Lasswade High School Centre

In 1956, Lasswade Senior Secondary School (the earliest predecessor for which was established in the village of Lasswade in the 1610s)[1] 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. Lasswade was further developed as a community school since 1979.

During the 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.[2]

In 2009 it was announced that a new Lasswade High School Community Campus was to be built, with construction beginning in October 2011. The school re-opened in 2013 as the Lasswade Centre, with ceremonial duties performed by the then First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond.[1] The new building cost £38 million to complete, and contains 90 classrooms to accommodate around 1,500 pupils.[1] The facility also has a purpose-built Sports Centre, which comprises a games hall, squash courts, fitness training rooms, activity movement studio, cafeteria, creche and spacious playing fields.

Lasswade High School received the prestigious award at a ceremony in London in recognition of the school's involvement with the local community. The award was open to all schools - nursery, primary and secondary - in the United Kingdom. Assessment of the school was made in two stages - an initial written submission followed by a visit by two external assessors - to ensure that the school met the challenging criteria set by the Trustees. The award is sponsored by the government departments and private industry.

The school took the top prize in the Fitter Schools Challenge,[3] in which 3,000 UK schools put their sporting prowess to the test. The school was presented with a trophy and £10,000 worth of sports equipment by Olympian Roger Black. The challenge was open to first and second year pupils at every school in the UK. Each school had to complete in three challenges which tested their skills and stamina. Pupils were asked to complete a shuttle run, which tested their ability to accelerate and change direction. They were also challenged to see how many star jumps they could do in a minute.[4]

In recent years, the school has developed educational links with Tianlin No 3 Middle School in Shanghai, People's Republic of China. The collaboration is part of a wider initiative to develop a closer relationship between Scotland and China, and will include teacher and pupil exchanges as well as using e-mail and the internet to develop joint projects.[3][5]

Following a visit by an Eco-Schools inspection team in 2008, Lasswade High was awarded the Green Flag environmental award.[6]

For the run-up to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, the Queen's baton passed through the school building circling the school floors before eventually moving on.

• James Edward Tierney Aitchison (1835–1898), surgeon and botanist
• A.J. Aitken (1921–1998), lexicographer; scholar of the Scots language.
• Christopher Anderson (1782–1852), theologian.
• Paul Frederick de Quincey (1828–1894), soldier and New Zealand politician; son of Thomas De Quincey
• Sean Fraser (born 1990), swimmer and bronze medallist at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing.[7]
• Sir James Arnot Hamilton (1923–2012), aircraft designer; Director-General of the Concorde aviation project for the Ministry of Technology (1966–1970).[8]
• Gary Locke (born 1975), professional footballer.[9]
• Canon Stewart Mallin (1924–2000), Episcopalian cleric, Dean of Moray, Ross and Caithness (1983–1991).
• Gary Mason (born 1979), professional footballer.
• Brian McCabe (born 1951), author and poet, editor of the Edinburgh Review (2004–2011).
• Gary Naysmith (born 1978), professional footballer.[10]
• David Pryde (1890–1959), Labour MP, 1945–1959.
• Graeme Randall (born 1975), former World Judo champion (1999).[11]
• Richard Baird Smith (1818–1861), army officer in the East India Company; chief engineer at the Siege of Delhi in 1857.
• Craig Thomson (born 1991), professional footballer.[12]
• Albert Watson (born 1942), fashion photographer.
• Steven Whittaker (born 1984), professional footballer.
• Peter Wright (born 1967), former rugby union international.

• Midlothian Council website
• School website
• Lasswade's page on Scottish Schools Online