Holy Cross High School, Hamilton
Holy Cross High School is a secondary school for pupils in Hamilton. It has a Roman Catholic religious character.
- Attendance
- 88.6%
Data last updated 25 Oct 2026
Holy Cross High School in detail
School in Scotland
Holy Cross High School is a local authority school in Scotland. Scottish schools are inspected by Education Scotland rather than Ofsted, and Scotland does not publish school-by-school exam league tables.
In the 2025 pupil census it had 1481 pupils and 13.7 pupils per teacher.
15% of pupils are registered for free school meals, 37% of pupils have an additional support need recorded and 7% speak English as an additional language.
22% of its pupils live in Scotland's most deprived fifth of areas and 23% in the least deprived fifth (SIMD).
Attendance was 88.6% in 2024/25, and 38.5% of pupils were persistently absent (missing 10% or more of sessions).
The 2026 school estate survey rated its buildings' condition as good (A) and their suitability for teaching as poor (C); the school was 108% full.
97% of pupils who left in 2024/25 went on to a positive destination - further or higher education, training, work or volunteering, against 97% for its "virtual comparator", a matched group of pupils with similar backgrounds from across Scotland.
Holy Cross High School in its own words
From the headteacher's welcome: "Please note that our School Calendar may change over the course of the year. All parents/carers will be kept up to date."
Headteacher's welcome (school website)
Source: The school's own website
Compared with nearby schools
The nearest other state secondary schools to Holy Cross High School are Hamilton Grammar School (0.8 miles), St John Ogilvie High School (0.9 miles), Calderside Academy (1.6 miles) and Dalziel High School (2.1 miles).
Hamilton Grammar SchoolSt John Ogilvie High SchoolCalderside AcademyDalziel High School
Getting there
The nearest railway station is Hamilton West Rail Station, about 570 metres away (roughly a 7-minute walk).
7 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is New Park Street (after), 100 metres away.
Primary schools nearby
The primary schools closest to Holy Cross High School are Beckford Primary School (0.2 miles), St Paul's Primary School (0.4 miles), St Mary's Primary School (Hamilton) (0.7 miles) and Glenlee Primary School (0.7 miles). In Scotland, secondary places normally follow the catchment area, and each secondary school has associated primary schools; South Lanarkshire publishes both.
Beckford Primary SchoolSt Paul's Primary SchoolSt Mary's Primary School (Hamilton)Glenlee Primary School
Sources: Scottish Government school statistics: pupil census, attendance and absence, school estate, leaver destinations (OGL); NaPTAN (Department for Transport)
Key Information
Scottish GovernmentInspection
Schools in Scotland are inspected by Education Scotland, not Ofsted. Find Holy Cross High School's reports on the inspectorate's website.
About
Holy Cross High School is a Catholic High School in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, in Scotland.
From Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
At a Glance
No
Boarding
No
Nursery
No
Special Measures
Keep up with Holy Cross High School
Getting There
Train Stations
Bus Stops
Safety and surroundings
Road collisions within 500 m (2021 to 2025)
- Collisions
- 8
- Fatal
- 1
- Serious
- 5
- Children hurt
- 0
Within 500 m of the school's mapped location, police recorded 8 road collisions in which someone was injured in 2021 to 2025: 1 fatal, 5 serious and 2 slight.
No children aged 0 to 15 were among the people hurt.
2 of the collisions happened on a weekday between 08:00 and 09:30 or 14:45 and 16:30, holidays included.
The typical figure for schools in South Lanarkshire is 4 (the median across 150 schools, same distance and years).
Serious and slight counts use the Department for Transport's severity adjustment, which allows for changes in how police forces record injuries; they are estimates, rounded to whole numbers. Distances are in a straight line. Source: Department for Transport, Road Safety Data (STATS19), Open Government Licence v3.0.
Commute and house prices
Feeder Primary Schools
Primary schools that likely feed into this school, based on proximity
Holy Cross High School
Showing 10 of 15 linked schools
Questions parents ask about Holy Cross High School
What is the catchment area for Holy Cross High School?
Scottish schools have catchment (zoned) areas, and Holy Cross High School is no exception: children living in its zone are normally given a place there automatically. Families who want a different school make a placing request to South Lanarkshire. South Lanarkshire publishes the zone boundary.
How do I apply to Holy Cross High School?
If you live in Holy Cross High School's catchment zone your child is normally allocated a place automatically, and South Lanarkshire will write to you. To ask for a place here from outside the zone, make a placing request to South Lanarkshire - requests usually open in November and close in mid-March for the following August.
How many road collisions happen near Holy Cross High School?
Within 500 m of the school's mapped location, police recorded 8 road collisions in which someone was injured in 2021 to 2025: 1 fatal, 5 serious and 2 slight. No children aged 0 to 15 were among the people hurt. 2 of the collisions happened on a weekday between 08:00 and 09:30 or 14:45 and 16:30, holidays included. The typical figure for schools in South Lanarkshire is 4 (the median across 150 schools, same distance and years).
Where is Holy Cross High School?
Holy Cross High School is at 51 New Park Street, Hamilton, Hamilton, ML3 0BN.
Source: Department for Transport, Road Safety Data (STATS19)