History
Education has flourished in the parish of Lasswade from medieval times in various church and monastic establishments, but schooling as we know it dates from the 17th century. Lasswade Kirk Session records list the names of the parish schoolmasters from 1646, and some of these, particularly the famous Scottish poet, William Tennant, LL.D., later Professor of Oriental languages at the University of St. Andrews, and Robert Marshall, who resigned in 1899 after 32 years as headmaster, laid the foundation of Lasswade's excellent record as a higher grade school. The school dux to this day is presented with the Marshall Memorial Medal. There are obvious connections with noble estates of Melville, Dalhousie and Roslin and the school coat of arms reflects these and other educational connection within the area. On petition by the former headmaster, the late F. Webster, M.A., the Lyon Court granted to the school a coat of arms.
The Melville "fess" or bar in red on a gold background, with the "engrailed" edges refers to the great House of Roslin. The falcon's heads are the heraldic charge of the Nicolson Family, closely associated with Lasswade, and the Golden Key represents Gibson of Pentland, the family most prominently associated with the school. The black spread eagle represents the House of Dalhousie and the open book represents learning.
In 1956, Lasswade Senior Secondary School transferred to a new building on the present site with improvements and extensions opened in 1978 to provide new accommodation for Business Studies, Home Economics, Music, Art & Design, Science, Craft, Design & Technology, Library, Computer Room, Kitchen, Dining Room and Sports Centre. During session 1999/2000, a new Mathematics and Support wing was built and formally opened by Jack McConnell, at the time Education Minister for Scotland. This included state of the art fully equipped Mathematics classrooms, Guidance classrooms, offices and meeting rooms and a Learning Support base with tutorial rooms. The school also has a purpose built Sports Centre which comprises a game hall, squash courts, fitness training rooms, activity movement studio, cafeteria, creche and spacious playing fields.
Lasswade has been further development as a community school since 1979.
Read more about this topic: Lasswade High School Centre
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