Cardinal Newman High School, Bellshill

Cardinal Newman High School

Logo
Motto	In Veritatem
Established	1977
Type	Comprehensive School
Religion	Roman Catholic
Headteacher	Mr Kenny Ross
Deputy Headteacher	Mr Brown, Mrs O'Keane, Mr Smith, Mrs McGhee
Location	Main Street Bellshill North Lanarkshire ML4 3DW Scotland
Staff	89.8 FTE
Students	1092
Gender	Mixed
Ages	11-12 years–17-18 years
Houses	Andrew, Columba, Kentigern, Margaret and Ninian
School Years	1st-6th years
Telephone	01698 747666
Website	Cardinal Newman High School

Cardinal Newman High School is a Roman Catholic, co-educational, comprehensive secondary school located in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The school was formed by the amalgamation of Elmwood Secondary, St. Saviour's High School and St. Catherine's. The school's catchment area includes Bellshill, Mossend, Viewpark, Birkenshaw, and parts of Uddingston. The feeder primary schools are Saint Gerard's, Sacred Heart, Holy Family, John Paul II and Saint John the Baptist. It has won multiple awards and is one of the highest ranked schools in Britain, according to HMIe. In addition to the ordinary curriculum, it offers many vocational courses such as DTP, Photography, Hospitality and Digital Media.

Senior Management Team

The headteacher is Mr Ross, who is assisted by his depute headteachers;Mr Brown, Mr Smith, Mrs O'Keane and Mrs McGhee. The school chaplain is Father Thomas Wilberforce, a Holy Ghost Father and the Assistant Chaplain is Deacon Mario Vannini who is a teacher of Hospitallity in the school.

The Building

The school building is a unique design, the main teaching block is curved and covered on both ends with glass panels. As part of the council's lighting scheme, 140 window panels are lit at night by strips of LED lighting. In addition, the roof structure and plant room are lit internally by floodlights with vivid colours. The lights have made the school an icon of the local community and the building is very visible from the M74 motorway.

The science and social studies, technical, PE, music and administrative blocks are linked to the main block around its circumference. The main block contains two dining halls plus five year-group areas, each with a discussion room and set of toilets. The first floor of the main block contains a large spacious library and resource centre, the Department of Business and IT, the staff room and the administrative area and school office.

The school foyer is located on the first floor of the administrative block and incorporates a large theatre, which can seat 200 and a self-contained meeting room, the Newman Suite. It also houses the 'Snapdragon Restaurant' hospitality academy - a curricular partnership between Cardinal Newman High School and Motherwell College. Snapdragon has a full professional training kitchen and restaurant and is used across the school in both curricular and out of school hours learning activities. These include vocational courses and community partnership events such as the senior citizens club.

School Name

In 1977, the school was named after Cardinal Henry Newman by Monsignor Philip Flanagan, the then Parish Priest of Sacred Heart Parish and a former Rector of the Scots College in Rome. On 19 September 2010, during Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Britain, Cardinal Newman was Beatified and is now known as' Blessed' however there was no change to the school's name.

Uniform

The uniform for all pupils is a white shirt, black trousers (girls skirt), a black blazer. 1st-4th wear a striped blue, yellow and red tie, where the 5th years wear a plain blue tie with the school emblem and 6th year have the same tie with red strips. The 6th year blazer is black with blue brading.

Departments

There are fourteen teaching departments in Cardinal Newman, namely:

• The Department of Biochemistry - formed by the merger of the Chemistry and Biology departments, Principal - Mrs Murray
• The Department of Physics and General Science, Principal - Mr McCluskey
• The Department of Business and IT - formed by the merger of the Business and Computing departments, Principal - Mr Sloan
• The Department of Art and Design, Principal - Mr Kennedy
• The Department of Technologies and Professional Cookery Recently renamed the Department of Food Technology, Principal - Mrs Mautlow
• The Department of Modern Languages - offering French and Spanish, Principal - Mrs Dolan
• The Department of Religious Education, Principal - Mr Rance
• The Department of Mathematics, Principal - Mrs O'Mailley
• The Department of Social Studies - offering Modern Studies, History and Geography Principal - Mrs McGhee/Mrs Dickson
• The Department of Music and Drama, Principal - Mr McLaughlin
• The Department of English, Principal - Miss Scanlon
• The Department of Physical Education, Principal - Mr Egan

Houses

The school has Five Houses all named after Scottish Saints. The Guidance Teachers for each house are Mrs Fagan (Andrew), Mr Gallagher(Columba), Mr Milarvie (Kentigern), Mr Devlin(Margaret) and Miss McGinley(Ninian). Each house has their own colour and participate in many house competitions and activities throughout the school year including Sports Day and Newman Day. Mrs Smith who had been a teacher at the school and Guidance teacher of Columba House retired at Easter 2012 and was succeeded by Mr Gallagher

Newman Week

Newman Week is a special week for the school as this is when they celebrate the feast of their patron, Blessed John Henry Newman. Newman's feast day is on 9 October and this is normally marked by a school mass celebrated by Bishop Joseph Toal and the local priests. On the Friday of Newman Week, the school holds Newman Activities Day. Newman Week normally takes place the week before the October Week Holiday. To celebrate the beatification of Newman, a large crucifix was erected at the school entrance called the "Newman Cross" which was blessed by Cardinal O'Brien at the 2010 school award ceremony.

Notable Teachers

A notable teacher at the school is William Collum, a football referee in the Scottish Premier League, Scottish Football League and UEFA competitions, who is the principal teacher of religious education. He stood down as principal to concentrate on refereeing and moved to St Aidan's High School, Wishaw in 2011, returning to Cardinal Newman in August 2012.

Another notable teacher is Mrs Jules Maxton who is currently the head coach of the Scottish Woman's rugby team.

In September 2011, Mr Mario Vannini, a teacher of Hospitality at the school, was ordained a Deacon by Bishop Joseph Devine for the Diocese of Motherwell. This means that Cardinal Newman is the only school in Scotland that has a deacon as a member of its teaching staff. The Deacon is now also Assistant Chaplain to the school.

In the Media

In July 2007, the school, in conjunction with Motherwell College, received the title 'College Restaurant of the Year 2007 - Scotland and Northern Ireland'

The school was featured in the Scottish Catholic Observer newspaper and website after a group of staff and pupils embarked on a pilgrimage to Cofton Park, Birmingham to attend the beatification mass of the school's namesake.

In August 2010, at the start of the school year, the school was featured on the BBC's Reporting Scotland news show. The segment was designed to show-off the Scottish Executive's new Curriculum for Excellence scheme. The segment starred Mike Russell, MSP(the education secretary) and 6th year students from the school.

Four of the S6 pupils who took part in the Pope Benedict XVI Caritas Award, were published on the front page of the Scottish Catholic Observer in June 2012 along with Cardinal Keith O'Brien and Archbishop Emeritus Mario Conti.

In February 2013, Cardinal O'Brien visited the school to bless a large set of Rosary beads to launch the Mission Matter Rosary Campaign.

External links

• HMIE Report
• School website
• Cardinal Newman's page on LTS's 'Scottish Schools Online'