Balwearie High School, Kirkcaldy
Balwearie High School is a secondary school for pupils in Kirkcaldy.
- Attendance
- 86.9%
Data last updated 25 Oct 2026
Balwearie High School in detail
School in Scotland
Balwearie High School is a local authority school in Scotland. Scottish schools are inspected by Education Scotland rather than Ofsted, and Scotland does not publish school-by-school exam league tables.
In the 2025 pupil census it had 1574 pupils and 14.1 pupils per teacher.
19% of pupils are registered for free school meals, 48% of pupils have an additional support need recorded and 10% speak English as an additional language.
19% of its pupils live in Scotland's most deprived fifth of areas and 26% in the least deprived fifth (SIMD).
Attendance was 86.9% in 2024/25, and 40.6% of pupils were persistently absent (missing 10% or more of sessions).
The 2026 school estate survey rated its buildings' condition as satisfactory (B) and their suitability for teaching as poor (C); the school was 99% full.
98% of pupils who left in 2024/25 went on to a positive destination - further or higher education, training, work or volunteering, against 96% for its "virtual comparator", a matched group of pupils with similar backgrounds from across Scotland.
Compared with nearby schools
The nearest other state secondary schools to Balwearie High School are Kirkcaldy High School (2.2 miles), St Andrew's R C High School (2.4 miles) and Viewforth High School (2.7 miles).
Kirkcaldy High SchoolSt Andrew's R C High SchoolViewforth High School
Getting there
The nearest railway station is Kirkcaldy Rail Station, about 0.8 miles away in a straight line.
4 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Ramsay Road (opposite), 240 metres away.
Primary schools nearby
The primary schools closest to Balwearie High School are Kirkcaldy West Primary School (0.4 miles), Dunnikier Primary School (1.2 miles), Strathallan Primary School (1.2 miles) and Kirkcaldy North Primary School (1.4 miles). In Scotland, secondary places normally follow the catchment area, and each secondary school has associated primary schools; Fife publishes both.
Kirkcaldy West Primary SchoolDunnikier Primary SchoolStrathallan Primary SchoolKirkcaldy North Primary School
Sources: Scottish Government school statistics: pupil census, attendance and absence, school estate, leaver destinations (OGL); NaPTAN (Department for Transport)
Key Information
Scottish GovernmentInspection
Schools in Scotland are inspected by Education Scotland, not Ofsted. Find Balwearie High School's reports on the inspectorate's website.
About
Balwearie High School is a non-denominational comprehensive secondary school at the west end of Kirkcaldy in Scotland. Balwearie serves around 1600 pupils aged from 11 to 18 and includes a Department of Additional Support for children with Additional Support Needs.
From Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
At a Glance
No
Boarding
No
Nursery
No
Special Measures
Keep up with Balwearie High School
Getting There
Bus Stops
Safety and surroundings
Road collisions within 500 m (2021 to 2025)
- Collisions
- 2
- Fatal
- 0
- Serious
- 0
- Children hurt
- 0
Within 500 m of the school's mapped location, police recorded 2 road collisions in which someone was injured in 2021 to 2025: none fatal, 0 serious and 2 slight.
No children aged 0 to 15 were among the people hurt.
1 of the collisions happened on a weekday between 08:00 and 09:30 or 14:45 and 16:30, holidays included.
The typical figure for schools in Fife is 2 (the median across 160 schools, same distance and years).
Serious and slight counts use the Department for Transport's severity adjustment, which allows for changes in how police forces record injuries; they are estimates, rounded to whole numbers. Distances are in a straight line. Source: Department for Transport, Road Safety Data (STATS19), Open Government Licence v3.0.
Commute and house prices
Feeder Primary Schools
Primary schools that likely feed into this school, based on proximity
Questions parents ask about Balwearie High School
What is the catchment area for Balwearie High School?
Scottish schools have catchment (zoned) areas, and Balwearie High School is no exception: children living in its zone are normally given a place there automatically. Families who want a different school make a placing request to Fife. Fife publishes the zone boundary.
How do I apply to Balwearie High School?
If you live in Balwearie High School's catchment zone your child is normally allocated a place automatically, and Fife will write to you. To ask for a place here from outside the zone, make a placing request to Fife - requests usually open in November and close in mid-March for the following August.
How many road collisions happen near Balwearie High School?
Within 500 m of the school's mapped location, police recorded 2 road collisions in which someone was injured in 2021 to 2025: none fatal, 0 serious and 2 slight. No children aged 0 to 15 were among the people hurt. 1 of the collisions happened on a weekday between 08:00 and 09:30 or 14:45 and 16:30, holidays included. The typical figure for schools in Fife is 2 (the median across 160 schools, same distance and years).
Where is Balwearie High School?
Balwearie High School is at Balwearie Gardens, Kirkcaldy, Kirkcaldy, KY2 5LY.
Source: Department for Transport, Road Safety Data (STATS19)