Merchiston Castle School

Merchiston Castle is a relatively small independent school, in the affluent suburb of Colinton, in southwest Edinburgh.

Thank you to Mr Jones, Mr Axon, and the rest of the staff and pupils who gave me a warm welcome yesterday. It was a novelty to look forward to my visit, rather than arrive with the dread of a mother watching her son play the Merchiston 1st XV rugby team! Instead, this was another glorious day in Edinburgh, and the school was in full flow. Set in 100 acres of beautiful parkland, only 4 miles from the city centre, but turn 180 degrees and you are 4 miles from the Pentland Hills. For decades known as a single sex, boys school, Merichiston are actually co-ed in the Forest nursery and The Forest Junior Schools till 11 years.

General

The school consists of The Forest school (3-11yrs), Junior school (11-13yrs), Middle (13-16yrs), and Senior (16-18yrs). It is co-ed up until 11 yrs and then boys only. Fees are calculated at varying rates depending on stage of school, and day/day plus/flexi (2 nights) boarding/full boarding. Non selective admission, GCSEs and A levels, with the option of Higher’s in some subjects. Saturday morning school.

New Head of School

The new Head, Huw Jones, (not the Scottish and Lions rugby player) is a very much needed force of new and current ideas. So many schools can boast about their academic success, sporting excellence, university destinations, nurturing environments and so on. So what is different about Merchiston? They see their size (350 pupils max) allows them to focus on the individual, to understand each individual and get the best out of them. As Huw said, having worked in single sex and co-ed schools, neither are better or worse, just different. Therefore the curriculum and learning style from 11 years+, is based around how boys learn best, whilst focusing on intentional and purposeful learning.

Sport, social events…

The school is well known for its rugby prowess. They also have a tennis academy, now with a roof, a golf academy, and football is popular. There are social and collaborative events with St Georges School (girls). This link extends to sibling discounts when both schools become single sex.

Academic

Merchiston is not a ‘hot house’. Entrance to the school is not based solely on academic ability, their results come from hard work, personalised academic support and pupil centred approach. It is as much about the results as the process of getting there and what they learn about themselves on that journey. STEM subjects are popular and very successful for university destinations, home and abroad.

Boarding and Day

Boarding – it was as I would expect a good boarding school to be! A mixture of old and new, hardly used kitchens but already fragrant boot rooms, kind but direct housemothers, tutors, common rooms with no nonsense decor but pool and table tennis . With the younger years there was an emphasis on keeping the boys together as a unit, support and mentoring. With the senior boys, the progression to independence with obvious parameters – although I reckon they could start doing a bit of their laundry aged 17/18yrs!

Day – there is huge emphasis in ensuring there is no differentiation between boarder and day pupils, other than sleeping arrangements. All the middle and senior boarding houses are open to the day pupils, with study rooms supplied, and the boys mix between them. Common rooms are used by all.

If you would like to know more about Merchiston Castle school, or arrange an accompanied visit, please do get in touch with us.

INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS