Change Notre Dame High School from girls only

[Glasgowlassie]

I have 2 children, currently at Notre Dame Primary in Glasgow. I have only just discovered, due to a recent campaign that my son and daughter will not be able to go to the same High School.

Girls are enrolled into Notre Dame High School, an all girls high school, this is state funded and a total anomaly, the only one of its kind in Scotland. My daughter must go there unless I can get her into another local school via a placing request, becoming increasingly difficult in the West End.

My son has to go to the linked school 3 miles away, St Thomas Aquinas, if I can't get him into another school which is closer.

Over 75% of the girls in this girls only school come from a distance via placing request. So this has an impact on the local community and the environment.

There is a campaign to change this which is how I became aware that my children would not even be allowed to go to St Thomas Aquinas without a placing request for my daughter.

In 2018 there is no place for an all girls school as it is discriminatory. Schools should serve their local area first.

Campaign is here for anyone that is interested and wants to help change it. Particularly people from Glasgow.

www.ndh4all.net

No, moved away from Glasgow years ago. But saw the headlines in the newspaper- and then in mumsnet. It was a good school for single sex, but having had my kids all go to the same primary and secondary (private school) - it’s actually really nice. My siblings were split between ND and private school. TA was considered too tough for my brothers

On googling the tems used by fraying in her post above (she refused to post the link) I came across the following study

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.atl.org.uk/Images/Gender%2520in%2520education%25203-19.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiyiqq36rzZAhVO46QKHc-FB6AQFjAAegQICBAB&usg=AOvVaw2AqgH5ClSXcsTku8A2LvMr" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.atl.org.uk/Images/Gender%2520in%2520education%25203-19.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiyiqq36rzZAhVO46QKHc-FB6AQFjAAegQICBAB&usg=AOvVaw2AqgH5ClSXcsTku8A2LvMr
P51 clearly states that there is an overrepresentation of single sex schools in the selective private sector which has a clear effect in the over representation of such schools in the league tables.
The same report refers to a study in NI where girls gained only small achievement advantage and it was not statistically significant.

The requirement to sit an entrance exam, ability to attract higher achieving pupils and smaller class sizes all impact on the outcomes of single sex schools which are mostly in the private sector. When you take account of these factors there is no difference in single sex and co-ed in terms of achievement.

Thisseat ND does have a proud heritage and a long history, I can understand why the alumini are so proud if it.

I think TA has an unfair reputation because of the areas some of the kids come from. I have heard it's a good school nowadays, may have been different years ago though.

The situation at Notre Dame Primary where a p7 cohort doesn't transition to hugh school together doesn't exist anywhere else in Scotland, its time to change this in my view.

ND is only LA single sex school in Scotland so it’s a moot point. No other meaningful comparison can be drawn given ND is unique
And Of course they don’t all progress as a cohort,because it’s single sex

Claudia i have heard they were pretty scary!

25 years ago the Primary School head was a nun and I heard she was very strict! The old primary building which is now being turned into v expensive flats is haunted by a nun apparently! Doubt that will impact on the prices tho!

Ha ha I was replying to motheroffour who found LB girls scary! The floating nuns terrified us.

LB was Laurel Bank? That was the green uniform? There was also Park which was blue and green I think, amalgamated with Kelvinside. Westbourne too with the purple. There were loads of girls schools, in the west end, private tho. Long gone now 25 years or so I'd guess

Many cohorts of P7s do not go onto the same school and it does them no harm. I'm a bit baffled by that argument. It's a good thing to broaden horizons and meet new people.

I rather like having an all girls school, especially one with such a broad catchment as ND. It should be celebrated imo.

Dilutant All other cohorts in Scotland have the choice. Choosing not to take it up is a different matter.

Is it really so baffling to you that parents might want the choice to send their son and daughter to go to the same school? Or that children might want to transition with friends from the opposite sex?

With such a small take up from the feeder schools, those who the school is meant to serve clearly don't like it.

Oof Laurel Bank - when I was younger it was basically code for lots of money but not very bright. Which is deeply unfair (a friend who went to LB is a brilliant lecturer, for example) but that was the reputation! No need to excel academically as you wouldn't need to work.

Anyway...the Catholic/Protestant thing is still such a rotten element of Glasgow (lived here all my 32 years). Nobody has asked me the school question in years. Interesting you bring up St Ninian's, Lipstick - that's where I went and they've cut the catchment area down massively. No more Arden and Darnley, the two lower income areas. Leaves a bad taste in your mouth

Would you be happier then if ND was 100% placing request?

Is it really so baffling that parents might want the choice to send their son and daughter to go to the same school?
You had that option with hyndland,of both kids progressing to same high school. You didn’t chose it
You're not rc. You chose nd for locality and Afterschool, fair enough
But This was wholly avoidable with better planning

Dilutant I would be happy if ND High actually served the community it's meant to. That community is its priority. It's not meant to be a citywide school. I'm not sure what the point of your 100% placement question was, I don't think there even was a point.

All the other RC primary feeder schools for ND High allow the girls and boys to transition together. Why should ND primary children be treated any differently? It isn't even clear on ND primary webpage that girls won't be allowed to transition to TA.

The community it is supposed to serve is the Catholic young women in Glasgow, which it does.

The point is that you want your DC to go to school together, so how about NDPS just moves entirely into the TA catchment and NDHS functions much like the Gaelic schools do? Your DC can move through the schools together and the girls who want to go to NDHS can go. Everyone happy.

It isn't even clear on ND primary webpage that girls won't be allowed to transition to TA
That’s not true,I posted the ND school handbook link,I goggled and found it in few seconds

I’ll repost

Cursory google,found school handbook Page 27, took seconds to find. it clearly documents the high school for boys as TA the information is and was out there and accessible.

ND handbook pg 27 states
Primary to Secondary
Pupils are normally transferred between ages 11 1⁄2 and 12 1⁄2 so that they will have the opportunity to complete at least 4 years of secondary education. Parents will be informed of the arrangements no later then December of the year preceding the date of transfer at the start of the new session.
Schools to which pupils normally transfer:-
Girls - Notre Dame High School 160 Observatory Road
Glasgow G12 9LN
Tel. 0141 582 0190
Boys - St Thomas Aquinas Secondary School 112 Mitre Road
Glasgow G14 9PP
Tel. 0141 582 0280

op has been offered a guaranteed high school place. RC high schools take from rc feeder schools. Giving a guaranteed place to op. Other parents seeking a place need to make placement request

The non denom schools take from their own non denom feeder school
If one wants another school you complete placement request.

You won’t get two offers eg rc and non denom high school

Dilutant Your first paragraph is incorrect. NDHS is not a Glasgow city wide school. It's a school which has intake from feeder schools in its community, they have priority. It's purpose is not to serve ALL girls in Glasgow, the placing request system wouldn't exist if it was.

There is no requirement to be Catholic to attend, if fact a very large minority of pupils are not Catholic. Pupils get entry automatically as longer as they come from a feeder school, there is no priority for Catholics.

The Gaelic school is not comparable, it is a city wide school and there are requirements other than catchment or feeder school for entry.

I referred to the webpage which does not state anything about gender for TA...

www.notredame-pri.glasgow.sch.uk/PlainText/PlainText.aspx?SectionId=6b4d0a15-c42e-4631-96d0-dcb82b23be5f

I referred to the nd school home page,embedded is the handbook.p27 destination schools for pupils clearly laying out the process

A quarter of the intake is local girls and you seriously want to take that choice and provision away from them ?

Of course it is a city wide school. It takes girls from all over the city after all.

If you make it 100% placing request those girls will still get in if they want to.

Of they don't want that, then they can go TA with their brothers automatically. Win-win.

It's a piece of nonsense that there's an under-capacity state school accepting girls only when the other local schools are bursting at the seams.

The sooner that any type of segregation in schooling (whether it be gender, or religion) ends, the better.

For those who want a gender-only, or religious emphasis in school, they should pay for it themselves. The state should not be funding divisive education.

moonmaker your point contradicts the facts. The figure for placing requests across the school is 81%. Only 19% are local girls from feeder schools, this school isnt meeting local needs. It's the local girls who are being disadvantaged, especially those from ND primary who have no right to go to another school.

Absolutely agree More. This impacts the other local schools too, part of the reason they are bursting at the seams is because of the lack of demand locally for single sex education and the lack of choice for for ND Primary pupils.

It's unacceptable that a local school is sitting 2/3 empty made up 81% of placing requests and the other schools are full to capacity.

Dilutant you are spectacularly wrong. ND High is not a city wide school, it is a local community school. Local girls have priority. The reason that it is so full with placing requests and girls from over the city is that locally there is no demand. It doesn't change from a community school with feeder primaries because you say so.

The whole point if this thread is that ND primary girls CANNOT transition with their brothers to TA. Local schools are full. Have you even read the thread??

20% is still a significant enough figure. How you have decided that 20% means 'NO local demand' baffles me .
Female only spaces are becoming more and more scarce to suit male convenience and privilege.

NDHS is not 2/3 empty, you seem to be pulling statistics from nowhere 🤔