Lomond School

Lomond School is a private, co-educational, day and boarding school in Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute, Scotland. Lomond School is, currently, the only day and boarding school on the west coast of Scotland.^{[citation needed]} It was formed from a merger in 1977 between Larchfield School (founded 1845 and previously called Larchfield Academy) and St Bride's School for Girls (founded 1895).^[2]

Lomond School
Address
10 Stafford Street Helensburgh , Argyll and Bute , G84 9JX Scotland
Coordinates	56°00′32″N 4°44′13″W
Information
Former name	Larchfield School; Larchfield Academy; St Bride's School for Girls
Type	Primary & Secondary Day & Boarding School Private School
Motto	Latin: Prospiciamus (Let Us Look Forward)
Established	1977; 48 years ago (1977)
Status	Open
Local authority	Argyll and Bute
School code	8380139
Principal	Claire Chisholm [1]
Gender	Co-Educational
Age	3 to 18
Number of students	~350
Education system	Scottish Education System International Baccalaureate
Houses	Bergius Colquhoun Graham
Colour(s)
Sports	Rugby, hockey, athletics
Website	www.lomondschool.com
Main building of Lomond School
Last updated: 25 November 2022

Lomond School primarily teaches to the Scottish Education System, but in pupils' senior years (S5 & S6) at the school they can move into one of the International Baccalaureate programmes. The IB programmes were introduced in August 2021.^[3]

It is a member school of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.^[4]

The principal of the school is Claire Chisholm who took over from Johanna Urquhart,^[5] in January 2024. Before Mrs Urquhart, the previous headmaster was Simon Mills.^[6]

History

Lomond School was the result of a merger between Larchfield School (founded 1845 and previously called Larchfield Academy) and St Bride's School for Girls (founded 1895) in 1977.^[7]

Larchfield Academy (often called Larchfield School) was a preparatory school for boys in Colquhoun Street, Helensburgh and was founded in 1858.^[8] Larchfield Academy had existed in various forms and in other buildings prior to that, with the original year of foundation given as 1845. The old school building was purchased along with the newly-completed Larchfield Academy in 1858 by James S. Scott.^[9]

The school originally used both the Larchfield and St Brides sites. In February 1997, the St Brides building burnt down in a fire.^[10] In October 1998, a replacement building was built on the St Brides site and incorporated elements of the former building that were not destroyed by the fire. The design of the new building was completed by senior master Ian McKellar, an architect turned graphic communication teacher at Lomond, and Glasgow-based architects G D Lodge. The Larchfield site was also sold at around the same time.^[11]

Notable former pupils

See also the categories People educated at Lomond School and People educated at Larchfield Academy

• John Logie Baird^[12]
• Fiona Burnet, hockey player^[13]
• Alexander Murray Drennan FRSE (1884-1984) Professor of Pathology^[14]
• James George Frazer, Scottish social anthropologist, classicist and folklorist^[15]
• Bonar Law^[16]
• Dr John Edwin MacKenzie FRSE (1868-1955) chemist^[17]
• Nicola Skrastin, hockey player^[18]
• Alexander Ure, 1st Baron Strathclyde^[19]
• John Wardlaw-Milne, Conservative MP for Kidderminster.^[20]