Firrhill High School is a secondary school located in the south-west of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, 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 Oxgangs is a suburb in the south-west of Edinburgh, Scotland. Surrounding districts include Caiystane, Dreghorn, Redford, Fairmilehead, Colinton and Swanston and Colinton Mains. The post code area for Oxgangs is EH13. Etymology The name d ...

, Colinton Mains, Colinton Village,

Bonaly Bonaly () is an area on the south-western outskirts of Edinburgh and the northern slopes of the Pentland Hills, lying within the Parish of Colinton. It is a mix of mainly post-war housing, woodland, pasture-land and heather moorland. Bonaly Bur ...

Fairmilehead Fairmilehead is a district of southern Edinburgh, Scotland. It lies approximately due south of the city centre and borders Midlothian. The area comprises the neighbourhoods of Buckstone, Caiyside, Caiystane, Swanston, Frogston and Winton. T ...

, Buckstone,

Craiglockhart Craiglockhart (; gd, 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 ...

and

Longstone Longstone or Long Stone may refer to Places *Longstone, Edinburgh, a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland * Longstone, County Armagh, a townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland *Longstone, Cornwall, a hamlet in Cornwall, England *Longstone, Isles of Sc ...

. 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. The school was refurbished by a

private finance initiative The private finance initiative (PFI) was a United Kingdom government procurement policy aimed at creating "public–private partnerships" (PPPs) where private firms are contracted to complete and manage public projects. Initially launched in 199 ...

Headteacher

The current headteacher is Graham Hamilton.

Notable alumni and teachers

* Robbie Foy, formerly of

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...

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 Victory Shield is an annual football tournament competed for by the under-16 teams of Scotland, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The Victory Shield had traditionally been competed for by the four Home Nations, but the Football ...

. *The Scottish actress and comedian

Elaine C. Smith Elaine Constance Smith (born 2 August 1958) is a Scottish actress, comedian, and political activist. She has starred in the BBC Scotland sitcoms '' City Lights'' (1984–91), ''Rab C. Nesbitt'' (1988–2014) and '' Two Doors Down'' (2016–), ...

was a drama teacher at the school in the early-1980s. *The pianist and composer

Stuart Mitchell Stuart Mitchell (21 December 1965 – August 2018) was a Scottish pianist and composer who was born in Edinburgh and who is best known for his ''Seven Wonders Suite'' (2001). ''The Seven Wonders Suite'' has been recorded by The Prague Symphony ...

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 Margot Wells (née Wilkie, born 10 October 1952) is a Scottish elite sprint and fitness coach based in Guildford, Surrey and a former Scottish champion sprinter. Early career Wells started her coaching career by helping her husband Allan Well ...

, the elite athletics coach, and the wife of 100-metre gold medallist

Allan Wells Allan Wipper Wells (born 3 May 1952) is a Scottish former track and field sprinter who became the 100 metres Olympic champion at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Within a fortnight of that, he also took on and beat America's best sprinter ...

, taught physical education at Firrhill in the late 1970s.

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.Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education report on Firrhill High School, 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.

External links

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

References

{{authority control Secondary schools in Edinburgh Educational institutions established in 1960 1960 establishments in Scotland