Royal High School, Edinburgh

The Hall at Regent Road.

The Art Room before the First World War.

The Royal High School is, by one reckoning, the 18th-oldest school in the world, with a history of almost 900 years.[6] Historians associate its birth with the flowering of the 12th century renaissance. It first enters the historical record as the seminary of Holyrood Abbey, founded for Alwin and the Augustinian canons by David I in 1128.

The Grammar School of the Church of Edinburgh, as it was known by the time Adam de Camis was rector in 1378, grew into a church-run burgh institution providing a Latin education for the sons of landed and burgess families, many of whom pursued careers in the church.[7]

In 1505 the school was described as a high school, the first recorded use of this term in either Scotland or England.[8][9] In 1566, following the Reformation, Mary, Queen of Scots, transferred the school from the control of Holyrood Abbey to the Town Council of Edinburgh. James Lawson was a big influence in building work for the school in 1578 and from about 1590 James VI accorded it royal patronage as the Schola Regia Edimburgensis, or King's School of Edinburgh.[10]

In 1584 the Town Council informed the rector, Hercules Rollock, that his aim should be "to instruct the youth in pietie, guid maneris, doctrine and letteris".[11] As far as possible, instruction was carried out in Latin. The study of Greek began in 1614,[12] and geography in 1742.[13] The egalitarian spirit of Scotland and the classical tradition exerted a profound influence on the school culture and the Scottish Enlightenment.[14]

The Romantic era at the turn of the 19th century was for Scotland a golden age of literature, winning the Royal High School an international reputation and an influx of foreign students, among them French princes.[15] The historian William Ross notes: "Walter Scott stood head and shoulders above his literary contemporaries; the rector, Alexander Adam, held a similar position in his own profession."[16] By the end of the Napoleonic Wars, an old scholar remembered, 'there were boys from Russia, Germany, Switzerland, the United States, Barbadoes, St. Vincent, Demerara, the East Indies, besides England and Ireland.'[17] The Royal High School was used as a model for the first public high school in the United States, the English High School of Boston, in 1821.

Learning Greek ceased to be compulsory in 1836, and the time allotted to its study was reduced in 1839 as mathematics became recognised.[18] The curriculum was gradually broadened to include French (1834),[19][20] after-hours fencing and gymnastics (1843),[21] German (1845),[19][21] science (1848),[19] drawing (1853),[22] military drill (1865),[23] English (1866),[22][24] gymnastics as a formal subject and swimming (1885),[21] music (1908),[25] and history (1909).[26] In 1866 classical masters were confined to teaching Latin and Greek.[22] A modern and commercial course was introduced in 1873.[27][28] A school choir was instituted in 1895.[29]

Through the centuries, the school has been located at many sites throughout the city, including the Vennel of the Church of St. Mary in the Fields (c. 1503 – c. 1516); Kirk o' Field Wynd (c. 1516–1555); Cardinal Beaton's House in Blackfriars Wynd (1555–1569); the Collegiate Church of St. Giles or St. Mary in the Fields (1569–1578); Blackfriars monastery (1578–1777); High School Yards (1777–1829); the famous Regent Road building on Calton Hill (1829–1968); and Jock's Lodge (1931–1972). The Jock's Lodge site is now the Royal High Primary, and is no longer associated with the secondary school.

For many years the school maintained a boarding facility for pupils from outside Edinburgh. The boarders ranged in age from six to eighteen. The House, as it was known, was located at 24 Royal Terrace and in later years moved to 13 Royal Terrace. When the boarding house was closed the records of all boarders, the artefacts such as the board with the names of head boys, and the memorial to boarders killed in the 1939–1945 war, were lost.

The Royal High School moved to its current site at Barnton in 1968, vacating the Old Royal High School buildings. In 1973 it became a co-educational state comprehensive. The school's premises underwent extensive refurbishment between 2001 and 2003, funded by a £10 million public-private partnership project with Amey plc.[30][31]

• 
  Cardinal Beaton's House, Blackfriars Wynd (1555–1569)
• 
  Blackfriars Monastery (1578–1777)
• 
  High School Yards (1777–1829)
• 
  Regent Road, Calton Hill (1829–1968)
• 
  Barnton (1968–present)

The most recent report was February 2023. Education Scotland found "very high standard of attainment for all young people", "Young people have a very strong understanding of diversity and equality.", and "exceptional contribution of young people to bringing about positive changes to the school." Pupils scored highly in national examinations, consistently outperforming those in comparator schools as well as the Edinburgh and national averages.[32]

130 university entrants from the Royal High School or 30.1% went to one of the ‘Sutton 13' top UK universities in the five years between 2002 and 2006, second among Scottish state schools and colleges.[33] In 2006 the Royal High School's ranking for Higher grades was joint third in the Edinburgh state school league tables (joint seventeenth nationally in the state school rankings).[34]

The school has dropped down 11 places, out of the top 20, in the Scottish schools rankings since 2009[35][36] since the new rector took over.

The school uniform is black and white, derived from the municipal colours of Edinburgh.[37] Girls wear a plain white blouse, school tie, black blazer with crest, black skirt or trousers, black tights and black polished shoes. The boys' uniform consists of a plain white shirt, school tie, black blazer with crest, black trousers and black polished shoes. The school blazer is a compulsory part of the uniform and children are allowed to wear other jackets as long as they are not worn inside the building. A black and white striped tie is standard for the lower years; a plain black tie denotes a Sixth Year. The school badge features the school motto and the embattled triple-towered castle of the school arms. When full colours are awarded to a pupil a new pocket is attached to the blazer with the school emblem embroidered in silver wire with the dates of the present academic year either side of the badge. Pupils wear uniform within school and at official functions where they represent the school.

Carved stone from the Blackfriars Pediment (1578)

The prefect system was established in 1915.

The Royal High School armorial bearings derive from the shield of the city arms, and antedate the Act of Parliament on the subject in 1672.[38] Their simple early form can be seen on a carved stone formerly set above the principal entrance to the school at Blackfriars in 1578.[39] The pediment from the 1578 building was incorporated into the Regent Road building in 1897.[28]

The present design was matriculated by the Lord Lyon in 1920. The description reads: 'Sable, a castle triple towered and embattled argent, masoned of the first, windows and doors open gules set upon a rock proper. Above the shield is placed a helmet befitting its degree with a mantling sable doubled argent and in a scroll over the same this motto Musis Respublica Floret (The State Flourishes with the Muses).'[40] The W.C.A. Ross memorial crest displaying the school arms was unveiled at the main entrance at Barnton in 1973.[28]

The Royal High School song is Vivas Schola Regia, written in 1895.

That Act of Council in 1851, which freed our Saturdays, should be held in high esteem by all our athletes, for it is the Magna Carta of our Cricket and Football Clubs. It rendered possible the formation of a cricket club in 1861, to be followed seven years later by a football club.[41]

RHS rugby team of 1871

The Royal High School had many sporting clubs which have mainly been disbanded. The RHS Cricket Club was formed in 1861.[42] The RHS Rugby Football Club was formed in 1868.[43] The RHS Golf Club was formed in 1876.[44] The RHS Athletic Club was formed in 1920.[45] The RHS Bike Club was formed in 2011. These clubs were pioneered by former and attending pupils, who originally played their games together.[41] Among the student founders of cricket and football at the school were Taverner Knott and Nat Watt, who undertook their labours with the encouragement of Thomson Whyte, reportedly the first master to take a serious interest in sport at the school.[41] The sporting clubs were formally integrated into the school body when, in 1900, at the request of the club captains, two masters undertook the management of cricket and rugby.

Holyrood Cricket Ground in the late 19th century.

The school's annual games date from the early 1860s,[41][46] following Queen Victoria's grant of Holyrood Field to the school for use as a cricket field in 1860.[47] At first the organisation of the games was undertaken by the masters, but at the request of the rector, James Donaldson, the burden was assumed by the cricket club, which carried it until the outbreak of the First World War.[41]

The nations system was introduced in 1912 by a later rector, William J. Watson. This has continued to the present day. On joining the school every pupil is allotted membership in one of four school houses, known as nations, named after the gentes or primordial peoples from the infancy of the Scottish state: Angles, Britons, Picts and Scots. Siblings are members of the same nation. The nations originally competed against each other in athletics, cricket and rugby, the champion nation being awarded the school shield for the annual session. This system has evolved over time to include other extracurricular interests, such as drama and music.

Conceived as a character-building exercise, the annual games and nations system were intended to foster a team spirit and encourage physical activity among all pupils. Within each nation, masters were appointed to committees to develop Under 15 and Under 13 cricket and rugby teams, and to broaden participation beyond the First XI and XV by training pupils of every level of ability.[48] The competitive scheme proved popular with pupils and teachers and has since been expanded to encompass a wide variety of games, sports and other extracurricular activities, held throughout the year. Nation badges were introduced in 1928.[49]

Today the nations compete for the Crichton Cup. This was first presented as a trophy for the inter-nation squadron swimming race in 1914 by J. D. Crichton, whose sons were at the school. In 1920 it was transferred to the nation championship in scholarship and athletics combined.[50]

Earlier generations of Royal High Scholars had played their own schoolyard game, known as clacken from the wooden bat used by players, and as late as the 1880s 'no High School boy considered his equipment complete unless the wooden clacken hung to his wrist as he went and came',[51] but the rise of national games, especially rugby, the grant of Holyrood Field for cricket in 1860,[47] and the construction of a gymnasium and swimming bath in 1885,[52] meant the ancient Royal High Schoolyard game was extinct by 1911.[51]

Edward VII, who studied under Leonhard Schmitz, Rector of the School, in 1859.

Alexander Adam, Rector, 1768–1809.

Former pupils have made countless contributions to national life; amongst these names are:

• Robert Adam (1728-1792), architect
• Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), inventor
• Henry Peter Brougham (1778–1868), British statesman and Lord Chancellor.
• Eric Brown (pilot) (1919-2016), former Royal Navy officer and test pilot; first pilot to land on an Aircraft carrier.
• Ian Charleson (1949-1990). stage, TV and film actor (Chariots of Fire, Gandhi)
• Robin Cook (1946-2005), politician
• Thomas Coutts (1735-1822), banker
• Ronnie Corbett (1930-2016), comedian
• John Cruickshank V. C., Royal Air Force officer
• Thomas Doherty, actor
• Henry Dundas, Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Robert Fergusson (1750-1774), poet
• Eric Lomax, military officer and author of The Railway Man
• John Menzies, businessman
• Eleanor Morton, comedian
• James Hall Nasmyth, inventor of the steam hammer and the Nasmyth telescope
• Robert Nasmyth, dentist to Queen Victoria in Scotland.
• David Olive, physicist
• David Robb (1947- ), stage, TV and film actor
• Sir Walter Scott Bt. (1771-1832), author
• Archibald Campbell Tait (1881-1881), Archbishop of Canterbury.
• Anthony Todd Thomson (1778-1849), Scottish doctor and pioneer of dermatology.

The Royal High School has international relationships through regular musical exchanges with sister cities on the Continent such as Florence (from 1975) and Munich (from 1979), and with other schools such as the Theodolinden-Gymnasium, Munich (from 1979), the Lycée Antoine-de-Saint Exupéry, Lyon (from 1991) and the Scuola di Musica ‘Giuseppe Verdi’, Prato (from 1993). In 1992 the school was awarded a European Curriculum Award by the British Government in recognition of its contribution to the development of European awareness in education, in part due to the Baccalaureate.[65]

Cover of the 1986 issue of Schola Regia, featuring the School's Memorial Door.

The official school magazine is Schola Regia. This is a vox discipuli that enables pupils to air their views and showcase their literary and artistic talents. It features news and creative input from all sections of the school community, including regular club reports and interviews with famous former pupils. The journal is produced by an editorial committee of student volunteers, usually with the assistance of a teacher from the English department. It is partly financed by commercial advertising and is published in the autumn. The Malcolm Knox Prize is awarded annually for the best contribution.

The first, short-lived, school magazine was published in 1886. Like its successor, it was subsidised by the school club.[66] The maiden issue of Schola Regia appeared in 1895 and the present series began in 1904. The magazine's archive is both a repository of irreverent anecdotes about school life and a valuable source for history in a larger sense. The wartime volumes contain many letters from former pupils serving at the front.[67]

The Royal High School also publishes an Annual Report at the end of the school session in June/July. As the school's main publication of record, it contains future session dates, a staff list, the rector's report, a programme for the commemoration day ceremony, a list of awards, and a report from each subject detailing staffing, academic achievement and general events that went on in that subject in the past academic year. The rector's report was first published in 1846.[57]

Official photo of the current rector, Pauline Walker

The school rector, or headteacher, is responsible for the overall running and function of the school, they play a critical role in enforcing the school's values and ideas. They are supported by a group of deputies, together the rector and their deputies make-up and form the school Senior Leadership Team (SLT). The current rector is Pauline Walker, she has been in this role since 2014. The school Rector is responsible for overseeing the overall administration and management of the school. This includes a wide range of duties and responsibilities, such as developing and implementing school policies, overseeing the curriculum, managing the school budget, and supervising the school's teaching and support staff.

One of the key roles of the Rector is to create a positive and supportive learning environment for students, where they can develop their academic skills and achieve their full potential. This involves working closely with teachers and support staff to ensure that students receive the best possible education and support. The Rector also plays an important role in fostering a sense of community within the school, by working closely with parents and alumni. They may be responsible for organizing school events, such as open days, leaving and joining ceremonies, and other special occasions. In addition, the Rector may also represent the school externally, attending meetings with local authorities, other schools, and educational organizations. They may also be responsible for fundraising and developing partnerships with other organizations to support the school's programs and initiatives.

Among the Royal High School's appearances in literature are the stories related in the Gentleman's Magazine, Walter Scott's Autobiography, Lord Cockburn's Memorials, Captain Basil Hall's Log Book of a Midshipman, George Borrow's Lavengro, George M'Crie's 1866 poem, The Old High School[71] and William Boyd's The New Confessions.

The most celebrated of all is the 'Green-Breeks' episode in Scott's novel, Waverley, Appendix III (1814). The author, a pupil from 1779 to 1783, reminisces wistfully about the bicker, or traditional mass brawl, humorously likened to a Homeric battle, fought in the streets of Edinburgh between pupils from different social classes.[72]

A school ballad, The Woeful Slaying of Bailie Macmoran, was founded on a school siege of 1595 known as the great barring-out.[73] This turbulent history continues to inspire new work. Gentlemen’s Bairns is a play by C. S. Lincoln which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2006. It dramatises the fatal shooting during the siege of a chief magistrate, John Macmoran, by a pupil, William Sinclair, a grandson of the Earl of Caithness.[74][75] This incident is also taught as part of first year History curriculum.

• Old Royal High School, Edinburgh
• List of the oldest schools in the world
• Category:People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Royal High School, Edinburgh.

• Official website
• The Royal High School's page on Scottish Schools Online
• The Royal High School Club
• The Royal High School Club in London