Firrhill High School

Firrhill High School
Motto Air-carraig
Established 1960
Type State secondary
Headteacher Graham Hamilton
Deputy Headteacher Roberta Porter, Nick McClellan & Julie Statham
Location 9 Oxgangs Road North
Edinburgh
EH14 1DP
Scotland
Staff 121 approx
Students 1123 approx[1]
Grades S1 to S6
Website Firrhill High School

Firrhill High School is a state-run secondary school located in the south-west of Edinburgh, Scotland. The school was established in 1960, being unveiled by the city's Lord Provost. The school has around 1123 students with a teaching staff of around 120.[2] The school serves areas such as Oxgangs, Colinton Mains, Colinton Village, Bonaly, Fairmilehead, Buckstone, Craiglockhart and Longstone.[3]

In 2001 the school underwent drastic refurbishing work, with several run-down buildings dating from the 1960s being either refurbished or demolished with new buildings being built in their place. This was completed in mid-2005.[4] The school was refurbished by a Private Finance Initiative.

Headteacher and SMT

The current headteacher is Graham Hamilton. Nick McClellan, Julie Statham and Roberta Porter are the deputy head teachers.[5]

Houses

Pupils at the school are separated into three groups, known as "houses". The houses are:

The Houses are named after three of the Pentland hills, to the south of Edinburgh and in sight of the school. Each pupils tie has the colour of their house on it, Allermuir green, Braidlaw purple, and Caerketton light blue. The head of Allermuir is Julie Statham, the head of Braidlaw is Roberta Porter, and the head of Caerketton is Nick McClellan.

Notable former pupils and teachers

Robbie Foy, formerly of Liverpool F.C. and Scunthorpe United FC was a former pupil of the school. Foy, Sives and Vita represented Scotland Schoolboys in 2000 and 2001[6] respectively whilst at the school[7] and all 3 played in the Victory Shield.

Legendary comedian, dancer, adult movie star, and label machinist Derek Draper, Derek is mostly know for his dance he created called 'The Ringo', the Ringo has inspired other dancers including Torlvill and Dean, nicknames include Middle leg and tripod .

Scottish composer and pianist Stuart Mitchell was a former pupil who decoded and scored the 15th century music embedded into the carvings of Rosslyn Chapel.

The Scottish actress and comedian, Elaine C Smith was a teacher at the school in the early 1980s.[8]

Scottish athlete Margot Wells, wife of Olympic sprint champion Allan Wells, was a Physical Education teacher at the school in the 1970s.

Former Blue Peter presenter Romana D'Annunzio was an English teacher at the school during 2009-10.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education

On 13 June 2006 Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education reported on the school.[9] The inspectors identified as key strengths "The coherent and progressive programme of enterprise activities from S1-S6" and "The high standards of attainment at S5/S6". The report also commended the strong direction given by the Head Teacher Karen Prophet.

The Report also commended the condition of the school saying that the school was well-designed and had good specialist teaching areas and had good social areas for pupils.

HM Inspectorate of Education issued a follow up report on 22 April 2008.[10] The report identified "good" or "very good" progress regarding all the items identified for action in the 2006 inspection report, and found no need to conduct further follow-up inspections.

See also

Public-Private Partnership

External links

References

Coordinates: 55°54′52.51″N 3°14′10.86″W / 55.9145861°N 3.2363500°W / 55.9145861; -3.2363500

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