In 2004, the Fettes College Governors adopted a Master Plan comprising of three principal units:

• Phase one – a new co-educational Upper 6th Form boarding house
• Phase two – development of the Prep School
• Phase three – creation of the “Teaching Village”

After only three years, the first phase of the Master Plan has been completed with the construction of Craigleith, the Upper 6th Form Boarding House, and the refurbishment of College East and College West – completing the upgrade of all seven senior boarding houses.

 Craigleith is the only one of its kind in Scotland, and one of a few in the UK.  The concept of an Upper 6th Form boarding house was considered for two reasons.  Firstly, to give our senior students a higher degree of personal responsibility and independence in their final year at school, to better prepare them for the transition to university life and the world beyond the school gates.  The other reason is that the creation of Craigleith has allowed us to significantly improve the previously overcrowded facilities for girls in College East and West. 

With the Governors’ consent, phase two of the Master Plan is now scheduled to begin in January 2008 with the expansion of the Prep School and the building of a new indoor Rifle Range, the former one having been displaced by Craigleith. 

The Prep School expansion is a self contained development designed to fulfil the needs and requirements of our younger students.  When complete, the Prep School will have facilities for 200 boarding and day students. The new building provides a new classroom block built around a generously sized hard playing area.  A series of single storey classrooms will extend from the fence line to the gate lodge preserving views to the main College tower. 

Phase three, the “Teaching Village,” is the most ambitious vision of the Master Plan.  The “Teaching Village” will be built on the site currently occupied by the Concert Hall and the Art, Music, and Drama Departments, providing a new stage and auditorium together with new and considerably improved facilities for all three subjects.  It will also incorporate a suite of new classrooms for Maths and Modern Languages, a lecture theatre, and new Common Room facilities for the staff.  With its attractive and imaginative design and its position on the north side of the Queen’s Lawn, the “Teaching Village” will present a striking appearance and it will provide an appropriately sympathetic link between the gothic spires of the Bryce building and the rectilinear functionality of the Dining Hall.

The Upper 6th Form boarding house and the Prep School developments are seen as projects that will be self-financing in that they will both result in increased income for the College arising from an enlarged school roll (rising over time from 600 to 725).  Initially they will be funded from borrowings that will be repaid according to a stringent business plan.  The £25 million “Teaching Village,” however, will only become a reality within the desired timescale if we are successful in quickly raising the estimated £8 million needed to commence the first element of this project, being a new Art School.

In order for the “Teaching Village” to materialise beyond drawings, the Fettes Foundation and the generosity of our many supporters are of crucial importance.  Together we will realise our aspirations and, as a result, Fettes will remain firmly at the forefront of independent education in this country.