James K. Scobbie, Rector from 1957 until 1974, greatly enhanced the school's performance during his tenure.

[2] On 11 November 2008, the secondary school was voted as the best in Scotland in a report by HMIe.

[3][5] Dalziel was also successful in winning the Customer Service Excellence award with no partial compliances and the highest standard of compliance plus, one of only a few schools in the United Kingdom to win this award.

The playing fields were established through the purchase of the 192 acres (0.78 km2) Cleland Estate from the Colville family after the wars.

The estate was later redesigned to make it more compact and improve the quality of the pitches and this change was formalised when it was opened by the Princess Royal on 5 April 2001.