Fettes College has been named Scottish Independent School of the Year for Academic Excellence 2025 (GCSE/A level) in the Sunday Times Parent Power Schools Guide 2025.
Fettes College, the only school in Scotland offering pupils the choice between A Levels and the International Baccalaureate (IB), has received recognition for academic excellence for its GCSE and A Level curriculum and results.
The school is also recognised as the Top IB School in Scotland and a Top Ten IB School in the UK.
Schools are ranked based on the average points achieved in the International Baccalaureate examinations and the percentage of A*, A, and B grades across all A-Level entries in summer 2024.
Helen Harrison, Head of Fettes College, said:“This achievement is largely down to the hard work of our students, who are always striving for the best and who dedicate the time to their education and individual growth.
“However, it wouldn’t be possible without the unwavering support of all of our teaching staff, who commit their days to bringing the best out of our students and providing them with a quality education that sets them up for life outside of school.
“The quality of education we deliver goes beyond achieving impressive academic results at GCSE, A Levels, and the IB. Our curriculum, including our bespoke Middle School Diploma, is designed to stretch and challenge students beyond the confines of the exam specification and encourages students to achieve excellent outcomes and to aim high.
“We want to empower our students to work independently and to think critically, encouraging innovation and creativity and setting them up for success in the Sixth Form and beyond. It’s fantastic to receive this recognition.”
82% of Fettes’ recent leavers secured places at their first-choice universities, both in the UK and internationally.
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh sparkles like never before as Christmas at the Botanics kicks off the festive season in style. Visitors are invited to witness the Garden transformed by new installations and enchanting illuminations, bringing the beauty of plants to life.
Running for 35 nights on selected evenings from 21 November to 30 December, the trail has been designed and assembled to complement the Botanics’ existing landscape, with nearly 95% of the lights on the trail being LED.
With the return of Christmas classics, visitors can look forward to a stroll through the mesmerising Christmas Cathedral, the backdrop for many happy memories, and look out for Santa along the way.
With 80% of the trail revised for a fresh perspective of the Garden, new installations for 2024 include:
Sea of Light (Root Network): A large-scale installation covering the ground with thousands of individually controlled LED lights, reminiscent of the roots of trees and plants that twist and turn under the ground.
Robins: A sparkling flock of red, gold, bronze and orange robins evoke festive cheer as their sequined feathers shimmer in the breeze.
Pealit Tree: Thousands of tiny bright LED lights illuminate the Turner oak, Quercus turneri Pseudoturneri, one of the Garden’s mightiest trees and a country champion in Scotland for its remarkable girth.
Firework Trees: Vibrant bursts of light shoot through the tree branches, bringing the air to colourful life and all set to an atmospheric winter soundtrack.
The magical after-dark trail is not only an unmissable winter activity for families and friends but also allows visitors to support the Garden’s wider work to tackle the biodiversity crisis and climate emergency.
Ticket sales help fund the Botanics’ international plant research, conservation work and education programmes, strengthening its commitment to building a positive future for plants, people and the planet.
Sarah Cathcart, Director of Learning and Engagement at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, says: “It’s my first Christmas at the Botanics as Director of Learning and Engagement, and I’m excited to share the experience with the public to bring to light the amazing stories about the Garden’s diverse collection of plants.
“The trail offers a unique opportunity for visitors to connect with the important conservation work we do year-round. Each installation depicts a story about the inspiration taken from the natural world, encouraging visitors of all ages to think more deeply about protecting our planet.”
As many prepare for rising festive costs, the event offers an off-peak ticket as well as reduced-priced family tickets, making this the most affordable, accessible and inclusive trail yet.
Tickets for this year’s show are on sale now with visitors encouraged to book in advance to guarantee their preferred timeslot.
For further ticket information, pricing, and timings, please click here.
Christmas at the Botanics is one of 14 illuminated trails staged across the UK by leading events promoter RG Live, a division of Sony Music. Christmas at the Botanics is presented in partnership with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and creative producer Culture Creative.
For more details visit www.rbge.org.uk/christmas and follow @mychristmastrails on Facebook and Instagram.
100 years ago this weekend, a group of young men took to the muddy Wardie Playing Fields for their inaugural outing as Former Pupils of @BroHighOfficial against United Colleges.
FORWARD a century & today celebrates a historic moment with Broughton Men playing Forrester RFC at 3pm.
BROUGHTON High School library is looking to expand the selection of stock and we are looking for donations of good quality books; non-fiction texts for age 10+; David Walliams books, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Dork Diaries, Roald Dahl, Dog Man, Captain Underpants, Tom Gates books, football books, books about dance, Horrible Histories/Maths/Science, etc and books suitable for dyslexic learners of all abilities.
If you can help.with these, or any other suitable books for high school ages you might have and be able to pass our way, please contact our librarian, Robbie.loosemore@broughton.edin.sch.uk
THE Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is preparing to immerse visitors in a glittering winter spectacle.Tickets are now on sale for this year’s Christmas at the Botanics trail.
Running from 21 November to 30 December, the outdoor trail will once again transform the Garden with an array of new and fantastical installations that have been custom-designed especially for the Botanics by a selection of international and UK-based artists.
The latest new installations confirmed for the trail include:
Candles will drift over visitors as theyflicker and cast their undulating light to create a warm and festive atmosphere. This installation will transport Potterheads to the world of witchcraft and wizardry as it evokes the magic of Hogwarts’ Great Hall. Designed by Pitaya, a French creative studio.
One Small Thing projects a combination of wildlife imagery and winter foliage with impactful environmental messaging onto a pathway for visitors to interact with as they walk past. This innovative installation will incorporate the Garden’s mission to protect the planet’s biodiversity by encouraging visitors to do one small thing and make space for nature. Created by Novak.
Firework Trees will shower shoots of light through tree branches, bringing them to life with vibrant bursts of colour that bounce from branch to branch. Created by Ithaca Studio.
All the new and returning installations along the one-mile illuminated trail are low in energy and have been selected to complement the Botanics’ environment.
Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Simon Milne said: “I’m looking forward to seeing the new installations on the trail, which is promising to be innovative, imaginative and entertaining.
“Visiting the Garden after dark is a special experience and Christmas at the Botanics offers the chance for visitors to see our botanical collection of plants from a very different perspective.
“The trail brings significant benefits to us. We are a Scottish charity, and ticket sales from Christmas at the Botanics help to fund our international plant research, conservation work and education programmes. So please come along to the trail, bring your friends and family, have some festive fun and help to support our vital work.”
Tickets for this year’s show are on sale now. Visitors are encouraged to book in advance to guarantee their preferred timeslot.
For further ticket information, pricing, and timings, please click here.
Christmas at the Botanics is one of 14 illuminated trails staged across the UK by leading events promoter RG Live, a division of Sony Music. Christmas at the Botanics is presented in partnership with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and creative producer Culture Creative.
For more details visit www.rbge.org.uk/christmas and follow @mychristmastrails on Facebook and Instagram.
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh’s (RBGE) project to digitise its renowned Herbarium collection has reached a significant milestone as it celebrates the digitisation of its one millionth specimen.
The digitisation project aims to bridge the gap between the collection and the public by making data visible on an accessible platform – taking an innovative approach to scientific data sharing.
In line with this commitment to empower learners and share their resources, the Garden invited the Expedition Botanics – Secondary Summer Club, a group of 15–18-year-olds with a budding passion for science, to get behind-the-scenes access to the digitisation process of the millionth specimen.
To celebrate the milestone the Herbarium, which holds an ever-growing collection of over three million specimens, RBGE has digitised a specimen of Stereocaulon vesuvianum. The specimen, which is a species of lichen*, was collected by Dr Rebecca Yahr, Lichenologist at the Garden, during an expedition up Ben Nevis to mark 250 years since the first recorded climb up the historic mountain.
The landmark expedition was part of RBGE’s contribution to the Darwin Tree of Life (DToL) project, a groundbreaking genome-sequencing programme aimed at unlocking DNA sequences of all the species in Great Britain and Ireland.
By examining plant and fungal lineages and their characteristics, the Garden works collaboratively with partner organisations, including the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the University of Oxford and the University of Edinburgh, to reflect on plants’ ancestry – plantcestry – uncovering invaluable insight into how life on Earth has evolved and how we can support global biodiversity conservation efforts.
Rebecca Yahr said: “Scotland has an important role in international conservation, particularly for lichens. Celebrating the milestone with this important specimen is an exciting opportunity for us to highlight Scotland’s unique biodiversity and extend RBGE’s mission to research and understand lichens more generally.”
The Garden’s Herbarium is home to species from 157 countries – an impressive scientific collection which was historically hard to access. The digitised platform, which showcases the rich and diverse plant lineage, now sees requests come in from across the globe from students, scientists and plant enthusiasts alike.
Closer to the community, the Garden’s Secondary Summer School had the opportunity to engage with the living collection as well as apply their learnings to the natural world. One of the lucky youngsters, 15-year-old Bernice Nwagu, was selected to digitise the millionth specimen, highlighting the Garden’s commitment to investing in future generations and sparking their curiosity in career paths within the industry.
The vibrant working collection, which traces back 350 years, is being digitised into high-resolution images that can be viewed by anyone with an internet connection. It demonstrates not only Scotland’s biodiversity but details regions around the world where RBGE has worked in partnership with local experts for generations.
Democratising access to reference collections such as the Garden’s provides scientists around the globe with an enriched understanding of the environment in their quest to conserve our fragile habitats.
Leading the digitisation project, Professor Olwen Grace, Deputy Director of Science (Collection) and Curator of the Herbarium said: “Being able to share this information with scientific communities as well as the public allows us to develop a more robust understanding of biodiversity challenges and the solutions that can help us build resilience to shifting climates.
“As biodiversity scientists, it’s both the best and worst time for us to be working. It is far easier to share and translate our work on plant lineages to produce models that demonstrate direct impacts and help us tackle problems at national and global scales; however, the acceleration of climate change means that we are in a race against time.
“At the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, we see it as our moral imperative to share this information, especially when we are facing a global biodiversity crisis.”
As part of the Garden’s commitment to building a positive future for biodiversity and providing access to the collection that represents half to two-thirds of the world’s flora, the digitisation process has followed the ‘FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship’. This has ensured the data has been standardised in terms of findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability of digital assets.
