The Royal High School
The Royal High School is a council school in Edinburgh for boys and girls aged 11 to 18. It has 1,578 pupils. About 6 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far fewer than at most schools in Scotland.
East Barnton Avenue, Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH4 6JP0131 336 2261royalhigh.edin.sch.ukAll details
Inspection
Schools in Scotland are inspected by HM Inspectorate of Education. Its reports grade a few areas on a scale from excellent to unsatisfactory, but the grades aren't published as a list we can use.
Results
Scotland publishes no school-level exam results as open data.
Leaver attainment and destinations for individual schools appear only on the Scottish Government's School Information Dashboard, which cannot be reproduced here. Open the dashboard and search for The Royal High School.
Getting a place
Edinburgh City council has drawn an official catchment area for this school. You can see it on the map below; it covers about 13 square kilometres. If you live inside it, your child has the right to a place here. Families outside it can ask for a place (a placing request), which is only given if there is room.
Set your home postcode at the top of the page to see whether you live inside it.
There is no entrance test. Every address in Scotland has a catchment primary and secondary school. If you want a different school, you ask the council for a place there (a placing request).
You apply through Edinburgh City council, not the school.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
How the school has changed
| Year | 2025/26 | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2019/20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 1,578 | 1,533 | 1,476 | 1,391 | 1,369 | – | – |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 5.9% | 6.6% | 7.3% | 8.1% | – | – | – |
| Pupils getting extra supportAdditional support needs (ASN) | 47.3% | 46.5% | 45.7% | 35.4% | 32.8% | – | – |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 13.4% | 8.7% | 6.6% | 5.8% | – | – | – |
| Pupils per teacherPupil to teacher ratio | 14.0 | 14.2 | 14.8 | 14.2 | 13.9 | 14.3 | 14.5 |
Staff
From the pupil and teacher census of September 2025.
Nearby schools
The closest secondary schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Craigroyston Community High School | Council | 1.3 miles | 740 | HMIE, no open data | – | Compare |
| Craigmount High School | Council | 1.5 miles | 1,417 | HMIE, no open data | – | Compare |
| St Augustine's High School | Council | 2.1 miles | 1,033 | HMIE, no open data | – | Compare |
| Forrester High School | Council | 2.3 miles | 842 | HMIE, no open data | – | Compare |
| Broughton High School | Council | 2.4 miles | 1,316 | HMIE, no open data | – | Compare |
| Tynecastle High School | Council | 2.7 miles | 854 | HMIE, no open data | – | Compare |
| Boroughmuir High School | Council | 3.1 miles | 1,626 | HMIE, no open data | – | Compare |
| Wester Hailes High School | Council | 3.2 miles | 389 | HMIE, no open data | – | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is The Royal High School a good school?
We don't have enough published data to score The Royal High School yet. Scotland doesn't publish results or inspection grades for individual schools.
How many pupils does The Royal High School have?
1,578 pupils aged 11 to 18 were on the roll in September 2025.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- East Barnton Avenue, Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH4 6JP
- Telephone
- 0131 336 2261
- Website
- www.royalhigh.edin.sch.uk
- Type of school
- Council school (Local authority school, local authority maintained schools)
- Phase
- Secondary school, ages 11-18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Non-denominational
- Local authority
- Edinburgh City
- Setting
- Large urban areas
- SEED code
- 5533732
- [email protected]
Where these figures come from
- School details: Scottish Government school contact details (publicly funded schools), refreshed monthly (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Roll, free school meals, support needs, staffing and class sizes: Scottish Government school level summary statistics, pupil and teacher census of September 2025.
- Neighbourhood deprivation: Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2020 postcode lookup.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.