James Gillespie's Primary School, Edinburgh

James Gillespie's Primary 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.

James Gillespie's Primary School has a pre-school (nursery) class.

In the 2025 pupil census it had 475 pupils, an average class size of 29.7 and 22.5 pupils per teacher.

5% of P6-P7 pupils are registered for free school meals, 24% of pupils have an additional support need recorded and 17% speak English as an additional language.

3% of its pupils live in Scotland's most deprived fifth of areas and 86% in the least deprived fifth (SIMD).

Attendance was 96.3% in 2024/25, and 6.9% 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 75% full.

In its own words: "Our school is operated by the City of Edinburgh Council and is a public (state) school for children aged 3 to 12. Children living in our catchment area can come to our school. If there are no places available, catchment children can join our waiting list."

The school day runs from 8:55am to 2:45pm.

The nearest other state primary schools to James Gillespie's Primary School are Bruntsfield Primary School (0.3 miles), Canaan Lane Primary School (0.4 miles), St Peter's RC Primary School (0.5 miles) and Sciennes Primary School (0.6 miles).

The nearest railway station is Haymarket Rail Station, about 0.9 miles away in a straight line.

9 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Lauderdale Street (after), 250 metres away.

The secondary schools closest to James Gillespie's Primary School are James Gillespie's High School (0.1 miles), St Thomas Of Aquin's High School (0.4 miles), Boroughmuir High School (0.6 miles) and Tynecastle High School (1.1 miles).