“The series of inspections were as follows: January 2015 Education Scotland and Care Inspectorate, May and June 2015 Care Inspectorate and Education Scotland, December 2015 Care Inspectorate, February 2016 Education Scotland, June 2016 Care Inspectorate, September 2016 Care Inspectorate and November 2016 Education Scotland. Prior to this, between 1998 and 2015, the school was inspected regularly by HMIE/Education Scotland and The Care Inspectorate.”—Andrew Hunter, SCAI Witness Statement (17 November 2020)
At some point during this investigative archive project, it occurred to me that it would be important to include all existing Merchiston Castle School inspection reports. This would allow us to see what kinds of bodies inspected and inspect the school, what archived historical inspection material is available for different eras, and what the inspection bodies had to say about the school during what we now know—through hindsight—were its darkest days. This was not to be a simple task.
This timeline traces the development of Scotland’s distinct educational institutions and the gradual expansion of Scottish governmental responsibility and oversight, culminating in the contemporary system of inspection and regulation of independent boarding schools.
This was an unannounced inspection which took place onsite on 18 November 2025 between 12:00 and 19:30, 19 November between 08:50 and 19:30, 20 November between 08:50 and 14:00, 24 November between 08:50 and 19:30 and 25 November between 07:50 and 14:00. The inspection was carried out by six inspectors from the Care Inspectorate
The headmaster of a leading boarding school [Jonathan Anderson] has acknowledged that a failure to root out child abuse has had a “profound and damaging” impact on the lives of former pupils. Jonathan Anderson, who took over at £35,00-a-year Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh in 2018, said yesterday that his experience of hearing and giving evidence at the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry had taught him that victims remained troubled by their experiences “for ever”.
One of Scotland’s most prestigious boarding schools failed to discipline an abusive housemaster for 15 years, an inquiry heard yesterday. Andrew Hunter, who became head of Edinburgh’s Merchiston Castle School in 1998, admitted in email exchanges that he had become aware of James Rainy Brown’s actions that year.
Pupil comment: “We are forced to go to chapel. The teachers say it is not solely for Christianity and any religion is welcome, but they sing Christian hymns and pray to the Christian god. I’d rather not go to chapel.”
All of the detail that is not present here is readily accessible to staff. Why not just have it ready to go in copy and paste format for official reports like this? The reports ask the same questions each time? The school calendar exists already and doesn’t change too much. This report does not put on the record how life at the school is organized, either hour by hour or day by day.
A teacher at a £29,000 Scottish residential school has agreed to be struck off after having sex with pupils on the premises. But Scotland’s teaching watchdog has been criticised over the case after it agreed to keep the name of the teacher and school secret.
Police are probing claims a former female teacher at a top private school in Edinburgh had inappropriate relationships with pupils. Merchiston Castle, which is already co-operating with an investigation into claims of historical abuse, contacted the single force over alleged behaviour that is said to have occurred more recently. Earlier this year, the Care Inspectorate “identified concerns about the quality of child protection practice” at the elite school.
A recent inspection at Merchiston Castle School in Colinton has confirmed that improvements already identified by the school now need urgent attention according to the report issued today by Education Scotland. In October 2014, Education Scotland and the Care Inspectorate carried out a short notice care and welfare inspection at the school.
