Our Environment

The great outdoors provides an unbeatable learning canvas to explore, develop and grow

Our Unique School Campus

Lathallan always captivates those visiting for the first time as they catch sight of Brotherton Castle emerging from the leafy 60-acre grounds. Perched on the northeast coast overlooking the sea, Lathallan provides unrivalled outdoor learning opportunities and a spacious environment for pupils to explore.

With a treehouse classroom, zip wires, a polytunnel packed with fresh fruits, burgeoning allotments, a potato field, an apple orchard and chickens, it’s a pretty special place.

Outdoor Learning

When it comes to outdoor learning, Lathallan is widely recognised as a sector leader. We are the only school in Scotland to achieve the Gold Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) quality mark.

Our school has had the highest uptake and completion rate of all independent schools in Scotland for The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award – Bronze, Silver and Gold for S3, S4, S5 and S6.

Our outdoor education programme for P4-P7, S1 and S2 includes overnight camps in and beyond the grounds, a mountain bike expedition (P5/6); a five-day residential including a wild camp and mountain experience and rock climbing (J7); Climbing, NNAS Bronze/Silver; Winter Skills course and more.

John Muir Award

Pupils have the opportunity to complete their John Muir Discovery in J7, their Explorer in S2 and their Conserver in S5/S6. This is achieved through discovering, conserving and preserving a wild place and communicating about that wild place.

John Muir, a native of East Coast Scotland, became a leader in early environmentalism in Northern America in the 1920s.

With global climate change an increasingly important reality in all our lives Lathallan School feel it’s important that children learn about the consequences of human impact and the value to humans of all things wild.

A school for the environment

We strive to educate our pupils to appreciate and respect the environment, to leave people and places better than they find them.

Our school community work hard to nurture and maintain the ecosystems around our school grounds and beyond.

Our pupils run a school Eco Club and learn about living a sustainable lifestyle – reducing, reusing and recycling – helping them feel that they are part of the narrative, not simply observers so that they have the power to make change. In recognition of this, we’ve just received our sixth Green Flag Award from Keep Scotland Beautiful – celebrating 15 years of involvement in the Eco Schools programme in 2023/24.

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School Farm

Our diverse school farm offers a range of valuable lessons in animal care, environmental awareness, sustainability and healthy eating as young people see first-hand how fresh produce travels directly from our school farm to pupils’ plates.

Farm duty has been worked into the curriculum, so that every class, from nursery through to S6, have a responsibility to be on the farm. Mr Toley leads the farm learning and this regular interaction with pupils gives him a greater working knowledge of their individual needs.

Headmaster, Richard Toley, says: “At Lathallan, we are continuously evolving to ensure our school experience brings out the best in every pupil. As a school we strive to educate our pupils to appreciate and respect the environment, to leave people and places better than they find them.”

Nature’s therapy

The COVID-19 pandemic has underlined the basic need we have for nature and the natural world.

Four alpacas are the latest curious creatures to join the growing number of animals living at school. Pupils have named them Fluffy, Macapaca, Popcorn and Marmalade, and are actively involved in all aspects of their care from feeding and exercising the animals to replenishing water and maintaining their living spaces.

“The mental health benefits of interacting with animals are well known and there is considerable research that shows that alpacas make great therapets”. Head of pastoral care – Len Wiltshire