News

It has been a busy start to the Spring term at Dunedin with the Christmas break now but a distant memory.  Pupils are working hard in class and those taking exams this year are already looking forward to prelims!  Our extra-curricular activities continue apace with badminton, local walks, music with Drake and horse-riding every week.  Looking ahead we have Boxercise taster sess...

As summer slips by and the chillier mornings of autumn descend upon us it may seem a strange idea to go and jump into the sea.  That however is what some of our intrepid pupils decided to do this week, safe in the knowledge that this time of year is when the North Sea is actually at its warmest - those Geography lessons paying off! Stevie and Sally from Strive were our guides ...

The end of our first full week back at Dunedin and the summer holiday is already but a distant memory.  Pupils are settling into their classes, afternoon activities are underway, walls have been climbed (at Alien Rock), gorgeous muffins baked in the kitchen, SCP courses started at Edinburgh College - and that's only in the first week and a half! Planning is ongoing for...

Throughout the school year we endeavour to keep our pupils as active as we possibly can, even in spite of the more inclement weather in the winter months.  Weekly walks exploring Edinburgh's green spaces are a staple of our school week, as well as regular badminton sessions.  These are supplemented by visits further afield, to Jupiter Artland for example or ice skating, trips o...

Dunedin Residentials always culminate in a canyoning trip, with pupils and staff donning wetsuits and appropriate safety gear before entering an icy cold river, jumping into plunge pools, sliding down naturally worn waterslides and crawling under waterfalls - all in the name of fun.  The idea of canyoning is a daunting one and it can very much be a journey of discovery for pupi...

Our residential trip this year to Glencoe was bathed in sunshine with a little breeze ensuring there was few midgies to ruin the outdoor fun.  On our first afternoon we walked up into the so called Lost Valley, steep walking and some scrambling allowing us to navigate through the remnants of an ancient landslip that once blocked this glen.  The local knowledge of Andy Spinks an...

There was great excitement among our pupils when it was announced that one of our summer term activities was to be indoor karting!  Little did we know the depth of driving talent that we harboured and, though many had never driven before, everyone very quickly got to grips with the techniques required to put in faster and faster lap times.  Congratulations to all our budding Le...

We had a really good turnout of pupils and staff for our visit to the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena at Ratho.  The size of the Arena and the height of the climbing can be very daunting to a first timer but this did not hold our pupils back.  Great fun was had in both climbing and abseiling, as well as learning some rope management and belaying skills. ...

A huge thank you to the folks from the Scottish Archery Centre for once again coming to school to teach our pupils Archery.  Pupil and staff alike get the opportunity to test their bowing mettle under expert guidance and it is always very rewarding to see how much everyone improves as the session progresses.    

Harlaw Reservoir in the Pentland Hills was the setting for our Leadership Day challenge. This challenge was an opportunity for pupils to be out of a school setting and work collaboratively to achieve team goals, in this case to gather the clues necessary to compute a combination allowing them to open a safe containing a team prize. Each team was issued with a 1:2...

Recently some of our pupils have been out in the wilds of the Borders undertaking their practice Duke of Edinburgh Award expeditions.  They have been very lucky with the weather with mostly sunny and dry (if not warm!) days.  Long distances and heavy rucksacs were borne with a good deal of stoicism though the finishing points of their expeditions where reached somewhat grateful...

Jupiter Artland has been on our horizon for some time and we were very pleased to have one of their staff come into school to examine with our pupils the concepts behind sculptural art forms.  This was then followed by a school visit to Jupiter Artland where, in conjunction with Jupiter Artland’s staff, pupils explored the thoughts, ideas and meanings behind many of the sculptu...

On Thursday 8th February the whole school went on a trip to the Five Sisters Zoo in West Lothian. The zoo was an ideal location to build on the pupils’ experiences of biodiversity and adaptation, which is part of all the Biology courses they are studying. The pupils and staff really enjoyed this trip.  There were opportunities to walk around and see all the interesting anima...

On Wednesday 31st January Zoolab visited the school for an animal handling session.  The Ranger, Ross, brought in a variety of interesting and exotic animals for pupils to handle and discuss.  Amongst the animals were: an Albino Corn Snake, Bearded Dragon, Giant African Snail, a Chilean Rose hair Tarantula and a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach.  The pupils were given the opportuni...

We are now half way through our Drake music workshop and those pupils taking part have had a fantastic opportunity to try a variety of instruments with an experienced musician on hand. Pupils are currently working on compiling their own song and have chosen to include drums, guitar and a keyboard in their composition.  We have a further five weeks to go and we hope to showcase ...

This week saw the culmination of this year's collaboration with The Lyceum, when invited guests joined us for our sharing event.  Guests were encouraged to walk through the “bizarre bazaar” pupils had created, which was intended to be a feast for the senses.  They could read and listen to the stories and scripts pupils had developed, inspired by the tales of The Arabian Nights....

An intrepid group of our pupils and staff set out after school one day this week to discover the joys of ice skating.  A blustery and damp Edinburgh winters' evening was not enough to put them off and much hilarity ensued as they set out onto the ice.   Undignified falls seems to be part of the skating experience for those new to it however, falls there may have been, but no su...

This week we were very lucky to have a school visit to The Lyceum's Scenic, Prop & Costume Workshop.  It was a great opportunity for our pupils to see the sort of work that goes on in the background in preparing for a Lyceum production.  The visit complements Project Genie, running in association with The Lyceum, were our pupils are exploring the many aspects critical to a ...

On Tuesday 28 November, 15 pupils and staff attended a performance of The Lyceum’s winter production of The Arabian Nights.  This fantastic opportunity to go to the theatre is part of our collaboration with The Lyceum. It was really interesting for those of us who are participating in Project Genie to see how a professional company would bring the stories which we are now fa...

Four of our pupils have recently started an Engineering course at Edinburgh College.  Their course focuses on three National 5 units and are a practical introduction to machine shop skills including operating lathes and milling machines.  The course is hands-on and very quickly our pupils were using the machines to cut and face aluminium and mild steel to tolerances of 0.1mm.  ...