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Albyn School
  • Albyn School
    17-23 Queen's Road
    Aberdeen
    AB15 4PB
  • Head: David Starbuck - Acting head
  • T 01224 322408
  • F 01224 209173
  • E [email protected]
  • W www.albynschool.org/
  • An independent school for boys and girls aged from 2 to 18.
  • Boarding: No
  • Local authority: Aberdeen City
  • Pupils: 665; sixth formers: 56
  • Religion: Non-denominational
  • Fees: £10,700 - £16,995 pa (last updated on 13/06/2024)
  • Open days: May
  • Review: View The Good Schools Guide Review

What says..

Aberdeen is renowned for its success in science and engineering, and the curriculum here reflects that. Not wanting to put all their eggs in the science and engineering basket, school also wants to give Dundee (a city where the creative industries flourish) a run for its money, by creating a niche in the creative arts. Incorporates the Total French School, with its own head. Not as sporty as its main local competitor but knocks it out of the park with its focus on...

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What the school says...

Albyn School is an independent day school for girls and boys aged 2-18 located in the heart of Aberdeen's West End with its playing fields at Milltimber. It comprises a nursery for children aged 2-5, a Lower (Junior) School for pupils aged 5-12 and an Upper (Senior) School for pupils aged 12-18.

It currently follows the Scottish system of education with Upper School pupils being entered for National 5 examinations (equivalent to GCSEs); Highers (equivalent to AS Levels) and Advanced Highers equivalent to A Levels. Nearly all pupils exit to universities - mostly in Scotland but also around the UK and abroad. While serving longstanding families within Aberdeen in recent decades the School has proved popular with parents who work in the oil and gas industries and the financial and engineering firms that support this sector.

Outside the classroom, the School offers a broad range of sporting and co-curricular activities. Major sports include athletics, football, hockey, netball, rowing and skiing. Large numbers are also involved in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and Music with the School having numerous choral and orchestral groups.

The School is fortunate to be situated in a city and region that offers a very high quality of life to families moving into the area. Aberdeen is Scotlands third largest city, dominated by energy related industries with two world renowned universities. It has a diverse musical and cultural heritage centred on its theatres, cinemas, art gallery and Music Hall. The city also has over 800 shops and restaurants, including all the most familiar high street names. To the west of Aberdeen, the Cairngorms National Park is an area of outstanding natural beauty that draws in walkers, climbers and skiers. Within a short distance of the city, there are empty beaches, picturesque fishing villages and dramatic cliff top scenery.
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Other features

All-through school (for example 3-18 years). - An all-through school covers junior and senior education. It may start at 3 or 4, or later, and continue through to 16 or 18. Some all-through schools set exams at 11 or 13 that pupils must pass to move on.

Sports

Unusual sports

What The Good Schools Guide says

Acting head

Since June 2024, David Starbuck, acting head. Previously senior deputy head.

Entrance

Entry from lower school (primary) to upper school (secondary) is automatic. Pupils can and do join at any time – throughout the year (assuming space available). Growing number - but ‘still only a handful’ - joins school for Highers/Advanced Highers at S5/6. Not highly selective school, far broader ability range. Performance for bursary part of criteria.

Exit

Hardly anyone leaves post Highers – about five per cent. More than 95 per cent to university, odd gap year. Mainly to the (freebie) Scottish universities, with a few south of the border. Currently St Andrews, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and UCL popular. A few overseas, recently to University of New Mexico and another to Egypt. Courses range from medicine to engineering and law. Seven medics in 2024.

Latest results

In 2024, 96 per cent A-C at National 5; 84 per cent A-B at Higher; 79 per cent A-B grades at Advanced Higher.

Teaching and learning

Aberdeen is renowned for its success in science and engineering and the curriculum here reflects that, with engineering science and computing science, available from National level to Higher. On our tour, we distracted the exuberant engineering teacher from his equations, who explained the merits of the course to us, which covers design engineering and theory of engineering, and prepares pupils for the first year of the university course. Pointing us in the direction of the workshop, we saw the green kit car, built by pupils in the Formula 24 club, which they race each year. ‘The fifth best in Britain,’ he beamed, telling us about the race at Silverstone. ‘The other schools cheated, of course.’ (Wink, wink.)

Not wanting to put all their eggs in the science and engineering basket, the school also wants to give Dundee (a city where the creative industries flourish) a run for its money, by creating a niche in the creative arts, in areas such as music technology, which are growth areas of the future (more of which, later).

Class sizes around 20, though this gets smaller as they go up the school, sometimes there's only a handful. ‘Supportive teachers, especially with UCAS,’ a senior pupil told us.

Parents appreciate the number of languages on offer, with French, German, Spanish, Mandarin and Latin up to S2 and at least one language compulsory until S4. While all are to Advanced Higher, they don’t always run, but school says, ‘We do endeavour to, even if just a couple of pupils want to do it.’ The enthusiastic P4s we saw in their French lesson were counting to 30, spurred on by the expressive and fun teacher. The pupils seemed happy and confident to speak out, even correcting the teacher.

Incorporates the Total French School, with its own head, its hybrid curriculum combining the baccalaureate programme in maths, French and history, geography and citizenship (taught in French by French teachers), and the Scottish curriculum in all other subjects. This enables French-speaking children to easily transition back into the French system if they return home while also experiencing Scottish school life and integrating with local children. They wear the Albyn uniform. Currently 42 pupils are enrolled, but, unfortunately, on our tour it was a quiet day and we saw only two pupils getting individual lessons. EAL support available.

Good breadth of subjects, with more unusual offerings including sociology to Higher, economics (GCSE and A Level) and PE to Advanced Higher (unique in Aberdeen). A couple of grumbles from pupils that they’d like more practical subjects, like home economics and financial advice in their civics classes.

Since 2019, the lower school (primary) now finishes at 3.55pm, the same as the upper school (secondary). For the latter part of the day, they run the Albyn Curricular Enrichment (ACE) Programme as part of the curriculum, including the likes of bikeability, cheerleading and coding. Classrooms here are colourful and laid out beautifully, one with a role play corner and plenty of reading books and wooden toys. Specialist teachers in music and languages. A parent told us how pleased she was of the tailored education she had received for her children, with a personal plan for one of her children since nursery. Particular praise for the deputy head of the lower school: ‘Every school should have a Zibby Brown.’

Learning support and SEN

Two 'support for learning' classrooms, one in the upper school, the other in the lower school. A dedicated head of department and two qualified SfL teachers. Support for mild to moderate conditions (one or two at severe end), with in-class, small group and individual support offered. Support tends to be in-class in the upper school. No dedicated base, so it is a limited service and sometimes corridor work is unavoidable, which is not ideal. Pupils are expected to do a full curriculum (though this could be National 4 instead of National 5), and numbers below the national average because of entrance test. Children moving from nursery are given lots of one-to-ones and are encouraged to ‘come in and have a go’.

The arts and extracurricular

Not as sporty as its main local competitor but knocks it out of the park with its focus on music. We heard great things about Wednesday evening orchestra practice, with around 60 pupils getting together to make music. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay to see them, but we did sneak in on a co-curricular junior strings practice at lunchtime – obviously beginners, but great to see good numbers taking part from across the year groups. More than half of all pupils do music lessons. Lots of virtual performances during lockdown, from the lower school’s brilliantly funny rendition of ‘We Can’t Walk 500 Miles’ (we guffawed at the lyrics) to the Erasmus+ performance with six other schools from around Europe. They hope to perform collectively in Aberdeen at some point in 2022.

Music technology has its own recording studio, and the classroom was buzzing with pupils making their own music videos. We were super impressed by a pupil’s work, a 3D model that recreates the set for their latest musical, The Sound of Music, to imitate digitally the live experience – they use the same software as the BBC. Extracurricular music tech club runs to learn how to record and use software, plus tenor club, capriccio (composition), choirs, ensembles – only fiddles on the trad side, no pipes or drums yet.

Drama has dedicated theatre. We saw the Higher class (no Advanced Higher) participating in group work to recreate the experience of blindness in the Greek tragedy, Antigone. Over 90 per cent of pupils achieving As at Nat 5 and Higher. Big production each year that alternates between a musical one year, and a drama the next.

Stunning art department, with three out of four pupils going on to art school in the year we visited. Impressive WWII project by lower P7s depicting the significance of poppies in watercolour, expressive drawings by S1s and printed textiles by Higher students. GCSE has been dropped as they felt it was pigeon-holing them. ‘At GSCE they do one larger project, either expressive or design, while in National 5 they do both and it prepares them better for Higher,’ an art teacher told us.

Big focus on co-curricular activities. Participation is high; the corridors were busy with pupils darting to clubs at lunchtimes. A parent told us of a typical school day with clubs: ‘My daughter does PE, cross-country running at lunchtime, cheerleading [ACE Programme] and then skiing after school.’ All the usual suspects and homework clubs, plus British Sign Language, dungeons and dragons, tapestry, origami and laser tag, to name a few. You’d be hard pushed not to find something that suited.

DofE to gold, and one of only a few RAF Combined Cadet Force in Scotland. All get a chance to fly in a two-seater 'Grob Tutor' – they go up with the pilot and learn how to use the controls. One of the three members of staff that run it, joked, ‘I stay on the ground.’

Sport

Not setting the world on fire in terms of sports, but really high levels of participation. ‘Will take inclusion and participation any day,' says school. Netball (50 girls out of 80) and football (state school league) rather than standard hockey and rugby at competitor schools. Hockey success in Scottish Schools cup. A couple of pupil comments that they’d also like football for girls and hockey for boys. Main games field is at Milltimber, five miles away, (pupils are bussed). One parent told us, ‘I’d recommend Albyn to any parent in the NE of Scotland, but its weakness is the sports facilities – patch of grass outside and that’s it. No pool.’ They do, however, make the most of the plentiful facilities around Aberdeen for other sports, including golf and skiing.

Boarders

Previously had room for eight pupils, but, with numbers always low, boarding was stopped in September 2021, a victim of the pandemic.

Ethos and heritage

Founded in 1867 by Harriet Warrack, who started teaching girls at home, advertising locally for pupils. Albyn Place (just down the road) became the school's home in 1881, and Albyn School for Girls moved to Queen's Road in 1925. The son of one of the gardeners at Duff House, Alexander Mackie, made the school an Aberdeen institution, with emancipated Albyn girls on Aberdeen University student council by 1907. Boys started in the junior department in 2005 and worked their way up; now an even mix of boys and girls.

School based in four attached Victorian merchants' houses with a contemporary glass entrance that connects the building. Visitors are welcomed into a beautiful, minimalist light-filled reception area with huge contemporary artworks by students, but inside it’s a bit of a warren’s den where corridors move between the historic and the new.

Historically renowned as very academic, though school says it is not obsessively so and takes the view that pupils must ‘be happy and successful in that order.’ Parents say it isn’t too aggressive or competitive, and that the size of the school and smaller classes enables teachers to get to know children well. ‘It has a real family camaraderie, everyone gets behind the spirit of being in Albyn and feel proud of being there – all part of the Albyn family,’ said one parent. We felt this camaraderie too among the staff, who genuinely seemed to enjoy each other’s company. A large percentage of the staff send their own children to the school – speaks volumes. A couple of grumbles about the uniform being too traditional, one from a parent who thought having a winter and summer kilt for girls was an unnecessary expense, and the other from a pupil who would have liked the option to wear trousers.

Pastoral care, inclusivity and discipline

Media attention around pastoral care in 2015, when it was highlighted in an inspection report that children were being pressurised to leave if exams results were poor at the end of S4. The parents we spoke to told us they were no longer aware of this and the head says, ‘We no longer use this approach and don't have a hard and fast rule as we always look at each pupil as an individual.’

One parent told us, ‘Exceptionally good at getting to know my daughter really quickly when she joined. Kept in touch to let us know how she was getting on. Form teacher had a really close bond with her.’ Another said, ‘The personal attention we’ve had with the school the whole way along was just brilliant.’ Counsellor is available two days a week who works alongside the form teacher and deputy head.

The school welcomed a conversation about Everyone’s Included and are not complacent about it, with issues covered through relationship education in civics classes in S4–S6. Promotes being open and tolerant, and aware that because it's a small school, it could inhibit anyone struggling with their identity or sexuality to come out.

We were delighted to see so much diversity in the school population, with around a third of pupils from BAME backgrounds. This is reflective of the wealthier international residents of Aberdeen. Zero tolerance policy for racism, bullying and misogyny.

Pupils and parents

Pupil numbers dropped back a bit because of decline in oil. ‘City is readjusting since the oil bubble burst,’ says school. Mixture of middle-class professionals – still oil and gas obviously. Not at all stuffy - attracts fair number of first-time buyers. International and multi-cultural mix of pupils, but majority are home-grown. Some parental niggles about parking at peak times - school is considering arranging a drop-off point at Milltimber so they can be bussed in. Parents say communication has vastly improved, especially since Covid, through emails and the portal; regular newsletters and updates particularly appreciated.

Money matters

Discounts of 35 per cent rebate for third and subsequent children. Bursaries available (40–45 per year) up to 100 per cent, including uniform and help with trips (apply December, entry test January: school carries out stringent financial checks). Be aware, too, the SQA charges exam fees, and there is extra cost for materials used in art and design.

The last word

Co-ed independent school in Aberdeen’s leafy West End with its own French school, attracting parents who prefer a smaller community school that pushes pupils academically and is small enough for all to be known as individuals. Attractive to first-time buyers; also to local and international families for its diversity, music credentials and focus on co-curricular activities.

Special Education Needs

09-09

Condition Provision for in school
ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder
Might cover/be referred to as;
ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Aspergers, Autism, High functioning autism, Neurodivergent, Neurodiversity, Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA), PDA , Social skills, Sensory processing disorder
Y
HI - Hearing Impairment
Might cover/be referred to as;
Hearing Impairment, HI - Hearing Impairment
MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty
Might cover/be referred to as;
Learning needs, MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty
MSI - Multi-Sensory Impairment
Might cover/be referred to as;
MSI - Multi-Sensory Impairment, Sensory processing
OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability
Might cover/be referred to as;
Downs Syndrome, Epilepsy, Genetic , OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability, Tics, Tourettes
PD - Physical Disability
Might cover/be referred to as;
PD - Physical Disability
PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty
Might cover/be referred to as;
Complex needs, Global delay, Global developmental delay, PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty
SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health
Might cover/be referred to as;
Anxiety , Complex needs, Emotionally based school avoidance (EBSA), Mental Health, SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health, Trauma
SLCN - Speech, Language and Communication
Might cover/be referred to as;
DLD - Developmental Language Disorder, Selective mutism, SLCN - Speech, Language and Communication
SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty
Might cover/be referred to as;
Complex needs, SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty, Cerebral Palsy (CP)
SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty
Might cover/be referred to as;
ADHD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Auditory Processing, DCD, Developmental Co-ordination Difficulties (DCD), Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Handwriting, Other specific learning difficulty, SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty, Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)
VI - Visual Impairment
Might cover/be referred to as;
Special facilities for Visually Impaired, VI - Visual Impairment

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