The High School of Dundee is a private, co-educational, day school in Dundee, Scotland, which provides nursery, primary and secondary education to just over one thousand pupils. Its foundation has been dated to 1239, and it is the only private school in Dundee.

The school's rector is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.

The school has been registered as a charity in Scotland since July 1897.

History

The Grammar School

The school has origins in the Grammar School of Dundee founded by the abbot and monks of Lindores Abbey after they were granted a charter by Gregory, Bishop of Brechin, in the early 1220s to "plant schools wherever they please in the burgh". Their rights were confirmed by a papal bull conferred by Pope Gregory IX on 14 February 1239. It is from this bull that the school's Latin motto "Prestante Domino", translated as "Under the Leadership of God", is taken. Little information survives about the early grammar school: it would have taught a Latin curriculum to boys from Dundee and the surrounding area. In 1434, the teaching methods of the Master, Gilbert Knight, were challenged by John, Bishop of Brechin, who conferred Laurence Lownan as the new Master in Knight's place.

Dundee was a hotbed of the Reformation, and St Mary's Church had, according to John Knox, the first truly reformed congregation in Scotland. The school itself was the earliest reformed school in the country, having adopted the new religion in 1554 under the master, Thomas Makgibbon, with the assistance of the (by-now Protestant) Dundee Town Council. However, John, the Abbot of Lindores, stepped in to take control of the school which his predecessors had founded, replacing Makgibbon nominally with the Vicar of St. Mary's, John Rolland, who was given the power to appoint substitutes; this he did, his substitutes opening schools in opposition to the Grammar School, poaching its pupils. In the ensuing furore the Town Council, which approved of Makgibbon's methods, intervened to prevent rival schools. The High School of Dundee was among the first Scottish charities investigated by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator for the public benefit derived from their tax-exempt status, and was the first independent school in the United Kingdom judged to have demonstrated its charitable aims and "local and national benefit".

The High School was voted Scottish Independent Secondary School of the Year 2008 by The Times.

School houses

The four school houses of the High School of Dundee are:

Buildings and grounds

thumb|right|The Boys School of 1834

The High School of Dundee is situated in seven buildings in the city centre:

  • the Main Building (traditionally the Boys School)
  • the Margaret Harris Building (traditionally the Girls School)
  • the Robert Fergusson Building
  • Trinity Meadowside, a former church, designed by David Bryce
  • Bonar House (soon to be discarded off)
  • Baxter Hall
  • the Lodge

There are also two main playing grounds, Dalnacraig and Mayfield, approximately one mile from the school, at which sports such as hockey, tennis, rugby, football, cricket, and athletics are played. Mayfield has undergone massive investment in recent years with new sports facilities, and is the home of Dundee High School Former Pupils' RFC; it is also let out to other groups. The school holds an annual sports day at the Mayfield playing grounds in June where the four school houses compete against each other throughout the day.

Staff Bullying

In 2019, the school was required to pay £60,000 as a result of unfairly dismissing the principal teacher of religious, moral and philosophical studies. The court found that the rector's treatment of the teacher was "extremely threatening and unpleasant". Judge Ian McFatridge said that evidence from Dr Halliday and Lise Hudson, his deputy and named successor, was not credible or reliable: the school did not contest the ruling.

Notable alumni

See also

  • List of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom

References

Further reading

  • The Dundee High School Magazine 1934
  • The High School of Dundee Prospectus 1964
  • Durkan, J., "Education: The Laying of Fresh Foundations", in J. MacQueen (ed.), Humanism in Renaissance Scotland (Edinburgh, 1990).
  • Durkan, J., "The cultural background in sixteenth-century Scotland, in David McRoberts (ed.) Essays on the Scottish Reformation, (Glasgow, 1962), pp. 274–331.
  • Maxwell, A., Old Dundee prior to the Reformation, (Dundee, 1891).
  • Stephenson, J.M.W., Education in the Burgh of Dundee in the Eighteenth Century, (Edinburgh, 1973).
  • School Website
  • High School of Dundee's page on Scottish Schools Online
  • Profile on the ISC website
  • Profile on the HMC website