St David's RC High School is a Catholic secondary state school located at Cousland Road in Dalkeith, Midlothian, Scotland. It shares the same campus with Dalkeith High School.
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The school has a current roll of 841 pupils. 75% of St David's pupils come from associated Catholic primary schools in Midlothian and East Lothian.
St David's has a staff of 69 full time equivalent (FTE) teachers.
On 30 June 2003, Luke Mitchell murdered Jodi Jones. Both were students at the school. Mitchell is currently serving life in prison.[1]
In November 2003, St. David's was integrated into the Dalkeith Schools Community Campus along with Dalkeith High and Saltersgate School, a special education facility, making it the first such joint secondary school campus in Scotland.[2] After the move, teachers kept students separated from each other in the dining hall and on the playground, citing concern that younger pupils might become disoriented by the sudden transformation of their small school into a large, integrated organisation with 2,200 youths. They initially predicted that the regime of segregation could be relaxed within a few weeks, and that religious factors played no role in their decision.[3] However, by January 2004, teachers at Dalkeith and St. David's still told their pupils not to talk to pupils from the other school, and students were kept segregated due to threats of violence directed at one another and teachers of different religious backgrounds in addition to actual assaults.[2]
Scotland player Darren Fletcher is a former student of St. David's, and was inducted into Midlothian Council's Hall of Fame in 2009.[4]
An inspection by HM Inspectorate of Education published in February 2009 drew attention to some particular strengths:
They also drew attention to other areas of good practice in the school including; innovative use of staffing, including youth work expertise, and providing very effective support to the most vulnerable young people. The development of young people’s skills in music and its links in other areas of the curriculum is promoted.