire Youth Musical Award for 2007. Their senior football team achieved national success in 2000 when they won the Under-18 Scottish Schools Football Shield. This was the eighth time the school has won this trophy.

Notable former pupils

Sir Matt Busby Sir Alexander Matthew Busby (26 May 1909 – 20 January 1994) was a Scottish football player and manager, who managed Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 and again for the second half of the 1970–71 season. He was the first manager of an E ...

(1909-1994) - former manager of

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

Thomas Winning Thomas Joseph Winning (3 June 1925 – 17 June 2001) was a Scottish Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Glasgow from 1974 and President of the Bishops' Conference of Scotland from 1985 until his death. Winning wa ...

(1925-2001) -

Archbishop of Glasgow The Archbishop of Glasgow is an archiepiscopal title that takes its name after the city of Glasgow in Scotland. The position and title were abolished by the Church of Scotland in 1689; and, in the Catholic Church, the title was restored by Pop ...

Billy McNeill William McNeill (2 March 1940 – 22 April 2019) was a Scottish association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. He had a long association with Celtic F.C., Celtic, spanning more than sixty years as a player, m ...

(1940-2019) - footballer,

Celtic F.C. The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a professional Association football, football club in Glasgow, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football league system, Scottish ...

and

Scotland national football team The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in men's international Association football, football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. They compete in three major professional tournaments: the FIFA World Cup, UEFA ...

Bobby Murdoch Robert White Murdoch (17 August 1944 – 15 May 2001) was a Scottish professional footballer, who played as a midfielder for Celtic, Middlesbrough and Scotland. Murdoch was one of the Lisbon Lions, the Celtic team who won the European Cup in 19 ...

(1944-2001) - footballer for Celtic and Scotland * Sir

Tom Devine Sir Thomas Martin Devine (born 30 July 1945), usually known as Sir Tom Devine, is a Scottish academic and author who specializes in the history of Scotland. He was knighted and made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his contr ...

(b. 1945) - historian *

Patrick Doyle Patrick Doyle (born 6 April 1953) is a Scottish composer and occasional actor best known for his film scores. During his 50-year career in film, television and theatre, he has composed the scores for over 60 feature films. A longtime collaborato ...

(b. 1953) - composer *

Chic McSherry Charles "Chic" McSherry (born 22 November 1958) is a Scottish rock guitarist, songwriter, author and businessman. In his music career, he has written five studio albums with Doogie White and the band La Paz. In his business career, he is on th ...

(b. 1958) - businessman, writer and musician * Colin Fox (b. 1959) - former MSP * Martin Ledwith, actor *

Brian McCardie Brian McCardie (22 January 1965 – 28 April 2024) was a Scottish actor and writer, known for his role as John Thomas "Tommy" Hunter in the BBC police procedural series ''Line of Duty''. Personal life Brian McCardie was born on 22 January 196 ...

(b. 1965) - actor *

Stephen Pearson Stephen Paul Pearson (born 2 October 1982) is a Scottish former professional association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He began his career at Motherwell F.C., Motherwell and joined Celtic F.C., Celtic in 2004, where he won do ...

(b. 1982) - footballer,

Motherwell F.C. Motherwell Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, which plays in the . Motherwell have not dropped out of the top flight of Scottish football since 1985, and have lifted one trophy in that ...

* Frank Roy (b. 1958) - former MP (1997-2015) *

Kieran Tierney Kieran Tierney (born 5 June 1997) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Scottish Premiership club Celtic and the Scotland national team. Tierney came through the Celtic youth system and made his first-team debut in ...

(b. 1997) - footballer

Arsenal F.C. The Arsenal Football Club, commonly known as simply Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, North London, England. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. In domestic football, Arsenal h ...

References

External links

Official siteOur Lady's High School's page on Scottish Schools Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Our Lady's High School, Motherwell Catholic secondary schools in North Lanarkshire Buildings and structures in Motherwell Educational institutions established in 1895 1895 establishments in Scotland