St Columba's High School is a

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 ...

six-year

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 ...

, comprehensive

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 ...

, located next to Tower Hill

Gourock Gourock ( ; ) is a town in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area and formerly a burgh of the County of Renfrew in the west of Scotland. It was a resort town, seaside resort on the East shore of the upper Firth of Clyde. Its ma ...

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 ...

, Scotland. The school serves south west Greenock, Gourock, Inverkip and Wemyss Bay. The current enrolment (2018) is 682 pupils, with notable alumni including actor

Martin Compston Martin Compston is a Scottish actor and former professional footballer. He played Anti-Corruption Unit Detective Inspector Steve Arnott in the BBC drama ''Line of Duty'', Liam in Ken Loach's '' Sweet Sixteen'', Paul Ferris in '' The Wee Man'', ...

, as well as current MSYP for

, Matthew Quinn. The school won the Platinum Award in Enterprise Inverclyde Standards and Quality Report 2005/2006. The school also received top marks from the last visit by

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

. It is also the first school in Inverclyde to receive Charter Mark status, for providing outstanding customer service.

History

The original school dates back to 1909, however St. Columba's in its current form was officially opened by Archbishop Donald Mackintosh of Glasgow, on 16 June 1933. Construction of the building, which was located on Peat Road in

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 ...

, took only 1 year and 3 days from the initial foundation work to the official opening, having cost £50,000 including roads and fittings. The school moved to a new building in the Bayhill area of

in 1971. In 2009, the school temporarily returned to Greenock where it occupied the former Greenock High School buildingSchool Information
/ref> while the former Gourock High School building on Fletcher Avenue in Gourock was being refurbished as a permanent home for St Columba's. The refurbished school at Tower Hill opened in 2013, the refurbishment having cost $6m.

Campus

The main teaching block is a refurbished 1960s building which has been extended to provide facilities for wood- and metalwork classes, as well as those for ICT. The campus also includes

gym A gym, short for gymnasium (: gymnasiums or gymnasia), is an indoor venue for exercise and sports. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasion". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learn ...

nasia and fitness suites in its PE department. There are

football pitch A football pitch or soccer field is the playing surface for the game of association football. Its dimensions and markings are defined by Law 1 of the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game, "The Field of Play". The pitch is ty ...

es towards the back of the school building, and the building also contains a refurbished library.

Associated primary schools

* St Andrews Primary School,

* St Joseph's Primary School, Greenock * St Ninian's Primary School, Gourock Although not officially feeder schools, St. Columba's also receives some pupils from non-denominational schools within their catchment area, such as: * Wemyss Bay Primary School,

Wemyss Bay Wemyss Bay () is a village on the coast of the Firth of Clyde in Inverclyde in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is in the traditional county of Renfrewshire (historic), Renfrewshire. It is adjacent to Skelmorlie, North Ayrshire. The town ...

* Inverkip Primary School,

Inverkip Inverkip (; ) is a village and parish in the Inverclyde council area and historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland, southwest of Greenock and north of Largs on the A78 trunk road. The village takes its name from ...

Notable alumni

(b. 1984) - actor

References

External links

School Website
*

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

Inspectio
Reports
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Columba's Gourock Catholic secondary schools in Inverclyde 1933 establishments in Scotland Educational institutions established in 1933 Gourock Greenock