Firrhill High School

Firrhill High School
Address
9 Oxgangs Road North Edinburgh Scotland
Information
Type	State Secondary
Motto	Air carraig
Established	1960
Head teacher	Graham Hamilton
Staff	121 approx
Enrolment	1331 approx [1]
Grades	S1 to S6
Website	http://firrhillhigh.org/

Firrhill High School is a secondary school located in the south-west of Edinburgh, Scotland. The school was established in 1960, and was officially opened by the city's lord provost. The school has around 1123 pupils and a teaching staff roll of around 121. ^[1] The school serves areas such as: Oxgangs, Colinton Mains, Colinton Village, Bonaly, Fairmilehead, Buckstone, Craiglockhart and Longstone. ^[2]

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 built in their place. Work was completed in mid-2005, ^[3] and the school was refurbished by a private finance initiative.

Headteacher

The current headteacher is Graham Hamilton. ^[4]

Notable alumni and teachers

See also: Category:People educated at Firrhill High School

• Robbie Foy, formerly of Liverpool F.C. and Scunthorpe United FC, is a former pupil of the school. Foy, Sives and Vita represented Scotland Schoolboys in 2000 and 2001 ^[5] respectively whilst at the school ^[6] and all three played in the Victory Shield.
• The Scottish actress and comedian Elaine C. Smith was a drama teacher at the school in the early-1980s. ^[7]
• The pianist and composer Stuart Mitchell who discovered the musical symbols in Rosslyn Chapel and has been celebrated in the Classic FM Hall of Fame for 15 years was a former pupil at Firrhill High School. ^[8]
• Margot Wells, the elite athletics coach, and the wife of 100-metre gold medallist Allan Wells, taught physical education at Firrhill in the late 1970s.
• Dougie Fife, a pupil at Firrhill in the 2000s is a rugby union player with over 120 appearances for Edinburgh Rugby and represented Scotland in under 20s, 7s and national team. Dougie currently plays in the US Major League Rugby competition.

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.

References

1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
2. Catchment Area Map ^{[ permanent dead link ‍]}
3. Written Answer, Scottish Parliament
4. "Senior Leadership Team". Firrhill High School. Retrieved 23 February 2025.
5. "Football - Article - TES Connect". Archived from the original on 10 June 2011. Retrieved 14 January 2009.
6. "Capital starlets to take off on a trip of a lifetime". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. 9 February 2002.
7. "Elaine C Smith Comedy Instead Of Teaching" . Retrieved 30 March 2011.
8. "Composer cracks Rosslyn's musical code".
9. Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education report on Firrhill High School, 13 June 2006 Archived 4 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
10. Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education report on Firrhill High School, 22 April 2008 Archived 4 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Official website
• Firrhill High School's page on Scottish Schools Online

55°54′52.51″N3°14′10.86″W / 55.9145861°N 3.2363500°W / 55.9145861; -3.2363500