South Side Glasgow - Newlands

[Frida2408]

Hi, we are looking at houses in Newlands - does anyone have any information on the primary schools - Langside I think? Or the secondaries Shawlands and Holyrood? I can't find any inspection reports online and would love to hear from people with children in those schools. We currently live in the west end and our children are in Hillhead which we are happy with but we need a bigger house. Thank you

Langside seems to be a good primary school - but I only know it by reputation via the parents at the local rugby club who have kids there. Shawlands Primary is good too.

But I have nothing but praise for Shawlands Academy. Ds has just finished S6 there and is off to Aberdeen Uni on Sunday (). He was a placing request - should have gone to Bellahouston Academy. It!/ a great school. Encourages academic results but more importantly aims to to turn out well rounded individuals. We'd have done a placing request anyway but the fact that it was a School of Rugby sealed it for us (or rather dh, as he'd said he wanted ds to go to a school that did rugby from S1).

It has a friendly rivalry with Hyndland, which gets similar results (although the headteacher would insist that Shawlands is better )

Shawlands has a very mixed demographic - from a lot of SIMD1&2 (eg Govanhill) to the leafy streets of stone villas in Newlands and Strathbungo. It is proud of that demographic as it is part of what creates the ethos of the school - adding value to all the young people. The head teacher describes it as ranging from kids whose parent is a millionaire to those who literally don't know where their next meal is going to come from

There are apparently 55 languages spoken in the school and the British Council has described it as the most international (state?) school in the UK.

I think it's now the 2nd largest secondary in GCC (after Holyrood) and is now very much at capacity (so placing requests will become more difficult). The advantage is that they are pretty much able to offer just about any SQA subject.

If you want to get a feel, you can watch "Our School" (think that's its name) on CBBC as it was filmed there last year.

You might get some more opinions if you post in the Scotsnet topic - although I'm not sure of any other parents on MN with kids there (and technically, I'm no longer one ).

I love the Southside (was brought up in Bearsden/Milngavie), with its parks and good transport links - and good schools Shawlands has become quite a vibrant place as well for eateries, cafés and some wee arty shops. Not quite the West End - but still great.