Caldervale High is a six year non-denominational co-educational school catering for pupils between the ages of 11 and 18.
The school is currently undergoing a major refurbishment and when finished will have a wide range of modern facilities including an assembly hall, a well-resourced library, a range of PE facilities including playing fields, a dining hall and a Communication Support Centre. The first phase of the refurbishment is expected to be completed by July 2012 with PE facilities expected to be completed by August 2013.
The school caters for pupils with varying degrees of disabilities and offers ramps in order to ease entry and exit of pupils confined to wheelchairs. The school also encourages disabled pupils to participate as fully as possible in every way of school life.
The school runs a wide range of extra-curricular activities including photography, news, drama, computing, choirs, bands and personal reading clubs. In May each year every pupil is encouraged to take part in a trip on Activities Day. Throughout the session a number of educational excursions take place.
Pupils are encouraged to have a voice in the school through participation in the Pupil Council. Each class elects at least one representative onto this group which meets monthly. The group may be consulted on some decisions within the school and have an opportunity to raise issues with the Senior Management team. Pupils in S5 and S6 contribute to the wider school community by supporting younger pupils as ‘buddies’ and taking on additional responsibilities as Prefects or Captains.
The school has a Positive Behaviour Policy which seeks to encourage and promote good behaviour. Each term staff are asked to nominate pupils for Merit Awards to recognise achievements such as increased effort, improved behaviour, taking responsibility for learning and perfect attendance. Each year the pupils with most Merit Awards receive a reward in recognition of their achievement.
There is a strong tradition of raising funds for charity in the school. Each year we support Children In Need, St Andrew’s Hospice, the Shoebox appeal and any other charity nominated by pupils.
Caldervale attaches the greatest importance to regular consultation between staff and parents. The school has a policy of closely monitoring pupils’ progress and informing parents if there are any concerns. There are Parents’ Meetings for each stage of school as well as regular tracking reports to update parents on pupil progress and one full report card each session. In addition to this, members of the Senior Management team and Pupil Support staff are available during school hours to meet with parents. There are also Information Evenings to help at key stages, such as transitions and UCAS.
We have an active Parent Council who meet on the last Wednesday of each month. It is also the schools’ policy to create and maintain a close partnership with all parts of the community that it serves. This also involves the school collaborating very closely with employers. The school has steadily expanded its contacts with local business and industry over the years through work experience opportunities and young enterprise activities for S4 to S6 students. We have partnership agreements with Monklands Hospital, MITIE and St Andrew’s Hospice. We have also developed close links with Motherwell and Coatbridge Colleges who deliver vocational courses to pupils.
The nine associated schools with Caldervale high are, Tollbrae Primary, Plains Primary, Petersburn Primary, Kirk O Shotts Primary,Glengowan Primary, Dunrobin Primary, Clarkston Primary, Chapelhall Primaryand Calderbank Primary.
Meetings take place throughout the year between the Primary Head Teachers, the Head Teacher and the Depute Head Teacher with responsibility for Primary/Secondary liaison to ensure a smooth transition for all pupils. P7 pupils and their teachers make a number of visits to Caldervale throughout the session. The purpose of these visits is to familiarise the pupils with the school, to give them experiences of the secondary curriculum, to allow them to meet various staff and to come into contact with senior students who will act as ‘buddies’ when they start S1.
Subject, Learning Support and Pupil Support staff visit all the Primary schools to meet the P7 pupils and to discuss various matters with Primary colleagues. These visits are intended to make the transition from Primary to Secondary as smooth as possible. We have Information Evenings in various Primary schools during October and a final Parents’ Meeting in Caldervale in June following the two day P7 induction visit.
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