School of excellence: Clydebank High

Published on Tuesday 22 April 2008 15:07

THE best way to find out about business is to run one yourself, and this is exactly what entrepreneurial students at Clydebank High School have been doing.

Not only have the pupils learned a great deal, but the whole community has benefited as cash has been ploughed into various charities as a result of the ambitious venture.

For the past four years, pupils at the high school in West Dunbartonshire have run The Big Ship Caf, which has become an integral part of the school and has been used to extend a variety of curricular activities.

The Big Ship Caf originally came into being when pupils began looking for an alternative social area to use over the lunch period.

"Pupils were eager to develop an area for the whole community and for youngsters from local primary schools to share – and they decided that to run a caf was a great way of bringing lots of skills developed at the school together in one project," says the school's deputy head, Hazel McLaughlin.

Although the caf is solely for the use of pupils at Clydebank at the moment, it has gone from strength to strength – and once a week pupils use it to eat, watch videos, surf the internet and generally socialise.

"The Big Ship Caf is part of the curriculum," adds Ms McLaughlin. "In the business studies department, it is as a hands-on example of on how to run a business.

"Fifth and sixth years pupils take care of the business side of the caf, while third year hospitality students are responsible for making and serving food – and we are also going to start selling art made by pupils. As the caf is mainly used by first and second years, it really does involve the whole school."

Pupils have hosted their own conference entitled Money Matters, based around the success of the caf, which includes the fundraising work carried out as part of the venture.

The caf also has a strong emphasis on promoting healthy lifestyles and has helped the school to gain a Gold Award for Healthy Eating. Pupils are also very keen to promote Fairtrade goods and the whole Fairtrade ethos through the caf project.

The success of the Big Ship has come at a very challenging time for Clydebank High, as the school merged in the summer of 2006 with Braidfield High and took on more than 400 extra pupils, bringing the school roll to more than 1,400 students. Although there was concern about the merger, staff say that it went incredibly smoothly.

But now the school is facing up to another major change – and another major challenge – as a new main building is planned for the summer of 2009, when the current one will be demolished.

"There is some historical interest in the school, particularly during the Second World War and the Clydebank Blitz," says Ms McLaughlin. (the high school was completed just after the ravages of war in 1947)

"But everyone in the school is very excited about the new building."