The school was opened in August 1884,[1] with its buildings located next to Uddingston railway station.

In 2009, Uddingston Grammar moved to a new campus nearby (on the site of its former playing fields) as part of South Lanarkshire Council's school modernisation programme; the oldest of the existing buildings was converted into apartments as part of a residential development.

[2] The school's catchment area includes the communities of Uddingston, Bothwell, Birkenshaw, Tannochside, Viewpark and recently parts of Newton in Cambuslang.

The school is divided into seven house groups: Arran, Bute, Lewis, Mull, Orkney, Harris and Skye, named after islands in Scotland.

Previously there were five house groups: named Clyde, Douglas, Kelvin, Dechmont and Calder after Scottish rivers.