Firrhill High School

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. The school serves areas such as: Oxgangs, Colinton Mains, Colinton Village, Bonaly, Fairmilehead, Buckstone, Craiglockhart and Longstone. 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, and the school was refurbished by a private finance initiative.

1. Headteacher

The current headteacher is Graham Hamilton.

1. Notable alumni and teachers

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 respectively whilst at the school 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. 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. 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.

1. Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education

On 13 June 2006, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education reported on the school. 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. 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.

1. References


1. External links

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

Nearby Places View Menu

Firrhill

Firrhill is a suburb of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is south of Merchants of Edinburgh Golf Club and lies next to Oxgangs. The area is mostly made up of public housing which was built by the Corporation Housing Department in the mid-1950s, however most of the council properties have now been bought by tenants using the right to buy scheme although a fairly large number of these are rented out privately by individual landlords. Firrhill High School lies in the area.

Neighbourhood School

Dovecot Studios

Dovecot Studios or Dovecot is a tapestry studio and arts venue in Edinburgh, Scotland. Dovecot Studios was established by the 4th Marquess of Bute in 1912, recruiting weavers from William Morris' workshops at Merton Abbey in London. The Marquess commissioned the studios to produce large tapestries for Mount Stuart House, his home on the Isle of Bute. Dovecot Studios' first home was in Corstorphine, which at the time was a village on the west side of Edinburgh. It was originally housed in a purpose built studio next to a sixteenth-century dovecot, the only remaining part of the medieval Corstorphine Castle. After the Second World War, the studios became known as Edinburgh Tapestry Company. They focused on working with the most famous contemporary British artists, with individuals including Henry Moore and Graham Sutherland providing designs for tapestries. In 2001 it lost its financial support and went into liquidation. However the company was purchased and renewed by a new board of directors the same year, but could not remain at the Corstorphine site. Since 2008 Dovecot Studios has been residing in the refurbished Infirmary Street Baths in central Edinburgh, which gives a new life and purpose to what was a derelict building. As well as housing the Studio's Tapestry Studio, Dovecot's Infirmary Street home now also includes a cafe, shop, event hire spaces and three exhibition galleries. These spaces have shown a number Dovecot-curated and touring exhibitions, including "Weaving The Century: Tapestry from Dovecot Studios 1912–2012", "Jerwood Makers Open" and exhibitions by artists as diverse as Ptolemy Mann, Wendy Ramshaw and Michael Brennand Wood. During the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe, musical performance "A Tapestry Of Many Threads" written by Alexander McCall Smith and Tom Cunningham received its world premiere on the weaving floor at Dovecot to critical acclaim. The performance celebrated a decade of Dovecot weaving and included performers from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. "A Tapestry Of Many Threads" won a 2012 Herald Angel Award.

Art Event

430 m

Craigmillar Park Church

Craigmillar Park Church serves Edinburgh's Newington area, in Scotland. It was a congregation of the Church of Scotland until June 23rd, 2024. The church building dates from 1879 and the adjacent hall was added in 1899.

Church

Craiglockhart

Craiglockhart (; Scottish Gaelic: Creag Longairt) is a suburb in the south west of Edinburgh, Scotland, lying between Colinton to the south, Morningside to the east Merchiston to the north east, and Longstone and Kingsknowe to the west. The Water of Leith is also to the west.

Neighbourhood