Firrhill High School, EDINBURGH
Firrhill High School is a secondary school for pupils in Edinburgh.
- Attendance
- 91.8%
Data last updated 25 Oct 2026
Firrhill High School in detail
School in Scotland
Firrhill 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 1325 pupils and 13.5 pupils per teacher.
9% of pupils are registered for free school meals, 42% of pupils have an additional support need recorded and 7% speak English as an additional language.
7% of its pupils live in Scotland's most deprived fifth of areas and 55% in the least deprived fifth (SIMD).
Attendance was 91.8% in 2024/25, and 23.6% of pupils were persistently absent (missing 10% or more of sessions).
The 2026 school estate survey rated its buildings' condition as good (A) and their suitability for teaching as satisfactory (B); the school was 115% full.
97% of pupils who left in 2022/23 went on to a positive destination - further or higher education, training, work or volunteering, against 97% 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 Firrhill High School are Merchiston Castle School (0.6 miles), Tynecastle High School (1.7 miles), Boroughmuir High School (2 miles) and James Gillespie's High School (2.1 miles).
Merchiston Castle SchoolTynecastle High SchoolBoroughmuir High SchoolJames Gillespie's High School
Getting there
The nearest railway station is Slateford Rail Station, about 0.8 miles away in a straight line.
9 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Firrhill High School (opposite), 170 metres away.
Primary schools nearby
The primary schools closest to Firrhill High School are Oxgangs Primary School (0.1 miles), St Mark's RC Primary School (0.4 miles), Colinton Primary School (0.4 miles) and Pentland Primary School (0.8 miles). In Scotland, secondary places normally follow the catchment area, and each secondary school has associated primary schools; Edinburgh City publishes both.
Oxgangs Primary SchoolSt Mark's RC Primary SchoolColinton Primary SchoolPentland 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 Firrhill High School's reports on the inspectorate's website.
About
Firrhill High School is a secondary school located in the south-west of Edinburgh, Scotland. The school was established in 1960, and was officially opened by the city's lord provost.
From Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
At a Glance
No
Boarding
No
Nursery
No
Special Measures
Keep up with Firrhill High School
Getting There
Bus Stops
Safety and surroundings
Road collisions within 500 m (2021 to 2025)
- Collisions
- 12
- Fatal
- 0
- Serious
- 3
- Children hurt
- 3
Within 500 m of the school's mapped location, police recorded 12 road collisions in which someone was injured in 2021 to 2025: none fatal, 3 serious and 9 slight.
3 children aged 0 to 15 were hurt: 1 on foot and 2 in a vehicle or otherwise.
6 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 Edinburgh City is 12 (the median across 140 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
Firrhill High School
Showing 10 of 15 linked schools
Questions parents ask about Firrhill High School
What is the catchment area for Firrhill High School?
Scottish schools have catchment (zoned) areas, and Firrhill 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 Edinburgh City. Edinburgh City publishes the zone boundary.
How do I apply to Firrhill High School?
If you live in Firrhill High School's catchment zone your child is normally allocated a place automatically, and Edinburgh City will write to you. To ask for a place here from outside the zone, make a placing request to Edinburgh City - requests usually open in November and close in mid-March for the following August.
How many road collisions happen near Firrhill High School?
Within 500 m of the school's mapped location, police recorded 12 road collisions in which someone was injured in 2021 to 2025: none fatal, 3 serious and 9 slight. 3 children aged 0 to 15 were hurt: 1 on foot and 2 in a vehicle or otherwise. 6 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 Edinburgh City is 12 (the median across 140 schools, same distance and years).
Where is Firrhill High School?
Firrhill High School is at 9 Oxgangs Road North, Firrhill, EDINBURGH, EDINBURGH, EH14 1DP.
Source: Department for Transport, Road Safety Data (STATS19)