The Mary Erskine School

The Mary Erskine School, popularly known as "Mary Erskine's" or "MES", is an all-girls private secondary school in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1694 and has a roll of around 750 pupils. It is the sister school of the all-boys Stewart's Melville College (SMC) with which MES shares a coeducational nursery and junior school for pupils aged 3–11.^[1]

The Mary Erskine School
Address
Ravelston Edinburgh , EH4 3NT Scotland
Information
Type	Private day and boarding school
Motto	Mitis et fortis
Established	1694; 330 years ago (1694) (as Merchant Maiden Hospital)
Principal	Kirsty Nicholson
Gender	Girls
Age	12 to 18
Enrolment	758 (approx.)^[1]
Annual tuition	Day pupil £13,038 Full time boarding £26,163 Weekly boarding £25,509
Website	http://www.esms.org.uk/the-schools/mary-erskine-school

The majority of its pupils live in the surrounding area (Edinburgh, Lothian and Fife) but boarding facilities are available. About 3% of the pupils are boarders.^[2] The school is non-denominational but claims to have a broadly Christian outlook.

Both MES and SMC are managed by the Merchant Company of Edinburgh which is also responsible for the city's George Watson's College. In 2014 the combined Erskine Stewarts Melville school claimed to be the largest independent school in Europe.^[3]

Although the school is single sex, some activities, although not teaching, are carried out jointly with the boys from SMC. The sixth (final) year of the school is co-educational.^[4]

History

The school was founded as a hospital school for the daughters of Edinburgh burgesses^[5] in 1694 as the Merchant Maiden Hospital by Mary Erskine (a prominent Edinburgh banking businesswoman^[5]) and the Company of Merchants of the City of Edinburgh in the first Merchants' Hall in Cowgate, Edinburgh.^[6] In 1870, it was refounded by act of Parliament as a day school, renamed as the Edinburgh Educational Institution For Girls and had grown to 1,200 girl students. In 1871 it moved its premises to Queen Street, Edinburgh^[6] and became familiarly known as Queen Street School.^[7] The school was renamed again as Edinburgh Ladies' College in 1889, and to its present name, "The Mary Erskine School", in 1944.^[6]

In 1966 the school moved to Ravelston, Edinburgh and in 1977 the Mary Erskine School merged with an all-boys independent secondary school Stewart's Melville College which is located approximately one mile (2 km) from the MES campus and The Erskine Stewart's Melville Schools (ESMS) was formed.^[6] Together MES and SMC have a co-educational Junior School which caters for pupils from three to 11 years old. Nursery to Primary 3 are housed on the Mary Erskine campus, with Primary 4 to 7 on the Stewart's Melville campus. The combined sixth (final) form of both schools is coeducational.^[8]

Mary Erskine School was voted the Scottish Independent School of the year in 2012.^[9][10]

Sport

The school is involved in a wide variety of sports, most of which are coached by mixture of staff from general departments as well as the Physical Education (PE) department staff. Sports include Aerobics, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Cricket, Cross-country, Curling, Dance, Equestrian, Fencing, Football, Golf, ice skating, Highland Dancing, Hockey, Sailing, Skiing, Squash, Swimming, Tennis and Volleyball.^[11]

Hockey

MES excels particularly in hockey,^[12] with over 6 teams competing at senior level and many pupils playing at National level. Pupils have the opportunity to play for the Erksine Stewart's Melville Former Pupil Hockey Club once leaving sixth form. MES also has P.E teachers and former pupils playing hockey for Scotland and Great Britain.

Ravelston Sports Club

"Ravelston Sports Club" is a large on-site sports centre and gym opened in 2000 and is split across both campuses. The sports centre is mainly used by pupils for PE lessons and sports training, but is also open to members of the public with a monthly membership fee. Extensive rugby and cricket pitches and athletics facilities are located at the school's sports grounds in Inverleith.

Music and drama

Almost 800 children sing regularly in choirs performing in all kinds of venues from the Usher Hall to St Peter's in the Vatican, from Songs of Praise^[13] to sharing the stage with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.^[14] In addition to this 300 children from Primary 4 to senior sixth Form play in school orchestras and bands (including Pipe Band and Jazz Band).

Boys and girls from the Junior School have had favourable reviews while performing over 680 times in professional West End touring musicals including over 220 appearances in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Senior pupils have won prestigious scholarships to American Drama Schools and starred on TV.

Pupils have access to and frequently perform in SMC's "Tom Fleming Centre for Performing Arts" (formerly "Performing Arts Centre").

Carbisdale

Since 1965, the school has organised an outdoor education programme for the boys of SMC and the girls from MES in the third senior year.^[15] It is located in the north of Scotland at Carbisdale Castle, a historic castle which has been converted into a Youth Hostel. The trip consists of a number of outdoor activities that vary from year to year including hillwalking, orienteering, golf, kayaking, team-building activities, visits to nearby historic sites and environmental studies of the surrounding woodland. Carbisdale Castle has a plaque of the Stewart's Melville College badge in its foyer above the main door.

Pastoral

Between First Senior Year and Fifth Year pupils are split into house groups. There are six different houses (named after areas of Scotland):

• Appin
• Ettrick
• Galloway
• Kintyre
• Lochaber
• Torridon

Each house has a Head of House tutor as well as a form tutor for each year group who is responsible for pupils' well-being.

These houses correspond with the houses of the same names at Stewart's Melville College, and are the basis for the 'ESM Challenge'. This is a series of annual events involving both the boys and girls in each house. It covers a wide variety of school societies, ranging from the House Music Competition to the Inter-house Hockey. The competition comes to a climax on Sports Day with a 4 × 100 m relay between each house. The winning house is then awarded a cup at the school's prizegiving ceremony.

Senior sixth form

When pupils enter the sixth (final) form they are merged with the boys from Stewart's Melville College. Classes take place at both school sites, with buses operating regularly to transfer students between the two. There are approximately 240 students in a normal year group.

In sixth form students are largely independent. Students have a tutor (twinned with another at the other site) with whom they register in the morning, and who also helps them with their British university UCAS applications.

All members of the sixth form are prefects and are expected to help out with duties around the school sites. The maintenance of the prefect body is the responsibility of a Head Boy and a Head Girl, along with five deputy head boys and five deputy head girls.

School uniform and colours

In 1994 the school adopted the present uniform which includes a navy blue and red kilt designed by the company Kinloch Anderson,^[16] a blue blazer, white blouse and red tie.^[17]

Colours and half-colours can be awarded in Sixth Form to pupils who excel in non-academic areas (such as music, drama and individual sports).

Examinations

Pupils at Mary Erskine's mainly sit Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) examinations, including (as of 2013) National 4, National 5, Higher Grade and Advanced Higher Grade levels. The English GCE Advanced Level examinations can also be sat in art and music. As is the case with many independent schools MES has examination results well above the national average. For example, in 2013, 86% of pupils passed Higher grade exams at the A or B level and passed an average of five Higher Grade exams each.^[2] Almost all leavers were planning to go on to higher education.^[18] In 2015, popular destinations included St Andrews (11), Glasgow (18), Edinburgh Napier (3), Aberdeen (12), Newcastle (2) and Northumbria (5).^[18] In 2014 and 2016, Mary Erskine's was top of the Sunday Times list of independent secondary schools in Scotland using the Scottish Examinations system^[19][20] and in 2015 was judged the best Scottish School by Advanced Highers by Best-Schools.^[21]

Former Pupils Guild

Upon leaving MES, students have the opportunity to join the Mary Erskine Former Pupils Guild^[22] which was founded in 1884.^[23]

Notable former staff

• Elisabeth West in 1708, diarist^[24]

Notable alumni

See also: Category:People educated at the Mary Erskine School

Media and arts

• Catherine Grant Furley Smith (1858–1944)- poet, journalist, novelist ^[25]
• Lynda Cochrane - pianist^[1]
• Margaret Stirling Dobson - painter, printmaker and author.
• Joanna Drew (1929–2003) - art gallery director and arts administrator^[26]
• Jenny Foulds - actress, e.g. Two Thousand Acres of Sky)^[1][27]
• Alison Geissler (1907–2011) - glass engraver
• Frances Grey - actress ^[1]
• Dorothy Mackie Low (1916–2002) - writer of romance novels who used the pseudonyms Dorothy Mackie Low, Lois Paxton, and Zoë Cass^[28]
• Freya Mavor - actress^[10]
• Chloe Pirrie - actress^[29]
• Margaret Stoddart (1865–1934) - notable New Zealand artist^[30]
• Sylvia Whitman - proprietor of Shakespeare and Company^[31]
• Madeleine Worrall - actress^[1]

Academia and science

• Maria Gordon DBE, (1864–1939) - geologist and palaeontologist, first woman to get a DSc from London University and a PhD from the University of Munich^[32]
• Ellen Charlotte Higgins (1871–1951) - principal of the Royal Holloway College, University of London^[33]
• Sheila Scott Macintyre (1910–1960) - mathematician best known for her work on the Whittaker constant^[34]
• Anna MacGillivray Macleod (1917–2004) - first female professor of Brewing and Biochemistry in the world^[35]
• Elizabeth Malloch (1910–2000) - educator and priest^[36]
• Annie Hutton Numbers (1897–1988), British mathematician and chemist^[37]
• Ishobel Ross (1890–1965), Scottish World War I nurse and diarist
• Winifred Rushforth OBE, (1885–1983) - Jungian psychoanalyst^[38]
• Isabel Emslie Hutton CBE (1887–1960) - physician

Sports

• Shauna Mullin - athlete, 2012 Olympic Games, Beach Volleyball)^[39]
• Janice Rankin - Olympic Gold Medallist for curling 2002^[1]
• Lynsey Sharp - athlete – 2012 European Champion 800m, 2012 Olympic semi-finalist 800m, 2014 Commonwealth silver medallist^[40][41]

Politics

• Louise Mary Eates (married name) - suffragette^[42]
• Elaine Murray - MSP^[1]

Business

• Judy Wagner, FRSE - British business leader, educator and executive search recruitment manager^[43]

References

1. (2019) – Mary Erskine The Guide to Independent Schools, Retrieved 18 March 2019
2. Miller, Nikki (Editor) (2014) "School Guide Edinburgh & The Lothians, 2015 Annual Issue", Select Publishing Ltd.
3. (2014) Erskine Stewart's Melville School 8 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine The Tatler Schools Guide, retrieved 8 March 2014
4. (2014) The Mary Erskine School The Good Schools Guide, Retrieved 8 March 2014
5. Erskine, Mary, 1629–1707 Scotland's People, National Records of Scotland, Retrieved 13 June 2014
6. . Erskine Stewart's Melville Schools. Archived from the original on 30 April 2008. Retrieved 19 November 2007.
7. Roberts (2007, p. 44)
8. . Archived from the original on 5 March 2010. Retrieved 9 July 2010.
9. Allardyce, Jason (17 November 2012) The Sunday Times (requires subscription), Retrieved 8 March 2014
10. Leonard, Sue (2012) In Tune with the Times 8 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine The Sunday Times, Retrieved 8 March 2014
11. "The Mary Erskine School :Clubs and Societies". www.esms.org.uk. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
12. Roberts (2007, p. 115)
13. "The Mary Erskine and Stewart's Melville Junior School". Forth 2 - The Greatest Hits. Bauer Media. 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
14. "The Land of the Counterpane in Childrens Chorus & Orchestra". Howard Blake official website. Highbridge Music. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
15. Roberts (2007, p. 120)
16. School Uniform 14 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine Mary Erskine School FP Guild web page, Retrieved 13 June 2014
17. (23 April 2008) Independent schools: M-W: The Mary Erskine School The Scotsman, Retrieved 13 June 2013
18. "Academic success: Leaver Destinations". 17 June 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
19. "The Sunday Times Schools Guide, League Tables; The top independent secondary schools in Scotland (Highers/National 5)". The Sunday Times. London, UK. 2015. Retrieved 27 June 2015.^{[dead link]}
20. "The top Scottish Independent secondary schools for Advanced Highers/ Highers/ National 5". The Sunday Times: Parent Power Secondary. 27 November 2016. p. 2.
21. "UK School League Tables; Best Scottish Schools by Advanced Highers". Best-Schools.co.uk. Education Advisers Ltd. 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
22. Mary Erskine School FP Guild website 25 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 25 October 2014
23. Roberts (2007, p. 181)
24. Middleton, Roy (2004). "West, Elisabeth (fl. 1690–1709), servant and memoirist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/68935. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 13 March 2021. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
25. At the Circulating Library: A database of Victorian Fiction Catherine Grant Furley Smith
26. O'Ryan, Lydia (2002) Drew, Joanna. (12 of 50). National Life Story Collection: Artists' Lives British Library, Retrieved 16 October 2014
27. (2014) Jenny Foulds Biography 1MDB, Retrieved 8 March 2014
28. "International Who's Who of Authors and Writers 2004" Europa Publications, Routlidge, Page 341, ISBN 978-1857431797 Also available on the Internet at Google Books
29. Lavery, Jen (28 October 2013). "Actress Chloe Pirrie goes from burgers to Baftas". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
30. Creese, Mary R.S. and Creese Thomas M. (2010) "Ladies in the Laboratory III: South African, Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian Women in Science: Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries" Scarecrow Press, Page 93, ISBN 9780810872899
31. "Interview with Sylvia Whitman, MES 1999, Owner, Shakespeare & Company". ESMS Community. 7 December 2022. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
32. Bressan, David (14 June 2011). "A women geoscientist in the Dolomites: Maria Matilda Ogilvie Gordon". Field of Science. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
33. Williams, Richard (1993). Royal Holloway College, A Pictorial History. Surrey: Royal Holloway College. p. 28. ISBN 0-900145-83-8.
34. Sheila Scott Macintyre School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St. Andrews, Retrieved 3 October 2014
35. Steven, Alasdair (6 September 2004). "Anna MacLeod". The Scotsman. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
36. "Elizabeth Malloch". HeraldScotland. 10 October 2000. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
37. University of St Andrews: Annie Hutton Numbers biography
38. Dr Winifred Rushforth OBE Electric Scotland, Retrieved 16 October 2014
39. O'Leary, David (16 May 2013) Bikinis at the ready for beach volleyball The Scotsman, Retrieved 2 April 2014
40. "Lynsey Sharp".
41. Burnside, Elspeth (28 June 2013) Lynsey Sharp facing fitness race for world trials The Scotsman, Retrieved 2 April 2014
42. "Suffrage Resources". Suffrage Resources. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
43. Masterson, Victoria (18 January 2004). "How I Made It: Judy Wagner: Managing director Finlayson Wagner Black". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 26 June 2021.

Sources

• Roberts, Alasdair (2007). Crème de la Crème, Girls' Schools of Edinburgh. 91 Brick Lane, London, W1 6QL, U.K.: Steve Savage Publishers. ISBN 978-1-904246-20-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)

External links

• Official website  
• Mary Erskine School's page on Scottish Schools Online
• Profile on the ISC website
• at MyDaughter

55°57′10″N 3°15′15″W / 55.95278°N 3.25417°W / 55.95278; -3.25417