Holy Rood RC High School, Edinburgh
Holy Rood RC High School is a secondary school for pupils in Edinburgh. It has a Roman Catholic religious character.
- Attendance
- 89.2%
Data last updated 25 Oct 2026
Holy Rood RC High School in detail
School in Scotland
Holy Rood RC 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 1222 pupils and 12.9 pupils per teacher.
15% of pupils are registered for free school meals, 51% of pupils have an additional support need recorded and 23% speak English as an additional language.
46% of its pupils live in Scotland's most deprived fifth of areas and 8% in the least deprived fifth (SIMD).
Attendance was 89.2% in 2024/25, and 37.1% 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 good (A); the school was 102% full.
95% 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.
Holy Rood RC High School in its own words
Clubs and activities named on the school's website include football, basketball, badminton, dance, drama, choir, orchestra, guitar and eco club.
Source: The school's own website
Compared with nearby schools
The nearest other state secondary schools to Holy Rood RC High School are Castlebrae Community High School (0.6 miles), Portobello High School (1.2 miles), Liberton High School (1.9 miles) and Leith Academy (2 miles).
Castlebrae Community High SchoolPortobello High SchoolLiberton High SchoolLeith Academy
Getting there
The nearest railway station is Brunstane Rail Station, about 1.7 miles away in a straight line.
6 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Holyrood High School (opposite), 190 metres away.
Primary schools nearby
The primary schools closest to Holy Rood RC High School are Parsons Green Primary School (0.5 miles), Duddingston Primary School (0.7 miles), Niddrie Mill Primary School (0.8 miles) and St Francis' RC 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.
Parsons Green Primary SchoolDuddingston Primary SchoolNiddrie Mill Primary SchoolSt Francis' RC 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
HM Inspectorate of Education (Education Scotland) last published an inspection of Holy Rood RC High School in June 2026.
- 2.3 Learning, teaching and assessmentvery good
- 3.2 Raising attainment and achievementvery good
HMIE grades on a six-point scale: unsatisfactory, weak, satisfactory, good, very good, excellent.
Source: HM Inspectorate of Education (Education Scotland), Open Government Licence.
At a Glance
No
Boarding
No
Nursery
No
Special Measures
Social & online
Keep up with Holy Rood RC High School
Getting There
Bus Stops
Safety and surroundings
Road collisions within 500 m (2021 to 2025)
- Collisions
- 7
- Fatal
- 0
- Serious
- 0
- Children hurt
- 1
Within 500 m of the school's mapped location, police recorded 7 road collisions in which someone was injured in 2021 to 2025: none fatal, 0 serious and 7 slight.
1 child aged 0 to 15 was hurt: 1 on a bicycle.
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 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
Holy Rood RC High School
Showing 10 of 14 linked schools
Questions parents ask about Holy Rood RC High School
When was Holy Rood RC High School last inspected?
HM Inspectorate of Education (Education Scotland) last published an inspection of Holy Rood RC High School in June 2026. Inspectors evaluated learning, teaching and assessment as very good and raising attainment and achievement as very good, on a six-point scale from unsatisfactory to excellent.
What is the catchment area for Holy Rood RC High School?
Scottish schools have catchment (zoned) areas, and Holy Rood RC 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 Holy Rood RC High School?
If you live in Holy Rood RC 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 Holy Rood RC High School?
Within 500 m of the school's mapped location, police recorded 7 road collisions in which someone was injured in 2021 to 2025: none fatal, 0 serious and 7 slight. 1 child aged 0 to 15 was hurt: 1 on a bicycle. 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 Edinburgh City is 12 (the median across 140 schools, same distance and years).
Where is Holy Rood RC High School?
Holy Rood RC High School is at 55 Duddingston Road West, Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH15 3ST.
Source: Department for Transport, Road Safety Data (STATS19)