Merchiston Castle School, where the day pupil fees are £21,495 per year, requires additional support according to Education Scotland.

The school’s Board of Governors with its newly appointed Chair, Gareth Baird, is to work with the Independent Schools Link Inspector to make further improvements and monitor progress.

The latest inspection report demands that the school works on ensuring that pupils feel able to report concerns in a safe environment.

It appears that the report calls for leadership within the school to be strengthened to ensure that child safeguarding improvements are driven forward. But the inspectors also said : “The recent appointment of the skilled and dedicated Deputy Head for Pupil Support has had a clear and positive impact on the life of the school.”

And they were also complimentary about the way that the school now evaluates progress at individual level: “Since the last inspection, senior leaders have implemented a more systematic approach to monitoring and evaluating aspects of the work of the school. This includes establishing a helpful framework for tracking the developments that arise from self-evaluation activities. As a result, staff and leaders are becoming more focused on identifying the impact and added value of their work.”

Another inspection will be carried out within seven months.

The full inspection report can be viewed here [link broken].