Royal High School, Edinburgh

{{For|the A-listed building on Calton Hill|Old Royal High School}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Infobox school | name = The Royal High School | native_name = ''Schola Regia Edinensis'' | image = RHS crest.png | image_size = 100px | caption = Arms of the Royal High School | motto = ''Musis Respublica Floret'' (The State Flourishes with the Muses) | established = {{start date and age|1128}} | closed = | type = [[State school]] | religious_affiliation = [[Nondenominational Christianity|Non-denominational Christian]]<ref>Religious observance is required in state schools by the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, and current guidelines for non-denominational schools state that this should include general assemblies of a "broadly Christian" character at least once a month. Parents may ask for their child to opt out.</ref> | president = | head_label = Rector | head = Pauline Walker (2014-Present) | r_head_label = | r_head = | chair_label = | chair = | founder = [[Abbot of Holyrood|Alwin, Abbot of Holyrood]] | specialist = | address = East Barnton Avenue | city = [[Edinburgh]] | country = Scotland | postal_code = EH4 6JP | local_authority = [[Politics of Edinburgh|Edinburgh City]] | ofsted = | staff = around 120 (2023)<ref name="auto">[https://education.gov.scot/media/qkab1qvj/theroyal-high-school-sif-280223.pdf Education Scotland - Summarised inspection findings], [[Education Scotland]], pp. 2. Retrieved on 10 March 2023.</ref> | enrollment = around 1,400 (2023)<ref name="auto"/> | gender = Mixed (all-boys previously) | lower_age = 11 | upper_age = 18 | houses = {{Color box|Green}} Angles {{Color box|Red}} Britons {{Color box|Yellow}} Picts {{Color box|Blue}} Scots {{Color box|Orange}} Gaels {{Color box|Pink}} Celts | colours = [[Black]], [[white]] & [[purple]] {{Color box|black}} {{Color box|white}} {{Color box|purple}} | publication = ''Schola Regia'' | free_label1 = [[School song|Song]] | free_text1 = ''[[Vivas Schola Regia]]'' | free_label2 = [[Latin]] name | free_text2 = ''Schola Regia Edinensis'' | free_label3 = Nickname | free_text3 = The Tounis Scule, RHS | website = https://royalhigh.wordpress.com/ }} The '''Royal High School''' ('''RHS''') of [[Edinburgh]] is a [[co-educational]] [[state school|school]] administered by the [[City of Edinburgh Council]]. The school was founded in 1128 and is one of the oldest schools in Scotland. It serves around 1,400 pupils drawn from four feeder primaries in the north-west of the city: [[Blackhall, Edinburgh|Blackhall primary school]], [[Clermiston|Clermiston primary school]], [[Cramond]] and [[Davidson's Mains]].

The school's profile has given it a flagship role in [[public education|education]], piloting such experiments as the introduction of the [[Education in Scotland|Certificate of Secondary Education]], the provision of [[Ability grouping|setting]] in [[English studies|English]] and [[mathematics]], and the curricular integration of [[European Studies]] and the [[International Baccalaureate]].<ref>John Murray, ''A History of the Royal High School''. Edinburgh, Royal High School, 1997, pp. 117–119.</ref> The Royal High School was last inspected by [[Education Scotland]] in February 2023.<ref>[https://education.gov.scot/education-scotland/inspection-reports/reports-page//?id=4955# School inspection page], [[Education Scotland]], Retrieved on 10 March 2023.</ref>

Pauline Walker is the current Rector, having taken on the role in 2014. She is the second woman to lead the school, following Jane Frith.

==History== [[File:Royal High School Hall.PNG|thumb|right|The Hall at [[New Parliament House, Edinburgh|Regent Road]].]] [[File:Royal High School Art Room.png|thumb|right|The Art Room before the [[World War I|First World War]].]] The Royal High School is, by one reckoning, the 18th-[[List of the oldest schools in the world|oldest school in the world]], with a history of almost 900 years.<ref>Royal High School Club, [http://www.royalhigh.co.uk/Pamphlet%20V2.4%20pictures%20Adobe.pdf History of the Club (June 2008).] Accessed 24 September 2008.</ref> Historians associate its birth with the flowering of the [[Renaissance of the 12th century|12th century renaissance]]. It first enters the historical record as the [[seminary]] of [[Holyrood Abbey]], founded for [[Abbot of Holyrood|Alwin]] and the [[Augustinian Order|Augustinian]] [[canons regular|canons]] by [[David I of Scotland|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 [[Christianity in Medieval Scotland|church]]-run [[burgh]] institution providing a [[Latin]] education for the sons of [[Gentry|landed]] and [[burgess (title)|burgess]] families, many of whom pursued careers in the church.<ref>Elizabeth Ewan, ''Town Life in Fourteenth-Century Scotland''. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 1990, pp. 12, 131. {{ISBN|0-7486-0151-1}}.</ref>

In 1505 the school was described as a [[high school]], the first recorded use of this term in either Scotland or [[Kingdom of England|England]].<ref>James J. Trotter, ''The Royal High School, Edinburgh'' (London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1911), p. 186.</ref><ref>J. B. Barclay, ''The Tounis Scule: The Royal High School of Edinburgh'' (Edinburgh: Royal High School Club, 1974), p. 137.</ref> In 1566, following the [[Scottish Reformation|Reformation]], [[Mary, Queen of Scots]], transferred the school from the control of Holyrood Abbey to the [[City of Edinburgh Council|Town Council of Edinburgh]]. [[James Lawson (minister)|James Lawson]] was a big influence in building work for the school in 1578 and from about 1590 [[James I of England|James VI]] accorded it royal patronage as the ''Schola Regia Edimburgensis'', or King's School of Edinburgh.<ref>Murray, ''History'', p. 142.</ref>

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".<ref>William C. A. Ross, the ''Royal High School'' (Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1934), p. 74.</ref> As far as possible, instruction was carried out in Latin. The study of [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] began in 1614,<ref>Ross, ''Royal High School'', p. 41.</ref> and [[geography]] in 1742.<ref>Ross, ''Royal High School'', pp. 46, 144.</ref> The [[Egalitarianism|egalitarian spirit]] of Scotland and the [[Classics|classical tradition]] exerted a profound influence on the school culture and the [[Scottish Enlightenment]].<ref>Murray, ''History'', pp. 39–40.</ref>

The [[Romanticism|Romantic era]] at the turn of the 19th century was for Scotland a [[Scottish literature#The 17th to early 19th Century|golden age of literature]], winning the Royal High School an international reputation and an influx of foreign students, among them French princes.<ref>Murray, ''History'', p. 52.</ref> 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."<ref>Ross, ''Royal High School'', p. 11.</ref> By the end of the [[Napoleonic Wars]], an old scholar remembered, 'there were boys from [[Russia]], [[Germany]], [[Switzerland]], the [[United States]], [[Barbados|Barbadoes]], [[Saint Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines)|St. Vincent]], [[Demerara]], the [[East Indies]], besides England and Ireland.'<ref>Ross, ''Royal High School'', p. 58.</ref> 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.<ref>Barclay, ''Tounis Scule'', p. 18.</ref> The curriculum was gradually broadened to include [[French (language)|French]] (1834),<ref name="Trotter, p. 190">Trotter, ''Royal High School'', p. 190.</ref><ref>Ross, ''Royal High School'', pp. 58, 145.</ref> after-hours [[fencing]] and [[gymnastics]] (1843),<ref name="Ross, pp. 59, 145">Ross, ''Royal High School'', pp. 59, 145.</ref> [[German (language)|German]] (1845),<ref name="Trotter, p. 190"/><ref name="Ross, pp. 59, 145"/> [[science]] (1848),<ref name="Trotter, p. 190"/> [[drawing]] (1853),<ref name="Trotter, p. 191">Trotter, ''Royal High School'', p. 191.</ref> [[Military parade|military drill]] (1865),<ref>Ross, ''Royal High School'', p. 146.</ref> [[English studies|English]] (1866),<ref name="Trotter, p. 191"/><ref>Ross, ''Royal High School'', pp. 66, 145.</ref> gymnastics as a formal subject and [[human swimming|swimming]] (1885),<ref name="Ross, pp. 59, 145"/> [[music]] (1908),<ref>Ross, ''Royal High School'', pp. 69, 147.</ref> and [[history]] (1909).<ref>Ross, ''Royal High School'', p. 70.</ref> In 1866 classical masters were confined to teaching Latin and Greek.<ref name="Trotter, p. 191"/> A modern and commercial course was introduced in 1873.<ref>Ross, ''Royal High School'', pp. 66–7, 146.</ref><ref name="Barclay, Tounis Scule, p. 140">Barclay, ''Tounis Scule'', p. 140.</ref> A school [[choir]] was instituted in 1895.<ref>Ross, ''Royal High School'', pp. 69, 146.</ref>

Through the centuries, the school has been located at many sites throughout the city, including the [[Kirk o' Field|Vennel of the Church of St. Mary in the Fields]] (c. 1503 – c. 1516); Kirk o' Field Wynd (c. 1516–1555); [[David Beaton|Cardinal Beaton's]] House in Blackfriars Wynd (1555–1569); the [[St Giles' Cathedral|Collegiate Church of St. Giles]] or St. Mary in the Fields (1569–1578); Blackfriars monastery (1578–1777); High School Yards (1777–1829); the famous [[Old Royal High School|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, Edinburgh|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 [[World War II|1939–1945 war]], were lost.

The Royal High School moved to its current site at [[Barnton, Edinburgh|Barnton]] in 1968, vacating the [[Old Royal High School]] buildings. In 1973 it became a [[co-educational]] [[state school|state]] [[comprehensive school|comprehensive]]. The school's premises underwent extensive refurbishment between 2001 and 2003, funded by a £10 million [[public-private partnership]] project with [[Amey plc]].<ref>Mark Smith, [http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh/City-schools-private-cash-revamp.2377618.jp City school's private cash revamp stalls], ''The Scotsman'' (13 November 2002).</ref><ref>Ian Fraser, "£360m schools project row goes to high court", ''Sunday Herald'' (Glasgow, 10 July 2005).</ref>

<gallery style="text-align:center" widths="110px" perrow="5"> File:Blackfriars_Wynd.jpg|Cardinal Beaton's House, Blackfriars Wynd (1555–1569) File:High School, Blackfriars 1578.jpg|Blackfriars Monastery (1578–1777) File:High School, Infirmary Street, 1777.jpg|High School Yards (1777–1829) File:High School, Calton Hill, 1829.jpg|Regent Road, Calton Hill (1829–1968) File:Royal High School, Barnton, Edinburgh.jpg|Barnton (1968–present) </gallery>

==Academics== 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.<ref name="auto"/>

130 [[university]] entrants from the Royal High School or 30.1% went to one of the ‘[[Sutton Trust|Sutton]] 13' top UK universities in the five years between 2002 and 2006, second among Scottish state schools and colleges.<ref>[https://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Education/documents/2007/09/20/Strust.pdf University admissions by individual schools September 2007], [[Sutton Trust]], p. 39, 40.</ref> In 2006 the Royal High School's ranking for [[Higher (Scottish)|Higher grades]] was joint third in the Edinburgh [[state school]] league tables (joint seventeenth nationally in the state school rankings).<ref>[http://www.eke-out.org.uk/members/groups/pdf/Newsletter%202%20May%202007.pdf ''Eke-Out Reach Newsletter''] (May 2007) Issue 22, Local News, p. 11. Retrieved on 3 November 2007.</ref>

The school has dropped down 11 places, out of the top 20, in the Scottish schools rankings since 2009<ref>[http://pp.include-digital.com/table/state-secondary-schools-scotland School Profile: The Royal High School.]</ref><ref>[http://pp.include-digital.com/school/the-royal-high-school School Profile: The Royal High School.]</ref> since the new rector took over.

==Traditions== {{further|Uniform of The Royal High School (Edinburgh)|l1=Uniform of the Royal High School}} The school uniform is black and white, derived from the municipal colours of Edinburgh.<ref>[http://www.royalhigh.edin.sch.uk/content/information/history/index.htm The Royal High School: School History]. Retrieved on 2 September 2007.</ref> 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.

[[File:Blackfriars Pediment 1578.png|thumb|right|Carved stone from the Blackfriars Pediment (1578)]] The prefect system was established in 1915.

The Royal High School [[coat-of-arms|armorial bearings]] derive from the [[Politics of Edinburgh|shield of the city arms]], and antedate the [[Act of Parliament|Act]] of [[Parliament of Scotland|Parliament]] on the subject in 1672.<ref>Barclay, ''Tounis Scule'', p. 82.</ref> Their simple early form can be seen on a carved stone formerly set above the principal entrance to the school at Blackfriars in 1578.<ref>William Steven, ''The History of the High School of Edinburgh''. Edinburgh, Maclachlan and Stewart, 1849, p. 6.</ref> The pediment from the 1578 building was incorporated into the Regent Road building in 1897.<ref name="Barclay, Tounis Scule, p. 140"/>

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).'<ref>Barclay, ''The Tounis Scule'', pp. 82–3.</ref> The W.C.A. Ross memorial crest displaying the school arms was unveiled at the main entrance at Barnton in 1973.<ref name="Barclay, Tounis Scule, p. 140"/>

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

==Sports and games== {{further|Royal HSFP}} {{blockquote|That Act of [[Politics of Edinburgh|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 [[Rugby union|Football]] Clubs. It rendered possible the formation of a cricket club in 1861, to be followed seven years later by a football club.<ref name="Ross, p. 73">Ross, ''Royal High School'', p. 73.</ref>}} [[File:Royal high school edinburgh rugby 1871.jpg|thumb|RHS rugby team of 1871]] The Royal High School had many [[sport]]ing [[Club (organization)|club]]s which have mainly been disbanded. The RHS [[Cricket]] Club was formed in 1861.<ref>Barclay, ''Tounis Scule'', pp. 58–9.</ref> The RHS [[Rugby Football]] Club was formed in 1868.<ref>Robert Ironside and Alexander M.C. Thorburn, ''Royal High School Rugby Football Club: Centenary 1868–1968''. Edinburgh, Royal High School, 1968, p. 8.</ref> The RHS [[Golf]] Club was formed in 1876.<ref name="Barclay, Tounis Scule, p. 140"/> The RHS [[Track and field athletics|Athletic]] Club was formed in 1920.<ref>Barclay, ''Tounis Scule'', p. 141.</ref> The RHS Bike Club was formed in 2011. These clubs were pioneered by former and attending pupils, who originally played their games together.<ref name="Ross, p. 73"/> 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.<ref name="Ross, p. 73"/> 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.

[[File:Holyrood Cricket Ground.png|thumb|right|Holyrood Cricket Ground in the late 19th century.]] The school's annual games date from the early 1860s,<ref name="Ross, p. 73"/><ref>Barclay, ''Tounis Scule'', p. 61.</ref> following [[Queen Victoria]]'s grant of Holyrood Field to the school for use as a cricket field in 1860.<ref name="Ross, p. 145">Ross, ''Royal High School'', p. 145.</ref> At first the organisation of the games was undertaken by the masters, but at the request of the rector, [[James Donaldson (classical scholar)|James Donaldson]], the burden was assumed by the cricket club, which carried it until the outbreak of the [[First World War]].<ref name="Ross, p. 73"/>

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 [[house system|school houses]], known as nations, named after the ''gentes'' or primordial peoples from the infancy of the Scottish state: [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]], [[Britons (historic)|Britons]], [[Picts]] and [[Scoti|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.<ref>Ross, ''Royal High School'', p. 74.</ref> The competitive scheme proved popular with pupils and teachers and has since been expanded to encompass a wide variety of [[game]]s, [[sports]] and other extracurricular activities, held throughout the year. Nation badges were introduced in 1928.<ref>Murray, ''History'', pp. 68–9, 145.</ref>

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.<ref>William C. A. Ross, ''The Royal High School'' (Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1934), p. 112.</ref>

Earlier generations of Royal High Scholars had played their own schoolyard game, known as [[Hailes (ball game)|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',<ref name="Trotter, p. 66">Trotter, ''Royal High School'', p. 66.</ref> but the rise of national games, especially rugby, the grant of Holyrood Field for cricket in 1860,<ref name="Ross, p. 145"/> and the construction of a gymnasium and swimming bath in 1885,<ref>Ross, ''Royal High School'', pp. 34–5, 146.</ref> meant the ancient Royal High Schoolyard game was extinct by 1911.<ref name="Trotter, p. 66"/>

==Notable alumni== {{further|List of people educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh}} {{Category see also|People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh}}

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 (film)|Gandhi]]'') * [[Robin Cook]] (1946–2005), politician * [[Thomas Coutts]] (1735–1822), banker * [[Ronnie Corbett]] (1930–2016), comedian * [[John Cruickshank]] [[Victoria Cross|V. C.]], Royal Air Force officer * [[Thomas Doherty (actor)|Thomas Doherty]], actor * [[Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville|Henry Dundas]], Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer * [[Robert Fergusson]] (1750–-1774), poet * [[Eric Lomax]], military officer and author of [[The Railway Man (book)|''The Railway Man'']] * [[John Menzies]], businessman * [[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]] [[Baronet|Bt.]] (1771–1832), author * [[Archibald Campbell Tait]] (1881–1881), Archbishop of Canterbury. * [[Anthony Todd Thomson]] (1778–1849), Scottish doctor and pioneer of dermatology.

===Wartime service=== {{further|List of people educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh#Military and civil honours}}

Many former pupils won naval, military or air force awards. Schoolfellows who died in battle are commemorated by the memorial porch and brass tablets in the school hall. The upper [[architrave]] of the marble [[Doric order|Doric]] [[portico]] is inscribed with a phrase from [[Simonides of Ceos|Simonides]]: ΟΥΔΕ ΤΕΘΝΑΣΙ ΘΑΝΟΝΤΕΣ. ''They died but are not dead.''

===Class clubs=== The Royal High School clubs of the 18th and early 19th centuries were class clubs, formed by cohorts of old boys who had studied for four years under one master before being taken under the rector's wing in their fifth. The names of some of the last class clubs are immortalised in the school prizes they endowed, such as the Boyd Prize (1857) now awarded to the Dux of Form I,<ref name="Ross, p. 106">Ross, ''Royal High School'', p. 106.</ref> the Macmillan Club Prize (1865), a gold watch now awarded to the Dux in English,<ref name="Ross, p. 106"/> and the Carmichael Club Medal (1878), now given to the Dux of Form III.<ref>Ross, ''Royal High School'', p. 108.</ref> However, because the traditional cohort system was governed by independent masters with separate student followings, the club classes did little to foster a common school spirit.<ref>Anderson, 'Secondary Schools and Scottish Society', p. 183.</ref>

Thus, even after 1808, when fourteen former pupils of [[Alexander Adam|Dr. Alexander Adam]] banded together as the first High School Club and commissioned [[Henry Raeburn]] to paint a portrait of their master as a gift to the school, the old independence resurfaced again, in 1859, when the five surviving members handed over the priceless masterpiece to the [[Scottish National Gallery]].<ref>Ross, ''Royal High School'', pp. 76.</ref> The school instituted legal proceedings against the club,<ref name="Barclay, Tounis Scule, p. 139">Barclay, ''Tounis Scule'', p. 139.</ref> but in the end had to make do with a Cruickshank copy of the original, presented in 1864.<ref name="Trotter, p. 191"/>

===School clubs=== Today the Royal High School has three flourishing former pupils' clubs in the United Kingdom. The present Royal High School Club was founded in 1849 under the presidency of [[Earl of Camperdown|Robert Dundas Haldane-Duncan, 1st Earl of Camperdown]]. The first annual report, dated July 1850, contains the original constitution,<ref name="Ross, Royal High School, p. 77">Ross, ''Royal High School'', p. 77.</ref> clause IV of which states: 'The objects of the Club shall be generally to promote the interests of the High School, maintain a good understanding, and form a bond of union among the former Pupils of that institution.'<ref>Ross, ''Royal High School'', p. 80.</ref> Known in the beginning, like its predecessor, simply as the High School Club, it adopted its full name in 1907.<ref>Ross, ''Royal High School'', pp. 75–76.</ref> Since 1863 the club has given an annual prize at the school games.<ref name="Ross, Royal High School, p. 77"/> It also pays for the framings of engravings of former pupils and other art works which decorate the walls of the school.<ref>Ross, ''Royal High School'', p. 81.</ref>

The Royal High School Club in London was founded in 1889. On the occasion of its 70th anniversary dinner (1959) the ''[[The Scotsman|Scotsman]]'' reported: 'We believe the London Club is indeed the oldest Scottish School Club in existence in London – among the members are No. 111 [[Charles, Prince of Wales|The Prince of Wales]], [[Sandringham, Norfolk|Sandringham]].'<ref name="Barclay, Tounis Scule, p. 77">Barclay, ''Tounis Scule'', p. 77.</ref>

The third former pupils club in the UK is the Royal High School Achievers Society.

The Royal High School (Canada) Club was formed in [[Winnipeg]] in 1914, and after lapsing into inactivity because of the war it was revived in [[British Columbia]] in 1939.<ref name="Barclay, Tounis Scule, p. 77"/> The Royal High School ([[British Raj|India]]) Club was formed in 1925 to help former pupils in the east; it disbanded in 1959.<ref>Barclay, ''Tounis Scule'', pp. 77–8.</ref> The Royal High School ([[British Malaya|Malaya]]) Club flourished [[interwar period|between the two world wars]] and was revived in the 1950s.<ref>Barclay, ''Tounis Scule'', p. 78.</ref>

==European partnerships== The Royal High School has international relationships through regular musical exchanges with [[Town twinning|sister cities]] on the [[Continental Europe|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 [[International Baccalaureate|Baccalaureate]].<ref>Murray, ''History'', pp. 123–124, 132.</ref>

==Publications== [[File:Schola Regia 1986 Vol 82.png|thumb|upright|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 [[student|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 (organization)|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 studies|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.<ref>Ross, ''Royal High School'', pp. 80–1.</ref> 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 [[World war|wartime]] volumes contain many letters from former pupils serving at the [[Front (military)|front]].<ref>Murray, ''History'', pp. 66, 71, 144.</ref>

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.<ref name="Barclay, Tounis Scule, p. 139"/>

==Rectors== {{columns-list|colwidth=20em| * 1128 Nominees of the [[Abbot of Holyrood|Abbots of Holyrood]]<ref name="Murray">Murray, ''History'', p. 137.</ref> * 1519 David Vocat<ref name="Murray"/> * 1524 Henry Henryson, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1530 Adam Mure, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1545 Sir John Allan<ref name="Murray"/> * 1546 William Robertoun<ref name="Murray"/> * 1568 Thomas Buchanan, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1571 William Robertoun (again)<ref name="Murray"/> * 1584 [[Hercules Rollock]], [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1596 Alexander Hume, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1606 John Ray, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1630 Thomas Crawford, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1641 William Spence, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1650 Hew Wallace, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1656 John Muir, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1660 John Home, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1665 David Ferguson, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1669 Alexander Rutherford, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1672 Alexander Heriot, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1679 Archibald Guillane, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1680 William Skene, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1717 George Arbuthnot, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1735 John Lees, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1759 Alexander Matheson, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1768 [[Alexander Adam]], [[Doctor of Laws|LLD]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1810 [[James Pillans]], [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1820 [[Aglionby Ross Carson]], [[FRSE]] [[Doctor of Laws|LLD]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1845 [[Leonhard Schmitz]], [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]], [[Doctor of Laws|LLD]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1865 [[James Donaldson (classical scholar)|James Donaldson]], [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]], [[Doctor of Laws|LLD]] (later Sir James)<ref name="Murray"/> * 1882 John Marshall, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]], [[Doctor of Laws|LLD]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1909 [[William J. Watson]], [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]], [[Doctor of Laws|LLD]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1914 [[John Strong (educationalist)|John Strong]], [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]], [[FRSE]] [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]], [[Doctor of Laws|LLD]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1919 [[William King Gillies]], [[FRSE]] [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]], [[Doctor of Laws|LLD]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1940 James J. Robertson, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]], [[Bachelor of Divinity|BD]] (later Sir James)<ref name="Murray"/> * 1942 Albert H. R. Ball, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1948 David Stuart M. Imrie, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]], [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1965 Baillie T. Ruthven, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1972 Farquhar Macintosh, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1989 Matthew M. MacIver, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name="Murray"/> * 1998 George M. R. Smuga, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.royalhigh.co.uk:80/committee.htm|title=Committee|website=www.royalhigh.co.uk}}</ref> * 2009 Jane L. Frith, [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]]<ref name=Frith>[http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/edinburgh/Female-first-for-Royal-High.5745047.jp Female first for Royal High], ''Evening News'' (Edinburgh, 19 October 2009).</ref> * 2014 Pauline Walker BSc (Steven Raeburn and Jennifer Menzies acted from August to November 2024) }}

[[File:Ms. Pauline Walker - Official Portrait.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Official photo of the current rector, Pauline Walker]]

The school Rector, or Head Teacher, is responsible for the overall running and function of the school and plays a role in upholding the school's values and vision. This is supported by a team of Deputies, and together, the Rector and Deputies form the Senior Leadership Team (SLT).

The current Rector is Pauline Walker, who assumed the role in 2014. Walker is the second woman to head the school.

==Popular culture==

Among the Royal High School's appearances in literature are the stories related in the ''[[Gentleman's Magazine]]'', [[Walter Scott]]'s ''Autobiography'', [[Henry Cockburn, Lord Cockburn|Lord Cockburn's]] ''Memorials'', [[Basil Hall (naval officer)|Captain Basil Hall's]] ''Log Book of a Midshipman'', [[George Borrow]]'s ''[[Lavengro]]'', [[Thomas M'Crie the Elder#Family|George M'Crie]]'s 1866 poem ''The Old High School'',<ref>Trotter, ''Royal High School'', pp. 162–185.</ref> and [[William Boyd (writer)|William Boyd]]'s ''[[The New Confessions]]''.

The most celebrated of all is the 'Green-Breeks' episode in Scott's novel, ''[[Waverley (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 [[Homer]]ic battle, fought in the streets of [[Edinburgh]] between pupils from different social classes.<ref>Murray, ''History'', p. 38.</ref>

A school ballad, ''The Woeful Slaying of Bailie Macmoran'', was founded on a school siege of 1595 known as the great [[Barring out|barring-out]].<ref>Trotter, ''Royal High School'', pp. 114–15.</ref> 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 MacMorran|John Macmoran]], by a pupil, William Sinclair, a grandson of the [[George Sinclair, 4th Earl of Caithness|Earl of Caithness]].<ref>Gareth Edwards, [http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/edinburgh/Infamous-shooting-by-pupil-to.2642678.jp Infamous shooting by pupil to be relived in victim's home], ''Evening News'' (Edinburgh, 13 July 2005).</ref><ref>Philip Fisher, [http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/otherresources/fringe/fringe05-43.htm#C Review: ''Close Encounters'', ‘Fringe 2005 Reviews’ (43), ''British Theatre Guide'']. Retrieved on 27 October 2007.</ref> This incident is also taught as part of first year History curriculum.

==See also==

* [[Old Royal High School, Edinburgh]] * [[List of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom]] * [[:Category:People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh]]

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

==External links== {{commons category}} * {{Official website}} * [http://www.scottishschoolsonline.gov.uk/schools/royalhighschooltheedinburghcity.asp The Royal High School's page on Scottish Schools Online] * [http://www.royalhigh.co.uk/ The Royal High School Club] * [http://www.royalhigh.org.uk The Royal High School Club in London]

{{Scottish Rugby Union Founding Members}} {{Authority control}} {{Coord|55|57|49|N|3|17|7|W|type:edu_region:GB|display=title}}

[[Category:Royal High School, Edinburgh| ]] [[Category:Educational institutions established in the 12th century]] [[Category:Organisations based in Edinburgh with royal patronage]] [[Category:Secondary schools in Edinburgh]] [[Category:1128 establishments in Scotland]] [[Category:School buildings completed in 1968]]