main door. Pastoral Between First Senior Year and Fifth Year pupils are split into house groups. There are six different houses (named after areas of Scotland): Appin Ettrick Galloway Kintyre Lochaber Torridon Each house has a Head of House tutor as well as a form tutor for each year group who is responsible for pupils' well-being. These houses correspond with the houses of the same names at Stewart's Melville College, and are the basis for the 'ESM Challenge'. This is a series of annual events involving both the boys and girls in each house. It covers a wide variety of school societies, ranging from the House Music Competition to the Inter-house Hockey. The competition comes to a climax on Sports Day with a 4 × 100 m relay between each house. The winning house is then awarded a cup at the school's prizegiving ceremony. Senior Sixth form When pupils enter the sixth (final) form they are merged with the boys from Stewart's Melville College. Classes take place at both school sites, with buses operating regularly to transfer students between the two. There are approximately 240 students in a normal year group. In sixth form students are largely independent. Students have a tutor (twinned with another at the other site) with whom they register in the morning, and who also helps them with their British university UCAS applications. All members of the sixth form are prefects and are expected to help out with duties around the school sites. The maintenance of the prefect body is the responsibility of a Head Boy and a Head Girl, along with five deputy head boys and five deputy head girls. School Uniform and Colours In 1994 the school adopted the present uniform which includes a navy blue and red kilt designed by the company Kinloch Anderson, a blue blazer, white blouse and red tie. Colours and Half-Colours can be awarded in Sixth Form to pupils who excel in non-academic areas (such as music, drama and individual sports). Examinations Pupils at Mary Erskine's mainly sit Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) examinations, including (as of 2013) National 4, National 5, Higher Grade and Advanced Higher Grade levels. The English GCE Advanced Level examinations can also be sat in art and music. As is the case with many independent schools MES has examination results well above the national average. For example, in 2013, 86% of pupils passed Higher grade