A sizeable secondary school in S Edinburgh, Liberton High School is located on the west side of Gilmerton Road, 2 miles (5 km) south southeast of the city centre. Opened by HRH the Duchess of Kent in 1959, the school has a roll of 551 pupils (2015) between the ages of 12 and 18, drawn from the districts of Liberton, Prestonfield, Gilmerton, Moredun, Craigour, the Inch and South Newington.
The first of a series of new schools built to serve Edinburgh's outlying public housing estates, Liberton High was designed to house 1000 pupils at a cost of £350,000. Several extensions were built in the 1960s and 70s to cope with increased numbers, and Inch Secondary School provided an annexe for younger pupils from 1960 until the late 1980s. A programme of refurbishment began in 1986, with a new Science Suite opening in 1989. New buildings for the home economics, computing and business education departments followed, with space for other departments rationalised and improved over the years until 1995. A final phase of refurbishment brought a new entrance, administration area, library and resource centre and social area for pupils, together with upgrades for art and craft, design & technology departments. A re-opening in 1997 marked the end of more than ten years of renewal and refurbishment.
Tragedy struck in 2011 when a pupil was seriously injured having fallen down a lift-shaft and again in 2014 when a girl was killed when a wall collapsed in a gymnasium changing room.
Notable former pupils include sprinter Allan Wells (b.1952), footballer Eamonn Bannon (b.1958) and comedian Iain Stirling (b.1988).
