West Coats Primary School

West Coats Primary School

West Coats Primary School in Cambuslang on the south east fringe of Glasgow, Scotland was built in the late 19th century and is still an active school with over 400 children. In the 1990s an extension was added to accommodate the increasing number of pupils. It has several classrooms, a gym/dining hall and a Computer Suite. P6 and P7 recently performed with Scottish Opera at a performance on Friday 24 February 2006. The School has a website. The well-known boxer Scott Harrison went to this school. The school has recently enrolled in the Cashless Cafeteria system which is taking place throughout South Lanarkshire.

West Coats has always been, and by all accounts still is, an excellent school, with demand for places far outstripping capacity - even with the new extension erected in the upper playground (the erstwhile boys’ playground) over the last few years. Although given the pleasing conservative nature of the rest of the school (grey sandstone) this extension is perceived by many as a bit of a carbuncle, it appears to cut the mustard by alleviating what was a serious accommodation shortage brought about chiefly by the vast number of new private homes built over the last twenty-five years and partly by allowing into the school children from outwith the catchment area. Apparently this latter practice has often resulted in some children who should rightfully attend West Coats being refused places there and, in one case we’ve heard of, a parent had to go to court to get his children accepted.

But the time-honoured popularity of West Coats has not necessarily been due to what was prior to 1969, and may still be, a superior standard of teaching, or smaller class sizes, or anything else peculiar to learning. While such features could always have been valid considerations, it is far more likely that, apart from reason of living nearby, parents have consistently wished their children to attend West Coats since, serving mainly the ‘hill district’ of Cambuslang, it has acquired the reputation of being ‘posh’ and a huge cut above the competition, though not by any means as much as in the past. Nevertheless, I think it would be true to assert that, even today, most West Coats children come from affluent homes and, therefore, are probably more ambitious or ‘aspirational’ than children from lower down the social stratum. Accordingly it’s on the cards that West Coats pupils will be motivated far more by competition than pupils at neighbouring schools where the importance of doing well at one’s lessons is frequently not appreciated to the same extent. While this is a broad generalisation it is one that we think most teachers will agree with. The prevalent culture of a school’s principal catchment area determines its ethos more than any other factor, and West Coats is no exception.