Farewell to Lomond

David Carnduff • Published 25 Jun 2009 10:58

Lomond School bids farewell this week to its headmaster of 23 years.

Angus Macdonald took the closing assembly yesterday, Wednesday, and today will preside at the school prize giving.

Several other functions are planned in this final week of the school year - all of which will be specially poignant for the man who took the reins at the independent school in August 1986.

He said: 'There are many traditional end-of-year functions planned. Yes it"s time to feel nostalgic - but this week will also be celebratory to a degree.'

There certainly was a feeling of celebration on Monday when he was treated to a small concert by some of the school"s talented musicians and on Wednesday he and wife Isabelle were in the mood for dancing at the leavers" ball.

But among all the farewells and end-of-term functions, important business continued as usual with, for example, a meeting of Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR).

Mr Macdonald, 58, was born in Edinburgh. His father was in the Navy so the young Angus was brought up both north and south of the border and attended different schools, among them Portsmouth Grammar School. By coincidence, Mr Macdonald"s successor at Lomond, Simon Mills, is headmaster at the same school and both did geography degrees at Cambridge.

'And the coincidences don"t stop there,' he said. 'Both our parents were doctors - and they even had springer spaniels!'

Prior to his arrival at Lomond School, Mr Macdonald was deputy head at George Watson"s College in Edinburgh for four years and he had taught previously at Edinburgh Academy for 10 years and within the State system at Alloa Academy.

At Lomond, the man with a passion for the outdoors, physical fitness and expeditions, quickly became established as an innovator. He cites the creation of posts for artist and writer in residence, distance learning, video conferencing, the teaching of Chinese and a pioneering approach to IT as being among key elements of his approach. For example, the introduction of electronic white boards in 1997 and some associated computer software were, he said, 'well ahead of the loop'.

He also introduced cognitive ability testing to determine pupils" academic potential - a system that indicates when pupils are failing to achieve their best possible results.

'I also believe that getting to know all the pupils and establishing personalised relationships with them has great benefits. With this approach it is less likely for pupils to "fall between the cracks".

His methods proved successful. Lomond is now a Headmasters" Conference School - a kite mark for the independent sector - and in a report by Her Majesty"s Inspector of Education in 2007, Lomond received six gradings of 'excellent' - the most ever awarded to secondary school in Scotland, and certainly the greatest number to a school in the independent sector.'

Lomond School now has a roll of just under 600, which equates to 17 percent of the local school-age population.

'A significant number of pupils - about five per cent of the secondary role - are bursary pupils. I would like to think that the school is far more open and assessable than it hitherto might have been,' he said.

Originally housed in 'scattered Victorian buildings' throughout the town, the school"s present site in Stafford Street opened in 1998 and a co-educational boarding facilities followed in 2003 - the first of its kind in Scotland. In a further major development the new £3.5 million sports hall will open in August.

Mr Macdonald"s wife Isabelle is a retired PE teacher and they have two daughters Mairi 26, and Eilidh, 24.

He is now looking forward to retiring to the Highlands and pursuing new challenges.

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This article appeared in Helensburgh Advertiser 25 Jun 09

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