St David's High School was established in Dalkeith in 1948. In August 1966 the school moved to Abbey Road in what were originally the grounds of Newbattle Abbey. In November 2003, St. David's was integrated into the Dalkeith Schools Community Campus along with Dalkeith High and Saltersgate School, a special education facility, making it the first such joint secondary school campus in Scotland. After the move, teachers kept students separated from each other in the dining hall and on the playground, citing concern that younger pupils might become disoriented by the sudden transformation of their small school into a large, integrated organisation with 2,200 youths. They initially predicted that the regime of segregation could be relaxed within a few weeks, and that religious factors played no role in their decision; by January 2004, teachers at Dalkeith and St. David's still told their pupils not to talk to pupils from the other school, and students were kept segregated due to threats of violence directed at one another and teachers of different religious backgrounds in addition to assaults.
School of Football
St David's High School are currently in their second year of delivering the School of Football program and are intending to introduce a new S1 group each year for the foreseeable future.
HMI report
2009 HMI Report
An inspection by HM Inspectorate of Education published in February 2009 drew attention to some particular strengths:
Positive relationships between young people and staff.
The help provided by learning support staff for young people with additional support needs.
Strong partnerships with community organisations and partner agencies which enhance young people's learning experiences.
Innovative curricular developments.
They also drew attention to other areas of good practice in the school including; innovative use of staffing, including youth work expertise, and providing very effective support to the most vulnerable young people. The development of young people's skills in music and its links in other areas of the curriculum is promoted.
2019 HMI Report
A further inspection by HM Inspectorate of Education published in February 2019 drew attention to some new strengths:
The headteacher provided inspiration and aspiration to the school community.
The school values of ASPIRE gave a sense of direction and purpose for the school.
The school has a strong culture of empowerment with staff encouraging students to take on leadership roles and join school improvement schemes.
Pupils are made to feel highly included and valued with attempts to meet the needs of every child.
Effective approaches to parental engagement.
Areas for improvement that were identified included:
To improve on the existing enthusiasm and collaborative practices of staff.
Teachers could continue to improve approaches to assess students' progress in Broad General Education
They also highlighted areas of particular strength as Leadership of change and ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion.
St David's RC High School uses social media to communicate school information, events and updates to parents and pupils. There are Twitter accounts which are specific to different departments and one for the school as a whole:
