Our History

Lomond School was founded in 1977 and has recently celebrated its 40th Anniversary.

Established from the amalgamation of Larchfield Academy and St. Bride’s School for Girls, both of which date back to the 19th Century, Lomond School holds on to many of the traditions from our founding schools, whilst remaining true to our motto, Prospiciamus, ‘let us look forward’.

Larchfield Academy (later called Larchfield School) was founded in 1845 and was latterly a preparatory school for boys. In the late 1920s and early 1930s Cecil Day-Lewis and W. H. Auden taught there briefly. Larchfield joined with St. Bride’s School for Girls in 1977 to form Lomond School, a co-educational day and boarding school for children aged 3 to 18.

The school’s rich heritage, mixed with the formation of a new learning institute has resulted in the perfect balance of old and new at Lomond, with traditional values held in high esteem and an innovative curriculum available to all of our young people.

Lomond has a tradition of boarding provision dating back to 1845. Both Larchfield Preparatory Boys’ School and St Bride’s Girls’ School had a number of boarding houses in Helensburgh. Until 2003 boys and girls were housed separately, with the boys being accommodated in Burnbrae House in Campbell Street and the girls in Lansdowne Park in Victoria Road. In the Summer Term of 2003 boarders moved into a new purpose-built facility on the Burnbrae site allowing brothers and sisters to live together, in keeping with Lomond’s ‘family school’ ethos.

The ‘new’ House is co-educational with boys and girls being accommodated on separate floors.

The Lomond School Association, our alumni network, welcomes former pupils, parents and teachers from Larchfield and St Bride’s, as well as Lomond School. Our recent 40th Anniversary celebrations saw this network and the wider Lomond School family sharing many cherished memories of their time here.

Notable alumni include inventor of the television, John Logie Baird, former Prime Minister, Andrew Bonar Law, and prizewinning artist, Vicki Hopkinson.

Book a tour

We welcome prospective families and our former pupils, parents and teachers to tour the school all year round.