Secondary school lets

You can hire a range of facilities in our schools including

• swimming pools
• classrooms
• games and sports halls
• sports pitches.

Give at least two weeks’ notice.

Sports facilities

To hire sports facilities during community times, that is,

• after 6pm during the week
• weekends
• school holidays

book through Edinburgh Leisure

To hire sports facilities during school times follow the process for hiring rooms.

Rooms

As part of plans to improve community access to schools, the Council has transferred the management of non-sport spaces in the following secondary schools to Edinburgh Leisure:

• Balerno High Scgool
• Broughton High School
• Craigroyston High School
• Forrester High School
• Gracemount High School
• James Gillespie’s High School
• Leith Academy
• Portobello High School
• St Augustine’s RC High School

Customers looking to access non-sport facilities such as classrooms and assembly halls at the above schools from 8th January 2024 should book with Edinburgh Leisure. 

Enquiries for non-sport facilities at all other secondary schools should email School.lets@edinburgh.gov.uk.

Apply

As of the new academic year 2024/25 there has been a change to the payment process for Lets. Invoices will now be issued in advance of a Let commencing. For further details please see the one off or ongoing payments information docs in the links.

Rates

There are three rates of pay for letting facilities in secondary schools

• commercial
• concessionary
• standard.

Download the rates for secondary school lets - PDF 

Commercial rate

You pay the commercial rate if you

• operate as a business
• generate income to pay staff salaries
• must be licensed to deliver your activity
• operate under a company name across a wide geographical area, such as city or region
• are from outwith the City of Edinburgh Council area.

If you challenge paying this rate, you must provide evidence as to why not.

Concessionary rate

You must prove that you are entitled to the concessionary rate before you start your let.

You pay the concessionary rate if you are not a commercial organisation and 80% or more of your the users either

• under 18
• over 60 and not in full-time employment
• full-time students

or are in receipt of benefits, such as

• Council tax reduction Scheme
• Employment Support Allowance
• Housing Benefit
• Incapacity Benefit
• income-based Jobseekers Allowance
• Income Support
• NASS (National Asylum Support Service) Support
• Pension Credit
• Universal Credit
• Working Tax Credit

You are also entitled to concessionary rates if you are a 

• non-profit making community group, such as a tenants’ or residents’ group, local heritage society or community trust
• non-profit making cultural group
• community group or organisation that works with the Council to deliver council or national priorities.

Standard

You pay the standard rate if you none of the above applies to you.

For special events, such as conferences, seminars or tournaments, you pay the standard rate for each school facility used.  

Kitchen facilities

Use of kitchens is not included in any let. To use a kitchen you must

• give details of this in your application, including the times of use
• pay for a member of catering staff to be present while the kitchen is in use.

Any group that uses a kitchen without permission will be in breach of the conditions of their let. We may cancel their let.

You can access drinking water outside of kitchens in all schools.