Re:Why do one in four Edinburgh students attend private school?
by ggm on Sunday August 20, 2023 @01:58AM
(#37196534)
Historically the 'merchant schools' of Edinburgh such as Watsons, Heriots, Mary Erskine and Gillespies were in a different league to Fettes (where I think Blair went) and the Edinburgh Academy. Heriots had been a bit of an anomaly for some time, along with Watson's (I'm sure about Heriots, I went there. Less sure about Watsons) they got partial state funding, and in the case of Gillespies became part of the state system in the end. I can't speak for now but in the 70s the fees were measured in low hundreds of pounds accordingly. These were effectively secular charity schools for a long time before being fully private or integrating with the state system.
You could get a bursary to Heriots on an entrance exam, or for charity, or if your surname was Heriot or Herriot. There were also assisted entry places. None of these were residential afaik, unlike Fettes. Heriots had been an orphans school when "Jinglin Geordie" set it up. (He made his money lending money and selling jewels to Queen Anne, wife of James the VI of Scotland and lucked into the big time when James inherited the crown of England and became James I)
Boroughmuir was the largest state secondary school in Edinburgh for some time. Sean Connery went there. It dwarfed Heriots.
"The prime of miss Jean Brodie" is a fictional account of one of them in the pre ww2 era. Possibly Gillespies, it had at one stage been in what is now the Pollock Halls of residence.
Fettes boys wore real Harris Tweed jackets as a school blazer. They were never common like the merchant Schools.
Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee and St Andrews all have their equivalents. The Scottish education system is very different to the English one.
1 in 4 Edinburgh children go there because historically they always have since the inception of the modern education system. Edinburgh is a very upper/middle class city, notwithstanding working class areas. It had two major universities and a world famous medical school at a time few cities had either. It was the seat of the Scottish enlightenment which centred on people like David Hume.
Arguably, the Edinburgh private schools are Veblen Goods. The goal is the exclusivity, but at a somewhat more affordable price.
You could get a bursary to Heriots on an entrance exam, or for charity, or if your surname was Heriot or Herriot. There were also assisted entry places. None of these were residential afaik, unlike Fettes. Heriots had been an orphans school when "Jinglin Geordie" set it up. (He made his money lending money and selling jewels to Queen Anne, wife of James the VI of Scotland and lucked into the big time when James inherited the crown of England and became James I)
Boroughmuir was the largest state secondary school in Edinburgh for some time. Sean Connery went there. It dwarfed Heriots.
"The prime of miss Jean Brodie" is a fictional account of one of them in the pre ww2 era. Possibly Gillespies, it had at one stage been in what is now the Pollock Halls of residence.
Fettes boys wore real Harris Tweed jackets as a school blazer. They were never common like the merchant Schools.
Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee and St Andrews all have their equivalents. The Scottish education system is very different to the English one.
1 in 4 Edinburgh children go there because historically they always have since the inception of the modern education system. Edinburgh is a very upper/middle class city, notwithstanding working class areas. It had two major universities and a world famous medical school at a time few cities had either. It was the seat of the Scottish enlightenment which centred on people like David Hume.
Arguably, the Edinburgh private schools are Veblen Goods. The goal is the exclusivity, but at a somewhat more affordable price.