Rannoch School
Encyclopedia
Rannoch School was an independent boarding school
, located on the south shore of Loch Rannoch
in Perth and Kinross
, Scotland
on the Dall Estate, 6 miles (9.7 km) from Kinloch Rannoch
. Dall House served as the main school building and a boarding house.
It was established by three masters from Gordonstoun School and opened on September 24 1959 with 82 boys. The founding masters were A.J.S. Greig (Headmaster and Housemaster of Dall House known as "Dougal"), P. Whitworth (Housemaster of Potteries House aka "Paddy" or "Spongy" to most of the pupils) and J. Fleming (aka "Gemflem"). The school's ethos was enshrined in its principle of "in pursuit of all round excellence" based on the philosophies of Kurt Hahn
.
Rannoch's location in the Highland
Perthshire
glens lent itself well to Outward Bound
pursuits, which became a large part of the school's activities.
Dall (located in Dall House itself), Potteries, Wade, Wentworth; one girls' boarding house: Robertson; one junior boarding house: Cameron.
In 1997, to accommodate increasing numbers of girl pupils, Wentworth merged with Dall to become Duncan House, and Wentworth itself became a new girls' house, Struan.
Rannoch also had a modern sports centre, design centre, swimming pool
, chapel
and gym
donated by the Prior family. It also housed a student built library.
The estate itself dates back to 1347. Dall House was built later and existed as a principal seat of the Clan Robertson
until early last century. The building is a romantically styled Scots Baronial mansion house designed by architect
Thomas Mackenzie. Prior to being purchased by the school, it was used as offices by the Forestry Commission
.
Higher
grade subjects over two years, rather than one allowing a greater focus on extracurricular activities. A small number of pupils on occasion took A-Levels instead. Subjects taught included English, Mathematics, Sciences, Music, Geography, Art, French, German, Modern Studies and Economics. Other schools that carry out this practice include Merchiston Castle School
in Edinburgh
.
Scheme, taking full advantage of the school's beautiful surroundings.
Rannoch also had its own volunteer emergency services. The school fire brigade
, supported by Tayside Fire Brigade, was manned by pupils and staff to provide emergency cover for the local area. The remoteness of Loch Rannoch meant fires were rare, but on occasion 999 emergency calls
resulted in the fire engine
and crew being dispatched.
Three power boats
furnished the Loch Patrol service and the mountain rescue
service trained with Tayside Police
to assist with missing hill walkers. Other services included ambulance
, conservation
, expedition
, meteorological
and library
.
Sports also played a large part at Rannoch, with pupils participating in games four days per week including, rugby
, football
, hockey
, golf
(Scotland's only 8-hole golf course), rounders
, cross-country skiing
, rowing (in coxed fours) and sculling, and athletics
.
Academically, all main subjects were taught, mostly aiming towards SCE
Standard Grade and Higher Grade exams, but also on occasion to A-Level. A large number of pupils participated in music, either learning an instrument or singing in one of the choir
s.
Evening clubs and societies were also popular and a range of activities from electronics
and filmmaking
, to chamber choir and bible study
. During the early years, the pupils converted an old barn on the site into a chapel and this remained a central focal point for daily worship.
meant that opportunities for day pupil
s were very limited, being 6 miles (9.7 km) from the nearest village and an hour’s drive from the nearest city (Perth
).
.
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
, located on the south shore of Loch Rannoch
Loch Rannoch
Loch Rannoch is a large body of fresh water in Perth and Kinross, Scotland.The loch is over long in a west-east direction with an average width of about . The River Tummel begins at its eastern end. The Tay Forest Park lies along its southern shore...
in Perth and Kinross
Perth and Kinross
Perth and Kinross is one of 32 council areas in Scotland, and a Lieutenancy Area. It borders onto the Aberdeenshire, Angus, Dundee City, Fife, Clackmannanshire, Stirling, Argyll and Bute and Highland council areas. Perth is the administrative centre...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
on the Dall Estate, 6 miles (9.7 km) from Kinloch Rannoch
Kinloch Rannoch
Kinloch Rannoch is a village in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, at the eastern end of Loch Rannoch, 18 miles west of Pitlochry, on the banks of the River Tummel.The village is a tourist and outdoor pursuits centre...
. Dall House served as the main school building and a boarding house.
It was established by three masters from Gordonstoun School and opened on September 24 1959 with 82 boys. The founding masters were A.J.S. Greig (Headmaster and Housemaster of Dall House known as "Dougal"), P. Whitworth (Housemaster of Potteries House aka "Paddy" or "Spongy" to most of the pupils) and J. Fleming (aka "Gemflem"). The school's ethos was enshrined in its principle of "in pursuit of all round excellence" based on the philosophies of Kurt Hahn
Kurt Hahn
Kurt Martin Hahn was a German educator whose philosophies are considered internationally influential.-Biography:...
.
Rannoch's location in the Highland
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
Perthshire
Perthshire
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth , is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south...
glens lent itself well to Outward Bound
Outward Bound
Outward Bound is an international, non-profit, independent, outdoor educationorganization with approximately 40 schools around the world and 200,000 participants per year...
pursuits, which became a large part of the school's activities.
Buildings
At its peak, Rannoch School had over 300 boarders (girls and boys) from ages 10 – 18. There were four boys' boarding houses:Dall (located in Dall House itself), Potteries, Wade, Wentworth; one girls' boarding house: Robertson; one junior boarding house: Cameron.
In 1997, to accommodate increasing numbers of girl pupils, Wentworth merged with Dall to become Duncan House, and Wentworth itself became a new girls' house, Struan.
Rannoch also had a modern sports centre, design centre, swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
, chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
and gym
Gym
The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, that mean a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men...
donated by the Prior family. It also housed a student built library.
Dall House
Dall House was the main school building. It housed one of the boys’ boarding houses, the dining hall, kitchens, library and a number of offices and classrooms.The estate itself dates back to 1347. Dall House was built later and existed as a principal seat of the Clan Robertson
Clan Robertson
Clan Donnachaidh , also known as Clan Robertson, is one of the oldest of all Scottish clans.-Origins:There are two main theories as to the origins of the Clan Donnachaidh:...
until early last century. The building is a romantically styled Scots Baronial mansion house designed by architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
Thomas Mackenzie. Prior to being purchased by the school, it was used as offices by the Forestry Commission
Forestry Commission
The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for forestry in Great Britain. Its mission is to protect and expand Britain's forests and woodlands and increase their value to society and the environment....
.
Academic
The school was one of a few in Scotland that taught SCEScottish Certificate of Education
The Scottish Certificate of Education was a Scottish secondary education certificate, used in schools from 1962 until the late 1990s. It replaced the older Junior Secondary Certificate and Scottish Leaving Certificate , and was the Scottish equivalent of the General Certificate of Education used...
Higher
Higher (Scottish)
In Scotland the Higher is one of the national school-leaving certificate exams and university entrance qualifications of the Scottish Qualifications Certificate offered by the Scottish Qualifications Authority. It superseded the old Higher Grade on the Scottish Certificate of Education...
grade subjects over two years, rather than one allowing a greater focus on extracurricular activities. A small number of pupils on occasion took A-Levels instead. Subjects taught included English, Mathematics, Sciences, Music, Geography, Art, French, German, Modern Studies and Economics. Other schools that carry out this practice include Merchiston Castle School
Merchiston Castle School
Merchiston Castle School is an independent school for boys in the village of Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has about 480 pupils and is open to boys between the ages of 8 and 18 as either boarders or day pupils; day pupils make up 35% of the school....
in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
.
Activities
In addition to the regular sporting activities, Rannoch was very active with The Duke of Edinburgh's AwardThe Duke of Edinburgh's Award
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award , is a programme of activities that can be undertaken by anyone aged 14 to 24, regardless of personal ability....
Scheme, taking full advantage of the school's beautiful surroundings.
Rannoch also had its own volunteer emergency services. The school fire brigade
Firefighter
Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...
, supported by Tayside Fire Brigade, was manned by pupils and staff to provide emergency cover for the local area. The remoteness of Loch Rannoch meant fires were rare, but on occasion 999 emergency calls
999 (emergency telephone number)
999 is an official emergency telephone number in a number of countries which allows the caller to contact emergency services for urgent assistance....
resulted in the fire engine
Fire apparatus
A fire apparatus, fire engine, fire truck, or fire appliance is a vehicle designed to assist in fighting fires by transporting firefighters to the scene and providing them with access to the fire, along with water or other equipment...
and crew being dispatched.
Three power boats
Motorboat
A motorboat is a boat which is powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gearbox and the propeller in one portable unit.An inboard/outboard contains a hybrid of a...
furnished the Loch Patrol service and the mountain rescue
Mountain rescue
Mountain rescue refers to search and rescue activities that occur in a mountainous environment, although the term is sometimes also used to apply to search and rescue in other wilderness environments. The difficult and remote nature of the terrain in which mountain rescue often occurs has resulted...
service trained with Tayside Police
Tayside Police
Tayside Police is the territorial police force covering the Scottish council areas of Angus, City of Dundee and Perth and Kinross . The total area covered by the force is with a population of 388,000....
to assist with missing hill walkers. Other services included ambulance
Ambulance
An ambulance is a vehicle for transportation of sick or injured people to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient...
, conservation
Conservation ethic
Conservation is an ethic of resource use, allocation, and protection. Its primary focus is upon maintaining the health of the natural world: its, fisheries, habitats, and biological diversity. Secondary focus is on materials conservation and energy conservation, which are seen as important to...
, expedition
Exploration
Exploration is the act of searching or traveling around a terrain for the purpose of discovery of resources or information. Exploration occurs in all non-sessile animal species, including humans...
, meteorological
Meteorology
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
and library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
.
Sports also played a large part at Rannoch, with pupils participating in games four days per week including, rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
, football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
, hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
(Scotland's only 8-hole golf course), rounders
Rounders
Rounders is a game played between two teams of either gender. The game originated in England where it was played in Tudor times. Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a round wooden, plastic or metal bat. The players score by...
, cross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing is a winter sport in which participants propel themselves across snow-covered terrain using skis and poles...
, rowing (in coxed fours) and sculling, and athletics
Athletics (track and field)
Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...
.
Academically, all main subjects were taught, mostly aiming towards SCE
SCE
SCE is an abbreviation with multiple meanings:* Short-channel effect, a secondary effect describing the reduction in threshold voltage Vth in MOSFETs with non-uniformly doped channel regions as the gate length increases...
Standard Grade and Higher Grade exams, but also on occasion to A-Level. A large number of pupils participated in music, either learning an instrument or singing in one of the choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
s.
Evening clubs and societies were also popular and a range of activities from electronics
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
and filmmaking
Filmmaking
Filmmaking is the process of making a film, from an initial story, idea, or commission, through scriptwriting, casting, shooting, directing, editing, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a theatrical release or television program...
, to chamber choir and bible study
Bible study (Christian)
In Christianity, Bible study is the study of the Bible by ordinary people as a personal religious or spiritual practice. Some denominations may call this devotion or devotional acts; however in other denominations devotion has other meanings...
. During the early years, the pupils converted an old barn on the site into a chapel and this remained a central focal point for daily worship.
Closure in 2002
In 2002, Rannoch School closed permanently, having been threatened with closure the previous year but lasting another 12 months through financial donations and publicity. Although the demand for independent schooling in Scotland is on the increase, recent years have shown a decline in the number of parents willing to send their children to boarding school. The remoteness of Rannoch and lack of public transportPublic transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
meant that opportunities for day pupil
Day pupil
Day pupils are students who attend boarding school but who are not boarders and who travel between home and school every day...
s were very limited, being 6 miles (9.7 km) from the nearest village and an hour’s drive from the nearest city (Perth
Perth, Scotland
Perth is a town and former city and royal burgh in central Scotland. Located on the banks of the River Tay, it is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and the historic county town of Perthshire...
).
Old Rannochians
Rannoch produced a number of distinguished alumni - details can be found hereOld Rannochians
Former pupils of Rannoch School are known as Old Rannochians . Rannoch School was an independent boarding school, located on the south shore of Loch Rannoch in Perth and Kinross, Scotland on the Dall Estate, from Kinloch Rannoch...
.