Latest news with #DunfermlineHighSchool
The Herald Scotland
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Scottish Young Musicians Solo Performer of the Year announced
First place in the 2025 Solo Performer of the Year was awarded to Dunfermline High School student Inver Shand, who took up the accordion at the age of six. He performed two pieces as part of his seven-minute submission: the first was Carnevale, a challenging, Latin-influenced contemporary arrangement by Italian jazz musician and composer Renzo Ruggieri; the second piece was his own take on Phil Cunningham's much-loved and hugely atmospheric Loch Katrine's Lady. Inver drew praise for the speed and intricacy of his playing. (Image: Ian Georgeson) Hailing from a hugely musical family, in recent years Shand has performed in both France and Portugal, and has also collected numerous other awards. With his older brother Clelland and sister Blythe, he is part of 'The Shands' – a musical group recognised as Up and Coming Artist of the Year in 2023, and which was invited to perform during King Charles' visit to Dunfermline Abbey. Last year, Shand also won Senior All Scotland Accordion Championships despite being just sixteen years old, which is the lower age limit for the competition. Runner-up positions for Solo Performer of the Year were awarded to James Rippiner from Aberdeenshire and Aeronwy Gault from East Dunbartonshire. Violinist James Rippiner was an overall runner up and the winner of the strings category (Image: Ian Georgeson) Fourteen-year-old Rippiner of Banchory Academy was recognised following an impeccable violin performance featuring two pieces: Nocturne in C-sharp minor by Frederic Chopin and It Ain't Necessarily So from the opera Porgy and Bess. READ MORE In the other runner-up slot, fifteen-year-old Gault earned praise for a controlled, dynamic, and hugely expressive performance of La Cathedrale Engloutie from Claude Debussy's Preludes Book 1. A student at the Music School of Douglas Academy, she also plays both the violin and the harpsichord and is about to perform her first Keyboard Concerto. Aeronwy Gault's performance of a Debussy prelude earned her a runner up spot (Image: Ian Georgeson) The national final marked the culmination of a programme that, for the first time, included entrants from state schools in every local authority across the country. Each council area, as well as the independent schools sector, submitted a regional winner, all of whom then had the opportunity to perform in front of a live audience in the Stevenson Hall of the RCS. Alan Kerr, Chair of Scottish Young Musicians, said: 'Today marks an important milestone in Scottish Young Musicians history. From a standing start only four years ago, SYM has grown at a remarkable speed, and for the first time will have a talented finalist from all of Scotland's 32 local authority areas performing in the Solo Final. 'This represents the finale of an incredible year which saw our Festival of Music Competitions being offered to every secondary school. The brass and open ensemble competition have come of age to have their very own electrifying live final. 'Overall, hundreds of individual events included thousands of students from all backgrounds and levels of ability, making SYM the largest music education charity in the country. 'I am extremely grateful to the team that made this possible, and we are all energised to start again next year with the ambition to grow SYM even more, bringing opportunities and experiences to young people everywhere in Scotland.'
The Courier
30-04-2025
- General
- The Courier
School league table 2025: How Tayside, Fife & Stirling schools rank
A Fife school has made huge gains to reach the top two in The Courier's secondary schools league of 2025. Dunfermline High School was surpassed only by Dunblane High School in our ranking of 52 schools in Angus, Dundee, Fife, Perth and Kinross and Stirling. Schools are ranked on the percentage of leavers with five or more Higher qualifications (or equivalent). An impressive 60% of pupils to leave Dunfermline High in 2023/24 have five or more Highers (or equivalent) compared to 43% the year before. The best performing schools in each local authority area are: Dunblane retained the top spot in The Courier secondary schools league. It also recorded an increase in leavers with five or more Highers to 70%, compared to 62% the year before. Impressive rises were also seen at The Community School of Auchterarder, up 23 to 58%. Blairgowrie High School's percentage rose 10 to 37%. But there were significant decreases at Woodmill High School, Dunfermline, down 13 to 37%, and St John's RC Academy, Perth, down 16 to 32%. Bertha Park High School, also in Perth, is included in our table for the first time, as it had an S6 cohort for the first time in 2023/24. And 32% of its leavers gained five or more Highers. Five or more Highers is considered a benchmark of achievement as it is a common entry requirement for university. You can find out how your school performed below, in our table of Angus, Dundee, Fife, Perth and Kinross and Stirling local authority secondary schools. Each year the Scottish Government publishes attainment data for every school in Scotland. The figures our 2025 school league table is based on are the percentages of leavers to achieve five or more qualifications at SCQF level 6. As well as Highers, this can include qualifications such as a National Certificate or Modern Apprenticeship. Publication of school league tables is controversial, seen by many as an index of deprivation rather than a measure of individual schools' performance. An attainment gap exists between pupils who live in the most and least affluent areas. Indeed, in our top nine schools of 2025 fewer than one in 10 pupils live in the most deprived areas (designated quintile one in the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation). At the three worst performing schools more than half of pupils are from the most deprived areas.
