George Watson's College year in review 2022/23

Introduction

When we reflect on the 2022/23 session, it is significant to note how strongly the School has embraced the opportunities of the post-COVID 19 world. More pupils are participating in sport, music, drama, social action and other areas of school life than ever before. A wider range of curriculum approaches are better meeting the aspirations of more pupils and high levels of academic success have led to even more leavers being ambitious (and successful) in their applications to study at university in Scotland and elsewhere.

Watson’s continues to be a busy, diligent, and inclusive environment for staff and pupils, ensuring our ethos of working hard, aiming high, respecting all and joining in rings true in all we do.

Academic results

We are delighted that our pupil numbers remained strong for the 22/23 session with S4-S6 candidates achieving excellent SQA results. Higher level pupils received a pass rate of 97.6% with an A/B rate of 90% – statistics that are notably better than our 21/22 session. In several cases, pupils have surpassed their predicted grades, with many securing their top choices for further education.

Sporting Highlights

This session we have had more pupils than ever participating in sport, many of whom have enjoyed national success in badminton, cricket, cross country, football, hockey, rowing, rugby and skiing. This year saw numbers in girls cricket grow with regular matches taking place for four Senior School teams. We were delighted that 32 girls travelled to the North of England for a three-day tour to further improve their game play. Boys and girls have played regular tennis matches, and our athletes excelled themselves at the Scottish Schools events. Special mention must go to Kishi (now S4) who broke the 100m and 200m records on Sports Day – both records have lasted for over 45 years!

Drama and Music

It was a brilliant year for the performing arts at Watson’s. Pupils immersed themselves in various stage opportunities including Matilda, Sunshine on Leith, King Lear, Eddie the Penguin and our P7 Showcases. We also returned to the Usher Hall for the first time since the pandemic with our concert A Celebration of the Music of George Watson’s College, sponsored by Stringers of Edinburgh. There were many notable highlights from our Juvenile Pipe Band to our Chamber Choir but the pinnacle moment was Alexander MacNamee’s (Class of 2023) piano solo in Piano Concerto in A Minor First Movement with the Symphony Orchestra. Alexander also composed the beautiful choral number Seraphic Grace which received its world premiere at the concert.

The Legacy of George Watson

This year saw the change from Founder’s Day to ‘Foundation Day’ which set out to encourage the Watson’s community to rethink the significance of our Founder and his legacy. A range of activities were organised across campus, extending from traditional ceremonies, through to debates and discussions, collaborative activities, a flash mob and even a colour run to conclude the day of recognition. Foundation Day also saw the inauguration of our first ever Honorary Fellow – Fadwa Affara (GWLC Class of 1961). Going forward the school will annually award a member of our community with such an accolade, recognising an individual who has provided an outstanding example of our school motto and values in their lives.

Community and Charity Partnerships

Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI): S4 pupils worked closely with around 30 local organisations to produce presentations about their chosen charity. In the end, the panel of judges decided on Edinburgh Woman’s Aid as the recipient of the £3,000 donation.

Community Sport Hub: Sporting Start, Watsonian Cricket and Hockey clubs have been hugely supportive of our work with other schools to increase access to these sports which now extends to the Gracemount, Firrhill and Leith cluster primary schools.

We have also run projects for adults to access. These have been designed to encourage physical activity whilst also promoting the mental and emotional benefits. Our new crop of encouraging and energetic volunteer-run leaders have joined with last year’s pioneers to continue the On The Run running group with opportunities for beginners and improvers.

Intergenerational partnership with Ashley Court Care Home: We have various links with a number of local care homes, whether that be through senior pupil volunteering, visits by our young musicians to hone their performance skills, or the invitation we extend for care home residents to attend the community performance of our Senior Show. Our new project with Ashley Court Care Home this year has extended this work with a group of Primary 1 and Preschool pupils visiting residents on Wednesday afternoons. This has brought a huge amount of joy to all involved and echoes the benefits that are talked about in research on intergenerational links.

School Partnerships: The Swire Chinese Language Centre has continued to flourish.

Several partner schools are now able to employ their own teachers to take the project forward. This enables the programme to grow further with more schools joining the partnership.

The Edinburgh Computer Science and Engineering in Schools programme has started to make inroads to giving young people inclusive access to computer science and engineering, tackling some of the challenges schools face in recruiting and retaining teachers of Computer Science in particular. We have collectively raised around £260,000 for this 3-year programme and are keen to secure the remaining £110,000 to bring all aspects to life.

Charity Links: We aim to establish partnerships with all our chosen school charities, allowing the Watson’s community to gain a wider awareness and encourage as much fundraising as possible. This is evident in our Watson’s Malawi Partnership work where 50 S5/6 pupils embark on a trip to Malawi every October. Through linking with our Malawian partner organisations, this trip gives pupils a greater sense of global understanding, experiencing new perspectives on worldwide issues such as inequality, poverty and injustice and reflection on their own privilege and agency to act.

We had the privilege of being one of The Eric Liddell Community’s partners and helped plan celebrations for the centenary of Eric Liddell’s success at the 1924 Olympic Games. The ambitious The Eric Liddell 100 programme of events and activities was designed to recognise and celebrate positive sporting and community values. Huge thanks to PE Teacher, Gemma Burton, for her work during her partial secondment to the ELC to develop and pilot a cross-curricular resource for use across Scottish schools.

Through the generosity of the Watson’s community, we have raised more than £40,000 this session for our charity partners. This has been through signature school fundraising events, such as Charities Day or Winter Jumper Day, but also through individual pupils and members of staff creating opportunities to fundraise for causes they are passionate about.