After another successful SQA exam year for our S4 to S6 pupils, Dalziel High School is celebrating the extraordinary achievements of one of our new S6 learners.

Liam Logue, a 16-year old pupil from Motherwell, is celebrating this month after attaining an extraordinary set of S5 exam results, all with an A grade - in his fifth year, he studied ten subjects instead of the typical five, including two Advanced Highers in the Maths of Mechanics and Statistics and eight Highers in English, Chemistry, Human Biology, Physics, Computing, Accounts, Geography and Business Management.

“When I opened my exam results, I felt delighted,” Liam said. “It was a busy year and it was a bit of a risk to take so many subjects so I am glad that it all paid off. My parents are proud of me… but my parents would have been proud if I got ten Cs!”

These incredible results join his remarkable accomplishment in attaining Advanced Higher Maths in S4, for which he was awarded the Robert Birch Award for demonstrating outstanding talent in the subject. He was also proud to be selected as the S5 Dux and to receive subject prizes in Physics and Computing. Liam was also recently successful in his application for a highly-competitive Arkwright Engineering Scholarship and hopes to continue his study of STEM at university.

With his eyes already on future academic success, S6 Liam is now studying Advanced Higher Chemistry, Biology, Computing, Accounts, Physics, Economics and Geography. Still, Liam is keen to recognise the role of Dalziel High School in helping him make the most of his talents.

“Thank you to my teachers at Dalziel High School,” Liam said. “They have been very helpful and accommodating with my unusual timetable requests. They have been very supportive in helping me learn as much as I possibly can!”

As Dalziel’s celebration of our 125th anniversary comes to a close, our seniors invited us to celebrate a highlight in our school’s calendar with another outstanding Choral Shield performance.

Staged for the first time at the beautiful Town House in Hamilton, seniors from our three houses presented two nights of song and dance to sold-out audiences from across our school community.

They were honoured, too, to offer a special matinee performance for some of our incoming Dalziellians who joined us from our feeder primary schools.

Firstly, Barclay took the cheering crowds down-under for an “I’m a Celebrity” inspired rumble in the jungle. With songs like “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” from The Lion King and Destiny’s Child’s “Survivor”, much of the crowd was kanga-rooting for Barclay from the first note.

Next, the cowboys and cowgirls of Colville got a little bit country as they strummed their guitars to jukebox classics including “Man, I Feel Like a Woman” and “Life is a Highway.” By the end of the night, the audience was [Dolly] Parton the Town House with a song on their lips.

And finally, our lot o’ Greig seniors were feeling lucky as they performed a set of songs based on the National Lottery. Drawing hits like “The Gambler” and “I Gotta Feeling”, things were bin-going well for Greig all night.

In the end, it was Barclay who proved to be the highest koala-ty as they were awarded the Choral Shield for the second year in a row.

With a special performance from the junior school cast of our upcoming production of “Shrek: The Musical”, our Choral Shield is a shining example of everything Dalziel stands for, building a culture of respect, inclusion and achievement in our pupils as they “aim for the highest”, together, in all that they do.

To view the Choral Shield 2024 Image Gallery, click Here

51 pupils and 6 teachers visited Lake Garda for 5 days in June 2024. The pupils visited Lake Garda, Verona, Valeggio, Murano and Venice. In Lake Garda we visited Sirmione and then got the ferry across to Lazise where our young people were able to admire the architecture and hear about the history of the area.

The following day we visited Valeggio and Verona where we were able to enter the arena where gladiators battled. We were fortunate enough to see the set up for the evening’s opera show and pupils experienced sitting in the range of seats available. Of course no visit to Verona is complete without a visit to Juliette’s balcony. Our final cultural visit was to Venice and Murano. We were very lucky to be able to watch two master glass blowers at work and witness the intricacy of making glass horses in our visit to Murano. This was then followed by a visit to Venice where we saw St Mark’s Square & Basilica, the Rialto Bridge and the Bridge of Sighs.

Throughout our time we had daily challenges running including Photo of the Day and Hero/Zero. This made our pupils more aware of the sights they were seeing and we were very impressed with the acts of kindness shown by many in the group. Our cultural visits were broken up by visits to a waterpark and a theme park which provided well deserved downtime.

Overall, the attitude and behaviour of our young people was exceptional which added to the enjoyment and success of the trip.

To view the Italy Trip 2024 Photo Gallery, click Here

There are few schools or institutions so beloved that you could gather such a range of people in one room to celebrate it. This happened on the evening of June 6th, though, to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Dalziel High School.

The Assembly Hall is a room decorated with prestigious names of the past for young people to look up and aspire to. This evening, many of these names reappeared in the packed rows of seats to commemorate the incredible achievements our school community has produced over the years.

The evening began with a beautiful speech by our current head teacher Jaclyn Martin, which guided us through the history of how the school came to be as it is today. As her eyes moved around the room of the hall, listeners could feel the gravitas of the history woven into the walls.

This was followed by speeches from the last two head teachers, Robert Birch and Brian Miller, both of whom shared passionate and humorous reminisces of their time. Mr. Miller’s speech was made extra special by its location in Menorca which brought just a little bit more sunshine to the occasion!

Basie Grieve returned to the school not for the first time, having been School Captain as a pupil then head of Modern Languages during a distinguished career. She spoke eloquently about the impact of the War Memorial Trust on the school and the importance of carrying the legacy of fallen heroes into the corridors of the school today.

Talks from our current Captain and Vice-Captain Euan Bowman and Euan Blackwood, speaking about what Dalziel means to them now on this momentous year, were then rounded off by a humorous and nostalgic viewpoint from Scott Duguid who not only went to the school as a pupil but has also seen the next two generations of his family attend since. Such perspectives and their continual connection with the school helped to highlight how truly special this is.

Between the heartfelt speeches were some heart rendering performances from the school choir, performing ‘In My Life’, ‘Unwritten’ and excitingly the new school anthem ‘Dalziel Is In My Heart’ written by Andrew Strachan and Nicola McKenzie. This was a rousing performance which reinforced to all those present why they truly are still Dalzielians at heart.

Afterwards, guests were able to walk down memory lane through an exhibition which has been painstakingly created through the tireless work of Linzi Dunlevy over the past number of weeks. This exhibit has a museum like quality, and you could see the range of former pupils and staff of all ages being transported back to their time in the school as they moved their way through.

There is no other school like Dalziel and it wouldn’t be hard to imagine that in another 125 years people will be celebrating the successes of this great institution with just as much passion and enjoyment.

A truly great evening for all.

To view the 125th Anniversary - A Walk Down Memory Lane Photo Gallery, click Here