James Gillespie's High School
Encyclopedia
James Gillespie's High School is a state secondary school in Marchmont
, Edinburgh
. The school is a comprehensive High School, educating pupils aged 11 to 18 years of age. It has recently celebrated its 200th anniversary, and its campus consists of primarily 1960s buildings alongside the 16th century Bruntsfield House. The catchment area is in the centre of the city.
.
1870 the school moved into a larger building where the Royal Blind Asylum now stands at Gillespie Crescent. As the school developed, girls were admitted as well as boys and the number of students exceeded 1,000.
1908 the Edinburgh School Board took over the responsibility for the school from the Merchant Company of Edinburgh Education Board; James Gillespie's legacy having run out many years before.
1914 the school moved into the building at Bruntsfield Links, until recently used by Boroughmuir High School
as an Annexe.
1935 Edinburgh Corporation acquired Bruntsfield House and its grounds from the Warrender family. The building of the present school commenced in 1964 and was completed in 1966. The school became a secondary school for 800 girls.
1966 Massive revamp for the then girls school. New buildings, swimming pool and gymnasium were part of the regeneration of the school.
1989 the school moved to one site on the completion of an extensive building and modernisation programme.
1980s Formerly the High School divided the student population into four 'houses' - Warrender, Roslin, Spylaw, and Gilmore. The houses would compete in intramural sports events, etc. The house system lasted into the early 1980s. Since then the buildings of the High School campus adopted the names of the houses with the addition of a new name, Bruntsfield. Each of the house (now building) names reflects a connection to the name of a locality in, or a historic family from, south Edinburgh.
2007 improvements were made to the fabric of the school's buildings after a state inspection found significant deficiencies in several of the 1966 structures. There is currently a campaign to build a new school.
2010 The designs for James Gillespie's High School's new building are currently in the works.
Marchmont
Marchmont is a mainly residential affluent area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It lies roughly a mile to the south of the Old Town, separated from it by The Meadows and Bruntsfield Links...
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. The school is a comprehensive High School, educating pupils aged 11 to 18 years of age. It has recently celebrated its 200th anniversary, and its campus consists of primarily 1960s buildings alongside the 16th century Bruntsfield House. The catchment area is in the centre of the city.
History
1803 the result of the legacy of James Gillespie, an Edinburgh Merchant, a school for 65 students and one master was opened in Bruntsfield Place and administered by the Merchant Company of EdinburghMerchant Company of Edinburgh
The Company of Merchants of the City of Edinburgh, also known as the Merchant Company of Edinburgh or just the Merchant Company, is a livery company of the City of Edinburgh, originally founded in order to protect trading rights in the City of Edinburgh, which also carries out a significant amount...
.
1870 the school moved into a larger building where the Royal Blind Asylum now stands at Gillespie Crescent. As the school developed, girls were admitted as well as boys and the number of students exceeded 1,000.
1908 the Edinburgh School Board took over the responsibility for the school from the Merchant Company of Edinburgh Education Board; James Gillespie's legacy having run out many years before.
1914 the school moved into the building at Bruntsfield Links, until recently used by Boroughmuir High School
Boroughmuir High School
Boroughmuir High School is a non-denominational secondary school in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1904, and moved to its current site near the city centre in 1913. Its catchment area is in the south side of the city...
as an Annexe.
1935 Edinburgh Corporation acquired Bruntsfield House and its grounds from the Warrender family. The building of the present school commenced in 1964 and was completed in 1966. The school became a secondary school for 800 girls.
1966 Massive revamp for the then girls school. New buildings, swimming pool and gymnasium were part of the regeneration of the school.
1989 the school moved to one site on the completion of an extensive building and modernisation programme.
1980s Formerly the High School divided the student population into four 'houses' - Warrender, Roslin, Spylaw, and Gilmore. The houses would compete in intramural sports events, etc. The house system lasted into the early 1980s. Since then the buildings of the High School campus adopted the names of the houses with the addition of a new name, Bruntsfield. Each of the house (now building) names reflects a connection to the name of a locality in, or a historic family from, south Edinburgh.
2007 improvements were made to the fabric of the school's buildings after a state inspection found significant deficiencies in several of the 1966 structures. There is currently a campaign to build a new school.
2010 The designs for James Gillespie's High School's new building are currently in the works.
Diversecity
Diversecity is considered one of the highlights within the school calendar.It highlights and emphasises the schools ethos, which is "We value and respect the diversity that exists amongst us". Diversecity could be considered a variety show as it showcases a wide range of pupils talents. It has everything from dance to singing, live music to poetry. A huge amount of work is put into this 2 day show with the majority or the acts and routines put together by the pupils themselves. The South African Project which the school supports, now plays a large part in the theme of the overall show, having an increasing amount of understanding and support for the project as a whole. As well as the acts and routines, the stage management and all the work behind the scenes is again arranged and carried out by the pupils. Diversecity is a school production with extremely high and professional quality which is recognised as a major event in the school calender.Notable former pupils
- Muriel SparkMuriel SparkDame Muriel Spark, DBE was an award-winning Scottish novelist. In 2008 The Times newspaper named Spark in its list of "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945".-Early life:...
- Scottish novelist. Attended what was then James Gillespie's High School for Girls and later set what is perhaps her most famous novel, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in "Marcia Blane's School for Girls" - a school resembling Gillespie's. - Dorothy DunnettDorothy DunnettDorothy Dunnett OBE was a Scottish historical novelist. She is best known for her six-part series about Francis Crawford of Lymond, The Lymond Chronicles, which she followed with the eight-part prequel The House of Niccolò...
- Scottish novelist and painter. Acclaimed author of the Lymond ChroniclesLymond ChroniclesThe Lymond Chronicles is a series of six novels, written by Dorothy Dunnett, which were first published between 1961 and 1975. The series is set in mid-sixteenth century Europe and the Mediterranean and tells the story of a young Scottish nobleman, Francis Crawford of Lymond, from 1547 through...
, House of Niccolo and King Hereafter. - John LeslieJohn Leslie (television presenter)John Leslie is a Scottish former television presenter. He has presented BBC One's Blue Peter and ITV's This Morning and the ITV gameshow Wheel of Fortune. He was also the roving reporter for the first series of the UK version of Survivor...
- ex television presenter on Blue PeterBlue PeterBlue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
, Wheel of FortuneWheel of Fortune (UK game show)Wheel of Fortune is a British television game show created by Merv Griffin. Contestants compete to solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes...
and This MorningThis Morning (TV series)This Morning is a British daytime television programme broadcast on ITV. As of September 2011, its main presenters are Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, and Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes, with various other presenters standing in for illness or contributing to sections of the programme.The...
.