The school was founded in 1904, and located at 22–24 Warrender Park Crescent, overlooking Bruntsfield Links in a building designed by John Alexander Carfrae,[2] and remembered by Muriel Spark as "the school on the links".[3] Built as Boroughmuir School, the building became James Gillespie's in 1913 when the new Boroughmuir on Viewforth was opened. After the new Gillespie's was opened, the building became Boroughmuir again as the "Junior School" housing first and second years. The building on the links is now University of Edinburgh student residences.[4]
The school moved to a site at 26 Viewforth, also designed by Carfrae, from 1913 to 2018.[5] Built as a "higher grade" school, the building was designed to accommodate over 1200 pupils in 40 classrooms. It was a large "8 block" centred around two quads (with a gymnasium at the lower ground floor), the perimeter corridor and surrounding classrooms had large tripartite windows and corridor windows facing the quad. Additional wings, dining halls, glazed roofs and mezzanine floors were added later as the school struggled for space.[6] The school also used nearby St Oswalds Hall as an annex.[7]
In June 2018, the school moved to the new building at 111 Viewforth in Fountainbridge on the site of a demolished brewery.[8][9] The new building was named the Building of the Year by the Edinburgh Architectural Association,[10] and won the RIAS Award 2018 and RIBA Award for Scotland.[11]
Achievements
In 2011, Boroughmuir's exam results were the fourth best state school results in Scotland.[12] It was also awarded State School of the Year in 2012 and 2018 by the Sunday Times.[13][14]
Boroughmuir High School new buildingThe School on the LinksCorridors around the 'quads'War Memorial ArchGlazed roof over the quad
History
The school was opened by the Secretary of State for Scotland, Thomas McKinnon Wood in 1914. At the ceremony, he was heckled by a member of the Women's Suffrage Movement. According to reports "an elderly lady seized the opportunity and made her way to the front of the audience, producing a small bag of flour from her muff and, as she threw it on Mr McKinnon Wood, she asked 'Why do you torture women?'".[15]
Lewis Romanis served as headteacher for 16 years from 1967 to 1982.[16] He was succeeded by T.W. Dalgleish who headed the school until 2000.[15]
Three volumes of the Boroughmuir High School Magazine, including the Roll of Honour names of pupils who served and died in WW1, were digitised as part of the University of Oxford "lest we forget" project in 2018.[19]
^"Boroughmuir High School set for old brewery site". BBC News. 10 November 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2021. The new Boroughmuir High School may be built on the old Scottish and Newcastle Brewery site at Fountainbridge after the seller accepted a council bid.
