St Bride's or Cuthbertson Primary Schools, Southside Glasgow.

[Addi3]

Hello!

wondering if anyone would have any information on St Bride's or Cuthberston primary schools? We live in Govanhill and these are the 2 schools in our catchment area. I looked them up but cannot find much information . The secondary schools are Holyrood and Shawlands Academy and both appear to be quite good and of about the same standard. St Bride's and Holyrood are Catholic, but this is not really a factor for us - we would be quite happy for our daughter to get some kind of religious education but this will not really determine the kind of schools we choose. It would be great if anyone could give some insight and advise on these schools or any other schools in the Southside of Glasgow?

Thanks a lot!!

Addie.

Sorry you've had no replies Addie - I'm afraid I'm not from the south side so don't know. Hopefully someone will come along who does....

Hi there,

Both schools would be handy for you and have good teachers working there. However, they are becoming increasingly geared up to deliver quite specialised provision - they teach a large number of children for whom English is an additional language or who have little or no English. This may or may not be something that would suit your daughter. Great for diversity and giving your child a multi-cultural education, 'though initially they do in general work at a slower pace as you can imagine. You can get a flavour of this by looking at the HMIE reports found on the Education Scotland website.

Shawlands Primary is fairly near to you as is Battlefield - both are really good schools and have a great mix of cultures, but not to the same extent as Cuthbertson. I wouldn't be put off by this aspect of Cuthbertson, but would want to see if I felt it the pace of learning was appropriate. You should maybe ask for a walk round your local schools first to get a general impression. All schools should accommodate this.

Good luck :-)

Ds is now in S2 at Shawlands Academy and is very happy (it was a placing request) and being stretched well academically. Last week he was talking about Cuthbertson and saying how happy he was that we didn't send him there (not our catchment anyway ) as only one kid from there is in the top set for English or Maths. Even last year, he was making disparaging comments about the standard that the pupils from there has achieved (and contrasting that with what the four kids from his school - all placing requests - arrived at Shawlands with). Now of course it could just have been a difficult cohort from Cuthertson - but ds' primary school also had a free high proportion of Free School meals and over 60% of the children were from ethnic minorities and had English as a Second Language.
I would definitely try to get your dd into Shawlands or Battlefield.

I can't recommend ds' primary school only because, unless your dd has special needs (eg needs a school on one level) she doesn't have a chance of getting in. Last year (don't know about the current year) they were within 2 children of not even being able to accept siblings of previous placing requests. Apart from that, I can't recommend it highly enough!

Hello,

thanks very much for the replies - sorry just noticed them now! I'll look into Shawlands and Battlefied then.

Thanks,
Addie.