OSCR latest

In October 2008, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) recognised the charitable work that the School undertakes but considered that we needed to take further action to retain charitable status. In particular, at that stage, OSCR felt that Merchiston did not provide a balance of public benefit as our substantial fee meant that access to the benefit provided by the charity was unduly restricted.  We have worked closely with OSCR to retain our charitable status and we have complied with the Direction issued to us in October 2008.  This required us “to produce, within twelve months, a plan that shows how the it (the charity) will increase the facilitated access arrangements for the benefit it provides, or that sets out some other strategy that will ensure the charity meets the public benefit requirement of the charity test; and to implement that plan within three years from the Direction being issued, so that the charity test is met.”  We submitted our draft plan to OSCR in June 2009, followed by our final plan in October 2009.  We are delighted that OSCR has accepted our plan and we now have until October 2011 to implement it. 

We are pleased that OSCR recognises our continued progress in increasing substantially the number of pupils who receive means tested financial assistance from the School, and indeed the number of 100% awards has also risen.  The change from non means tested awards to means tested assistance has progressed steadily to ensure that access to the benefit provided by Merchiston is not unduly restricted. 

Moreover, the School continues to be involved in many other activities which are of public benefit.  It will always be very important that our pupils have the opportunity to serve the wider community as part of their overall education at Merchiston and we hope this will be something they continue in later life. In October 2008, OSCR acknowledged that there was good evidence of our provision of benefits for which there was no fee or charge.  The additional activities now in place enhance “the impact” the School is making in this area.  Merchiston has always worked hard to include other schools and our local community in events and activities at the School and in our outreach projects.  Key developments for the academic year, 2009/2010, include projects such as extending our involvement with The Place2Be charity, under whose aegis trained Merchiston Lower Sixth Formers mentor children (or act as “big friends”) at a local primary school, to a number of other primary schools.  Other examples are primary school children using our games pitches for touch rugby lessons or sports days; learning about ecology in our grounds and in the Biology Department; or simply enjoying activities at Merchiston, organised by our Lower Sixth Form mentors.  Our annual Science & Technology Day, known as “The Big Experiment”, is very popular and involves P6 classes from local primary schools taking part in activities in ICT, Design & Technology, Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Electronics.  Local P6 classes also visit us for our Maths Fun Days.  We run a primary school prom and we host sporting festivals. Merchiston also sponsors an annual Arkwright Scholarship (in Design & Technology) at Firrhill High School.  In addition, we value our ongoing involvement with Braidburn Special School. Merchiston has also been forming links with Excelsior Academy in Newcastle.  Our Headmaster, Andrew Hunter, sits on the Board at Excelsior and it is intended that their Executive Principal, Mrs Philomena Marshall, will join our Governors’ Education and Pastoral Committee.  Neither sector has the monopoly on good practice or wisdom and both schools can learn from the other.  We hope to be able to dispel perceptions about the independent and state sectors and encourage genuine respect between the staff and pupils of each school.

We have established a link with Columba 1400, a social enterprise devoted to leadership development, which operates primarily from its community and international leadership centre in Staffin on the Isle of Skye; its core mission is to realise the leadership potential of young people from 'tough realities'.  The core work is with young people, including 12-16 year old school students, young care leavers nearing adulthood and other young people who have experienced tough times.  Merchiston will provide full means tested support to a Columba 1400 programme graduate for the two-year Sixth Form at Merchiston, allowing him to develop academically and to progress towards realising his potential in a supportive environment, which also encourages independence.  We are also continuing to explore other similar initiatives. The introduction of such links does not preclude our considering applications from pupils from other sources, which will always be welcome, and we will continue to advertise the availability of ‘sponsored places’ at Merchiston.

Essentially, the Governors, School Leadership Team and staff of Merchiston are determined that the School should remain a charity and wish to do everything reasonably asked of us in order to do so. We realise that, in large part, this can be achieved by increasing means tested financial assistance for pupils to be educated at the School and we believe that the plan that we are putting in place should take this to an acceptable level.  We also believe that the increasing access to the School’s facilities provided to school-age children, and other public benefits described in our submission to OSCR, are of real significance. 

Our activities report for last year is available on this link