The school, which opened in 1984, serves Giffnock, Clarkston, Thornliebank, Newton Mearns, Eaglesham, Netherlee, Waterfoot, Netherplace, Millhall and Busby in East Renfrewshire.

[3] The school's motto is "Floreat Iuventus" which translates as "Let youth flourish".

Between 2000 and 2002, a multi-million pound extension was built for the school (which was originally designed to hold only 700 pupils).

[citation needed] The extension had been scheduled for years earlier (and completion by 1999 at the latest) however problems with the PFI tender for another local school project caused years of delay.

[4] The school was the first public-sector organisation to win the 'Quality Scotland' business excellence award;[5] It was the first state-funded school in Scotland to abandon the Standard Grade examination system in favour of the Higher Still system, using Access 3, Intermediate 1 and Intermediate 2 for pupils in third and fourth year, while maintaining "Highers" in fifth year and Advanced Highers in S6.