The James Young High School, LIVINGSTON
The James Young High School is a secondary school for pupils in Livingston.
- Attendance
- 88%
Data last updated 25 Oct 2026
The James Young High School in detail
School in Scotland
The James Young 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 1177 pupils and 14.4 pupils per teacher.
11% of pupils are registered for free school meals, 51% of pupils have an additional support need recorded and 12% speak English as an additional language.
11% of its pupils live in Scotland's most deprived fifth of areas and 42% in the least deprived fifth (SIMD).
Attendance was 88% in 2024/25, and 38% 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 satisfactory (B); the school was 96% full.
98% of pupils who left in 2023/24 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 The James Young High School are St Margaret's Academy (0.6 miles), Inveralmond Community High School (1.3 miles), Deans Community High School (2.2 miles) and West Calder High School (2.6 miles).
St Margaret's AcademyInveralmond Community High SchoolDeans Community High SchoolWest Calder High School
Getting there
The nearest railway station is Livingston South Rail Station, about 0.8 miles away in a straight line.
14 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Designer Outlet (at), 180 metres away.
Primary schools nearby
The primary schools closest to The James Young High School are Bankton Primary School (0.3 miles), Williamston Primary School (0.6 miles), St Ninian's Primary School (0.6 miles) and Dedridge Primary School (0.7 miles). In Scotland, secondary places normally follow the catchment area, and each secondary school has associated primary schools; West Lothian publishes both.
Bankton Primary SchoolWilliamston Primary SchoolSt Ninian's Primary SchoolDedridge 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 The James Young High School's reports on the inspectorate's website.
About
The James Young High School is a secondary school in Dedridge, Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland. The school opened in 1982 and was named after James Young, who patented the process of extracting oil from coal and shale.
From Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
At a Glance
No
Boarding
No
Nursery
No
Special Measures
Keep up with The James Young High School
Getting There
Bus Stops
Safety and surroundings
Road collisions within 500 m (2021 to 2025)
- Collisions
- 15
- Fatal
- 0
- Serious
- 3
- Children hurt
- 8
Within 500 m of the school's mapped location, police recorded 15 road collisions in which someone was injured in 2021 to 2025: none fatal, 3 serious and 12 slight.
8 children aged 0 to 15 were hurt: 3 on foot and 5 in a vehicle or otherwise.
2 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 West Lothian is 4 (the median across 88 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
The James Young High School
Showing 10 of 13 linked schools
Questions parents ask about The James Young High School
What is the catchment area for The James Young High School?
Scottish schools have catchment (zoned) areas, and The James Young 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 West Lothian. West Lothian publishes the zone boundary.
How do I apply to The James Young High School?
If you live in The James Young High School's catchment zone your child is normally allocated a place automatically, and West Lothian will write to you. To ask for a place here from outside the zone, make a placing request to West Lothian - requests usually open in November and close in mid-March for the following August.
How many road collisions happen near The James Young High School?
Within 500 m of the school's mapped location, police recorded 15 road collisions in which someone was injured in 2021 to 2025: none fatal, 3 serious and 12 slight. 8 children aged 0 to 15 were hurt: 3 on foot and 5 in a vehicle or otherwise. 2 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 West Lothian is 4 (the median across 88 schools, same distance and years).
Where is The James Young High School?
The James Young High School is at Quentin Rise, Dedridge West, LIVINGSTON, LIVINGSTON, EH54 6NE.
Source: Department for Transport, Road Safety Data (STATS19)