Welcome to Erskine Stewart Melville

This strategic decision is part of our vision for the future. Erskine Stewart Melville has never been a School that stands still. In fact, we have evolved ten times since our schools were first founded. The last of these major changes was the move to a diamond model in 1999. This model has served us well for many years, but the needs and demands of society have continued to change and we must evolve to reflect this.

The creation of a single Senior School will allow us to increase the educational opportunities we are able to offer our students, including a broader curriculum, an enhanced wellbeing programme and more opportunities for personal development.

The diamond model requires the duplication of facilities, teaching and activities across two sites, making it inefficient and, in the long term, unsustainable. Merging the Senior Schools will create a more efficient and financially sustainable model that is fit for the future. It will help us to limit significant fee rises, beyond any VAT increases, and it will allow ongoing investment in the sector-leading education we are able to offer your children.

Furthermore, we want our School to be an inclusive community that fosters gender equality and better reflects the world in which we live. A co-ed model will help us achieve this more easily, offering equal opportunities to every student.

Across the UK the demand for single-sex education has reduced significantly over the last few years, with 81% of UK schools now using a co-ed model. We already know from our own student surveys that our students would like to spend more time together. With our co-ed Junior School and Sixth Form, the majority of our students are already learning in a co-ed environment, making this latest evolution a natural and gentle transition for our students.

This was a strategic decision about the best model for the future of our schools. We went through an extensive decision-making process before we came to this decision, and it was heavily scrutinised by the Governing Council and the Edinburgh Merchant Company Education Board who own the school. The decision-making process included:

• forensic scrutiny of the financial implications of moving to a merged school and staying with the diamond model
• research into the educational and social outcomes for our students
• consultation with other schools to find out the impact on their school of making a similar move or choosing to stay in single sex

We also examined the trajectory for single sex education and the reality is that single sex schools in Edinburgh are not growing. Across the UK, 81% of schools are now co-educational, showing that the demand for co-education is now significantly higher. Our own research of parents showed that the main decision maker for parents was not structure but location. As we look to the future it was clear that moving to a fully co-ed model was the right decision for our students and the right decision for the School. We are also aware of the impact that uncertainty has on our parents, students and staff and consulting on our plans would have created significant anxiety which we wanted to avoid.

This decision has been a very carefully considered process, taking into account a huge range of factors and exploring the extensive research on the relative merits of co-education and single sex education.

We have scrutinised the research into academic outcomes and concluded that in a school with a high standard of teaching and learning such as ours there is no compelling evidence to maintain a single-sex environment.

We want our students to learn and grow in an inclusive and diverse community to reflect the modern world and it is difficult to achieve this when the children are separated for five years. Over the last few years, we have increased opportunities for twinned activities but with the students on separate sites this has its limitations. Maintaining equality of opportunity is extremely difficult across two separate Senior Schools, on two different sites. There is also clear evidence that a co-ed environment is better at helping children to develop social and emotional skills.

The diamond model requires significant duplication of resources, which is inefficient and costly.  As part of the decision-making process, we have reviewed our site and concluded that we could operate far more efficiently if we move the Senior School onto one site and the Junior School onto one site. This will also allow us to continue to invest far more in sector-leading facilities for our current students, and ensure that we continue to be attractive to new families.

We have spoken with other schools that have gone down this route to learn from their experiences. We have also reviewed the data on educational models which points to a rapid decline in the number and proportion of single-sex schools in the UK and indicates that the demand for single-sex education will continue to decline. Moving to a co-ed model will therefore ensure that our School remains attractive and sustainable in the long term.

This decision is driven by three objectives. It will enable us to enhance the educational opportunities we offer our students, create a more financially efficient structure that is fit for the future, and establish a more inclusive community that reflects the modern world. Our priority is and always will be our students and the fantastic experiences they gain through an education at Erskine Stewart Melville.

The introduction of VAT on school fees will increase the financial pressure on our current and prospective parents and is likely to reduce the number of new families able to privately educate their children. Merging the Senior Schools and moving our Junior School onto one site will provide greater operational and financial efficiencies, creating a model that is fit for the future. This will help us to limit significant fee rises, beyond unavoidable VAT increases and allow ongoing investment in the sector-leading educational opportunities we are able to offer our students, so that we continue to attract new families.

We launched Our Vision for the future at the start of the 2024/25 session, along with our five new values. Our Vision is ambitious, and our new structure will play an important part in helping us to achieve the goals we have set ourselves.

The new School will be called Erskine Stewart Melville. While students will continue to attend Stewart’s Melville College, The Mary Erskine School and ESMS Junior School until the School merges in August 2026, we will begin the communication of this new brand to our new families with immediate effect.

The decision to change our name was actually taken long before any discussions were made about the structure of our schools. We undertook a review of the brand in 2023 which involved feedback from parents, staff, students and former students. The conclusion of this review was that current use of multiple school names was confusing and there was limited awareness of the ESMS brand. Several options were considered but there were such strong arguments for retaining the Erskine, Stewart and Melville names that our final choice combines all three.  From August 2026 we will have one School, with one name, one community and one culture.

While our name will change, it honours our founders and we will continue to honour our heritage by retaining many of the traditions that are so much part of school life, from our Christmas panto to our school songs. Our new logo was created by Andrew Wolffe, one of our school parents. It borrows elements of the heraldry from each of our founding schools and the final design reflects our heritage but sets us apart from other schools, showing that our eyes are on the future. Our school colours, including The Mary Erskine School blue and red and the Stewart’s Melville College black, red and gold are a huge part of our heritage, and we will take them with us on our journey.

When we move to a fully co-ed school in August 2026, Anthony Simpson will be Principal of Erskine Stewart Melville. Frances McCrudden, who is currently the Head of Stewart’s Melville College, will be our new Head of Erskine Stewart Melville Senior School. Mike Kane, Head of ESMS Junior School, will become Head of Erskine Stewart Melville Junior School. Kirsty Nicholson, who is currently Head of The Mary Erskine School, had always planned to retire at the end of the 2025/26 session. However, she will be working closely with Frances McCrudden to ensure a smooth transition for our Senior School students, parents and staff.

As we merge the Schools, the number of staff we require will change to meet the needs of the new School. We will also be making changes to some of our support staff structures to create a more centralised approach. We will be consulting with all staff whose roles may be affected by the development of new staffing structures and have already begun the consultation process with our senior leaders in the Senior School.

This will be a difficult part of the journey for everyone involved and we will be working hard to support our staff and students as we navigate this change.

We will be consulting students, parents, and staff and our thrift shop on our school uniform before making any changes. We are very conscious of the need to avoid unnecessary expenses for our families in this tough financial climate. When any changes to the uniform are introduced, we will ensure that families have ample time to transition.

We recognise that while our three schools have always shared the same Vision and Values, they have each developed their own unique culture. We will work closely with our staff, students, parents and alumni to weave together the best elements and strengths of each of the three schools, creating a shared culture for the new School.

Our diamond structure was unique in Scotland, but it is not our structure that sets us apart but it is the breadth of opportunities that we offer our students, our dedicated teachers and our focus on nurturing the individual talents and passions of every child. Our new Vision is exciting and ambitious, pushing the boundaries of traditional education, setting the stage for students to dream big, set ambitious goals, and exceed their expectations.

With our co-ed Junior School and Sixth Form, the day-to-day experience for many of our students will be very similar. Students will continue to access the same broad range of subjects, sports, trips and opportunities but the new model will ensure equality of offer and over time a broader offer.

We will be looking at the Guidance structure in our Senior School to ensure your child is supported at every stage.

Sport at Erskine Stewart Melville will continue to be a very important part of our culture. With equality of access to sports facilities at Inverleith and Ravelston, and over time a broader offer, our students will have extensive opportunities to play competitively and have fun playing sport with friends.

As part of the planning process, we have consulted an architect who is experienced in working within school environments. We are excited about the development of our current buildings and spaces which will take on a new shape to reflect our new Vision for the School. Not all decisions regarding the site have been made but the new School is an opportunity to modernise our classroom space and outdoor areas and develop the space for our students.

The catering team will continue to provide lunches on both sites and students will continue to have the opportunity to provide feedback on this.

In the Junior School, the change will improve access to facilities that are important for each developmental stage. For example, younger students will have more space for outdoor learning and outdoor play and activities.

The combined Senior School will be able to accommodate up to 1600 students.

We will confirm this soon, but our class sizes will remain significantly below those in the state sector.

Our House system is an important part of School life and students have strong loyalties towards their House. For this reason, we would like to consult on this decision.

Weekly assemblies will still play an important role in School life. When all Senior School students move to Queensferry Road there will not be a large enough space for regular whole School assemblies. However, we will continue to have weekly assemblies in different groups. The whole School will continue to come together for events like Sports Day.

Buddying is an important part of school life and will continue between our Sixth Formers and the Junior School, as it always has.

Both Stewart’s Melville College and The Mary Erskine School have a similar approach to student mental health management, with Mental Health Ambassadors, the same counselling service and guidance staff trained in mental health first aid. The creation of the new Senior School will enable us to create a new wellbeing area for all the community to use, which is an exciting development.

The apostrophe was a legacy from Daniel Stewart who founded Daniel Stewart’s College. In choosing a name for the new School we decided to update the name to ‘Erskine Stewart Melville” to celebrate the legacy of all three schools equally under one banner.

The new School will have a new logo, which includes the heraldry of all our founding schools, set in a progressive design that sets the School apart and shows that our eyes are on the future. We have not yet made any decisions about our School motto because this is a decision that should involve the entire School community.

Creating a close-knit community for our students is something that has always been important to the School. When we merge the schools we will create a guidance structure that preserves that close-knit atmosphere, ensuring that students continue to feel known and supported, while also benefiting from the additional resources and opportunities that the merger will provide.

With our co-ed Junior School and Sixth form, the changes we are making will be a gentle transition and for many of our students our transition activities to prepare them for the next year will run as normal. However, for our Senior School students we will run an extended programme of transition events throughout 2025/2026, which will include social events, shared talks and academic and sporting activities, focused on team building and familiarisation with the School site. Activities will be run co-educationally wherever practically possible to maximise opportunities for our Senior School students to reconnect and spend time together before they are based together full time.

We will also run an extended programme of transition events for our P4-P6 students to prepare them for their move back to our Ravelston site.

The support provided to our neurodiverse children will depend on their needs and requirements, but our Support for Learning teams will be working together with class teachers, guidance teachers and leadership teams to ensure a smooth transition for our students. Getting it right for every child is important to us, so the transition process will be individualised where appropriate.

With our co-ed Junior School and Sixth Form and twinned activities in the Senior School, our students already have lots of experience of learning, working and socialising together.

Our teachers and guidance staff will be working hard to deliver an extended transition programme to help the students prepare, and we will have a very strong wellbeing provision in place for every year group as we move to become fully co-ed.

We already have a strong PSE programme in place, including sessions on sex and consent that evolve with age and stage.

Although we currently teach in single-sex classes in S1-S5, our Sixth Form lessons and some of our S5 classes are co-ed lessons, so many of our teachers already have experience of teaching in a co-ed environment. We will be running additional sessions for our teaching staff as necessary, but our teachers are already very highly skilled and experienced, and we are confident they will transition well into the new structure.

We will be arranging a series of opportunities for members of our School community to come and see the new plans and tour the new School. There will also be opportunities to shape some of these the plans, such as the development of a new school uniform.

Academic studies have concluded that there are no clear advantages to single sex schooling from an academic perspective. While the current diamond model is therefore not fundamentally flawed, there is equally no compelling statistical evidence to retain the current single-sex approach based on academic achievement. However, the merger will unlock a number of exciting developmental projects which will be transformational to the overall offering for our students. It means we can offer an even broader curriculum, an enhanced wellbeing programme and even more opportunities for personal development.

Our dedicated teachers provide a high standard of teaching and learning across our three schools, inspiring students to work hard, challenge themselves and develop critical thinking. This will not change. Many of our students are already learning in a co-ed environment, including our Sixth Form students, and they achieve excellent results. We launched our Vision for the future at the start of the 2024/25 session and this includes a series of ambitious plans to further enhance our teaching and learning, in and outside the classroom, to maximise the potential of every student. We are also excited about the opportunities to expand our curriculum under the new structure.

Lessons in academic subjects will continue to focus on sound preparation for SQA, so that those taking examinations in 2025 and 2026 are fully prepared as normal. We are particularly mindful of the potential challenges the transition may pose for current S2 students who will be at the halfway stage in their National 5 courses when the change occurs. We are committed to minimising any disruption to their studies and where possible these students will remain in the same Nat 5 class as in S3 to avoid any unnecessary disruption. We will be seeking feedback from the students on the changes we are making, and we will be organising a series of transition events to help prepare them for the move.

It is extremely important to us that our students are known and supported as individuals, so we will continue to keep our class sizes smaller than schools in the state sector.

At Queensferry Road and at The Dean we have a number of large spaces which can accommodate students sitting examinations. Our dedicated SQA examination team will ensure that logistically we can support all that is required.

Our sports provision will continue to operate to the same high standard with its broad offering of sports and extensive fixtures programme. Students will continue to have access to sports facilities at Inverleith, Queensferry Road and Ravelston. Our Sport Departments are committed to inspiring, in every child, a lifelong passion for physical activity and this will continue to be our goal as we merge into one School.

Our current sports programme offers separate teams for boys and girls, along with many opportunities to play sport together and this will not change. However, the new structure will allow equality of provision so that we are able to offer the same sports to all our students.

Our co-curricular provision is a huge part of school life and will continue to be central to the education we offer when we merge into one School. Our extensive range of clubs, trips, sport, performance art and outdoor learning opportunities play an important role in helping our students to discover their natural talents and passions. While they are busy having fun and developing friendships, they are also building the knowledge, skills and mindset they need to aim high, work hard and thrive. These activities also provide important respite from academia, helping to model the balance needed for good mental health.

Merging our Senior School onto one site will mean we no longer have to duplicate our co-curricular provision across two sites. This will ensure equality of provision and opens the door to offering an even greater range of activities. Just as importantly, niche activities that might only appeal to a small number of students become much more viable.

We have conducted an exhaustive review of our site and with some adjustments, for example, additional toilets, we will be able to accommodate all our Senior School students onto one site.

We will share the adaptations we plan to make to accommodate all senior students on a single site soon.

Bringing together the Senior School onto one site will mean that Sixth Form students no longer have to travel between sites for lessons. Our sporting facilities are so extensive they would never fit onto a single site, so students will still need to travel for some aspects of our sporting provision.

Ensuring our Junior School students have continued access to green spaces is a top priority for us, allowing them to play, explore, and learn outdoors in a natural setting. Each year group will continue to enjoy dedicated outdoor play areas, providing a safe and engaging environment for development. Additionally basing the younger students at Ravelston, makes it easier to get our youngest students to school safely, with more space for drop-offs and pick-ups. Having the Junior School at Ravelston also allows continued access to specialist subject areas that further enrich our students’ experience, including our purpose-built early years spaces and dedicated area for our Nursery.

At our Queensferry Road site, we have the opportunity to modernise our classroom and science facilities and create additional wellbeing spaces and areas for students to socialise. Our students will have full access to our outstanding sports facilities, whether on-site, at Ravelston, or Inverleith, with a fresh timetable offering even more opportunities for PE and games. We will be consulting with our senior students to create spaces that make all our students feel welcome and inspired to learn.

Our history and heritage will always be a fundamental part of our School story and something that we will continue to recognise and celebrate long after we become Erskine Stewart Melville. Our Heritage Officer will continue to run a range of events to share our history with our students and the wider School community and to maintain an ongoing historic record for the School community and general public to enjoy. We will also continue to catalogue and preserve our The Mary Erskine School, Daniel Stewart’s College, Melville College and Stewart’s Melville College Archives and to support collaborative work with the Mary Erskine FP Guild Archive.

The SMC FP Club, the MES FP Guild and the Melville College Trust are independent bodies from the School but the administration of the SMC FP Club sits with the Development Office at ESMS already. The MES FP Guild Coordinator also works closely with the Development Office and the Melville College Trust coordinates with the Development Office for mailing purposes. The Development Office holds the central contact database for all alumni of The Mary Erskine School, Edinburgh Ladies’ College, Melville College, Daniel Stewart’s College, Daniel Stewart’s and Melville College and Stewart’s Melville College.

In recent years, alumni and community events have increasingly been organised under an ESMS umbrella, encouraging a stronger sense of community and inclusivity. The Stewart’s Melville College London FP Club have also recently changed their membership terms to enable MES FPs to join and will be changing the club’s name to London Erskine Stewart Melville later this year at the Club AGM. Many of the other chapter groups are following this pattern or are preparing for change.

With this next chapter in the School’s history, there is an opportunity to consult on how our current alumni associations work and consider whether one joint alumni association would be more beneficial in the longer term.

As the School moves into a new chapter, we will develop new traditions, but we will continue to celebrate our founders and our traditions, including singing our much-loved School songs.

All giving to ESMS since 2007 has been for children who attend both MES and SMC via the Access to Excellence programme, so there will be no changes in this area.

The SMC FP Club, the MES FP Guild and the Melville College Trust will still exist after the merger.  They may decide to work more closely together, particularly for younger alumni, but that is their decision to make. ESMS Development Office has always worked across the whole former student community and will continue to do so. Initiatives such as Connect will remain open to all former students and all our Chapter and local events will be open to all too.  The only exception to this will be reunions where it will be down the organisers to determine who is involved.

Absolutely, our alumni are always welcome to get in touch with the Development Office to organise a visit to School. We will also be organising a specific reunion event to see the new site in 2026.

Our alumni will continue to receive our regular newsletter communications via post and email and these will feature regular updates on progress. You will also see regular updates on this website.

Angela Alexander, Director of Development, will be the point of contact for any queries from alumni. Please email development@esms.org.uk.

Our Nursery-P3 children joining in August 2025 will continue to be on our Ravelston site and our P4-P7 children will be on our Queensferry Road site. In August 2026 the Junior School will move to one site at Ravelston. Students joining S1 in August 2025 will go to Stewart’s Melville College, at our Queensferry Road site, or The Mary Erskine School, at our Ravelston site. In August 2026 the Senior Schools will merge, and all Senior School students will be at our Queensferry Road site. We will be organising a series of transition events to help prepare students for the move.

Yes, the vast majority of our students automatically progress from the Nursery into the Junior School and from the Junior School into the Senior School.

We would be happy to return the application/enrolment fee if you do not want a co-ed environment for your child and wish to withdraw your application or give up your place. Please contact Admissions to arrange this:

For our Nursery and Junior School: please contact Cally Graham by email: jsadmissions@esms.org.uk or Tel: +44(0)131 311 1115

For The Mary Erskine School (and girls joining the Erskine Stewart Melville Senior School, from August 2026): please contact Jane Welsh by email: mesadmissions@esms.org.uk or by Tel: 0131 347 5700.

For Stewart’s Melville College (and boys joining Erskine Stewart Melville Senior School from August 2026): please contact Lesley Watson on smcadmissions@esms.org.uk or by Tel: 0131 311 1000.

We would love to welcome you and your family to visit our School. If your child is starting at the School before August 2026, they will join ESMS Junior School, Stewart’s Melville College or The Mary Erskine School. From August 2026, the Nursery and Junior School will be situated at our Ravelston campus, and our Senior School will merge onto our Queensferry Road site.

For our Nursery and Junior School please contact Cally Graham by email: jsadmissions@esms.org.uk or Tel: +44(0)131 311 1115

For The Mary Erskine School (and girls joining the Erskine Stewart Melville Senior School, from August 2026): please contact Jane Welsh by email: mesadmissions@esms.org.uk or by Tel: 0131 347 5700.

For Stewart’s Melville College (and boys joining Erskine Stewart Melville Senior School from August 2026): please contact Lesley Watson on smcadmissions@esms.org.uk or by Tel: 0131 311 1000.

Absolutely. We will be running a series of Discovery Mornings in the months to come, and we would love to invite you to come along and explore both sites. You are also welcome to come for an individual visit. For the remainder of the term, we will be prioritising families wishing to join the School in August 2025.

The move to a fully co-ed school with our Junior School on one site and our Senior School on one site will allow us to be more efficient and avoid duplication of resources. It means that every pound of income we generate will be spent as efficiently as possible. This will allow us to limit substantial fee rises, beyond unavoidable VAT increases, and allow ongoing investment in the sector-leading educational opportunities we are able to offer our students, so that we continue to attract new families.

However, the decision to move to a fully co-ed model is not just a financial one. The new model will significantly enhance the education we offer our students, with a broader curriculum, an enhanced wellbeing programme and even more opportunities for personal development. Moreover, the co-ed model will create a more inclusive community that fosters gender equality and better reflects the world in which we live. We already know from our student surveys that the students want to spend more time together.

We are finalising a range of external funding options to fund the necessary adaptations, and we will communicate this in due course.

We are acutely aware of the impact of the introduction of VAT on school fees and while we cannot commit to absorbing the full cost of VAT, we are committed to doing what we can to safeguard the future education of our students. This more sustainable model will create greater operational and financial efficiencies, helping to limit significant fee rises, beyond unavoidable VAT increases.

This more sustainable model will create greater operational and financial efficiencies, helping to limit significant fee rises, beyond the unavoidable VAT increases, in the future. An update on fees will be given as soon as possible following the UK Government Budget on 30 October.

We will continue to offer scholarships and bursaries to our Senior School students when we move to one School in August 2026.