MES Former Pupils' Guild

mitis et fortis

The Former Pupils Club was formed in November 1973 with the merger of the former pupil clubs of Daniel Stewart’s College and Melville College following the merger of the two schools, its principal objective being to promote fellowship between former pupils of Stewart’s Melville College and to promote the interests of the school and affiliated sports and branch clubs. The origins of the merged clubs go back to the 19th century. Participation in the sports clubs has been “open” for many years with rugby, cricket and hockey clubs operating out of the school’s playing fields at Inverleith.

The main purpose of the Trust is to promote the advancement of education through the provision of bursaries and grants to perpetuate the memory of those former pupils of Edinburgh Institution and Melville College who lost their lives in the two World Wars.  This is achieved by the upkeep of memorials and by making grants, in the name of the Trust and to Daniel Stewarts and Melville College and The Mary Erskine School and their scholars.  Over the years, additional generous funding has come from Former Pupils of Edinburgh Institution and Melville College.

The founders of the three schools (The Mary Erskine School, Melville College and Daniel Stewart's College) each had a very clear vision for what their charitable institution would give to children.  The ESMS Governing Council took the considered decision to set up the ESMS Development Office, one of its key strategic goals being to build, over time, a capital fund of £15 million.  The fund is called Access to Excellence and the income it generates is used to fund transformative bursaries.   The fund has grown at a very promising rate and it now totals over £4.8 million (August 2019).  However, the sooner they can reach their strategic milestone the more children they can help gain a first-class education, and if you share this vision the Development Office would love to talk to you. 

Together our schools have been turning out world-class boys and girls for over 150 years. Offering a co-educational Junior School, single-sex but closely twinned secondary education for boys and girls and a co-educational Sixth Form.