Boroughmuir High School

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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. It has the some of the best non-private sector exam results in Edinburgh[citation needed].

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[edit] Subjects

The school offers a wide range of subjects. Exams are offered at Intermediate 1, Standard Grade, Intermediate 2, Higher and Advanced Higher. Pupils are given a set timetable through S1 and S2, and they have a choice in S3, where they will study English, Mathematics, and either French or German (The year is split 50/50 at the beginning of S1.) They will then have the choice of one Social Subject- Modern Studies,Geography, History or Economics. They will have the choice of one Science- Biology, Chemistry or Physics. Then they will be given the choice of three subjects from the following- Art and Design, Administration, Home Economics, Media Studies, Drama, Computing, Business Studies, Craft, Design and Technology, Music, Physical Education and Religious Studies. There is also the option of choosing extra Science, Social Subject or Modern Language subjects.

The chosen subjects will be studied over a period of two years, at the end of which SQA examinations are sat. The pupils can then either choose to leave school, or continue on to S5, in which the students pick five subjects, usually at Higher level or a mixture of Higher level and Intermediate 2 level. If the students decide to continue to S6, they must choose at least 3 subjects, usually at Advanced Higher level, Higher level and sometimes Intermediate 2 level.

[edit] Dress code

Pupils are required to wear a dress code; black or white shirt, black trousers or skirt, black shoes and the school tie. The tie is green and black striped for the junior year and shiny green with school crest for the seniors.

[edit] War memorial

Boroughmuir is the only school in Edinburgh with its own war memorial and so hosts a yearly Remembrance Service on Remembrance Day. In 2005, the service was broadcast during BBC Scotland coverage of the event.

[edit] Pastoral care

At the start of their term at Boroughmuir, each pupil is assigned to a house, each of which is led by a member of guidance staff. The houses are named after streets surrounding the school- Montpelier, Viewforth, Hartington, Westhall Bruntsfield and Leamington. It is the guidance teacher's job to monitor their assigned house members. To this effect, students attend one hour of Personal and Social Education (PSE) with their guidance teacher a week.

[edit] Building

The school building itself goes back over one hundred years. It has a cafeteria on the bottom floor and a library on the top floor. Home Economics (H.E) and Craft, Design and Technology (C.D.T) are outside in the car park area. It has an atrium where assemblies take place. The extremely limited space means that pupils doing (P.E.) (physical education) normally have to travel to sports centres outside school. The main entrance is on Viewforth, and just down the road is a primary school, Bruntsfield. There are plans for a new building to be built but no suitable sites have been found that are affordable. Another plan is to stay and renovate the inside of the building. The latter plan seems more likely.

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] Feeder schools

Boroughmuir had a change of feeder schools in Summer 2006. It now has Buckstone, South Morningside and Bruntsfield Primaries. Bruntsfield used to feed into James Gillespies High School, and Preston Street, Sciennes and Royal Mile now feed into James Gillespies.

[edit] External links