children running and smiling

Why Choose Dunottar School?

Dunottar School is a happy, vibrant community where every child is encouraged to be the best they can be.  Our admissions team is available to answer any questions you have about Dunottar and to guide you through the admissions process.  We are happy to meet with prospective parents to offer advice and to help you find out more about how your son or daughter would benefit from a Dunottar education.

Be Your Best

Being a relatively small school means that we can genuinely spend time with every single pupil, get to know and understand them and deliver an educational programme which best suits their needs. We focus on ensuring that every pupil, regardless of ability, is able to achieve excellent “added value” in their academic work.  All pupils are encouraged to aim high, to challenge themselves and not to fear making a mistake.

Be Together

We pride ourselves on our warm and nurturing, family environment. Pupils have many opportunities to mix across their form groups and with other year groups which extends their sense of belonging. The school’s founder, Mrs Elliot-Pyle, chose the motto “Do ut Des” (I give that thou may’st give) and that sentiment remains just as relevant today. We believe that by nurturing and encouraging pupils, we allow them to develop the confidence to contribute and succeed in all that they do.

Be Involved

We believe that busy children achieve more. Our extensive co-curricular timetable offers pupils the opportunity to try something new, develop hobbies and of course, have fun! With a wide variety of clubs on offer covering sports, art, music,  robotics, dissection, Duke Of Edinburgh, chess, bee-keeping and many, many more, there is always something for pupils to get involved in.

Be Ready

Learning at Dunottar is not just about the classroom. For pupils to achieve great outcomes, they need to be creative individuals, who can solve problems, be resilient and be armed with a strong set of values. By encouraging our pupils to develop the Warrior Learner behaviours of aspiration, creativity, curiosity, tenacity, independence, inclusivity and collaboration, we are equipping them with the skills they need to deal with the challenges they will face in life after school.

While every child’s particular abilities, circumstances and needs are different, you can read here some comments made by our pupils (past and present), their parents and visitors to the school about why they believe that Dunottar is somewhere special.

We are thrilled with the environment our son has so quickly settled into. Excellent teaching and warm, kind teachers have meant he is enthusiastic about learning again for the first time in years! – Year 8 parent

The pastoral care from members of staff in dealing with issues has been exemplary, as was the communication back to me. The level of pastoral care was one of the reasons I chose the school and I’m delighted that it is as good in practice as you claimed at the open events. – Year 8 parent

I do hope to stay in touch with your brilliant school, it is so obvious how much the whole school family cares and which is so lovely to see. – Kerry Bennett, RAF Pilot and visiting speaker

Dunottar not only encouraged me to voice questions and opinions, but provided an environment that allowed me to grow in confidence and achieve this – Hannah, former pupil

The support offered at Dunottar is unique. The teachers care about more than just exam results, and that is reflected in the relationships that they have with their pupils.

Aime, former pupil

My child, who is in year 7, is thriving at Dunottar. He is loving learning and discovering new subjects that he hasn’t been that interested in before. He loves doing homework. We are extremely pleased, Dunottar exceeded our expectations.

We just wanted to send you an email to express our thanks to everyone at Dunottar  School as our son has loved his first week! He’s made friends easily and is enjoying his classes.

Our daughter has settled so well into Year 7. The transition from Primary to Senior school has been smoother than I could have ever wished for, so thank you so much to all the staff and team at Dunottar.

Year 7 parent
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