By Monica Gibson

THE new head boy and girl at St Luke’s High School are “honoured” to be taking their new roles as the school prepares to celebrate its 40th birthday.

Shauna Doherty and Daniel McWilliams captured the imagination of their peers during their campaigns to win the coveted roles, and the pair promise to do the best job they can during the Barrhead school’s milestone year.

Shauna said: “It was a bit of a shock to be chosen. There were 16 of us to begin with and everyone would have done a great job so it feels amazing.

“This year is the school's 40th anniversary and we will also mark 100 years of catholic education which is an amazing thing to be part of.

“We want everyone to have as enjoyable a time at school as we have over the past six years and are really looking forward to working with all the different year groups to help make that happen.”

Daniel, 17, is also very proud to be selected, and is already relishing the responsibilities involved with the role, including the buddy system the school has in place to help the new first year pupils.

He told the Barrhead News: “We spent some time with the cluster schools and learned how to be a leader.

“We spoke about what it means to be a buddy and now are all teamed up it is really good.”

Supporting Shauna and Daniel are their deputies and fellow S6 pupils Sophie McKeown and Liam Hepper.

Liam, who enjoys martial arts in his spare time, said: “The ethos of the school is that every pupil should have a voice and that is something we are all very passionate about.”

Sophie says one of her favourite things about St Luke’s is the pupil-staff relationship, and she pledged to work hard to help every pupil feel comfortable that they have their place at the school.

Sophie added: “The four of us make such a strong team. Even through the campaign everything was really friendly.

“We have lots of ideas of what to do for the anniversary.

“Already, we are working really well together. All of us said we want to concentrate on pupil relations and interaction. That is what the pupils want and that is what we will try to create.”

Margaret Pollock, deputy headteacher, said: “We were so impressed by the quality of all the candidates this year and are already so proud of these four.

“We have every confidence that they will be wonderful ambassadors for the school and will continue to strengthen our reputation over the year.”