Anyone from Glasgow? Wondering where to move to

[CuppaSarah]

DH has had a job offer, which is great news for us. But it's in Glasgow and we've never been to Scotland, let alone Glasgow. We're all really excited about the move, for so many reasons. We've been desperate to get out of our overpriced, overcrowded area, but we're only going to have one weekend to look at rental properties before we go. The plan is rent for a bit, then buy a house once we're settled into the area.

Of course one weekend isn't enough time to choose where to settle, since DD will have to start school when we move, I don't want to rent in Paisley, but end up buying in Clydebank and have to move her school.

So if any of you live in or know the area, whereabouts up to an hour's commute from central Glasgow would you recommend looking at for a young family? DS and I like rural, DH and DD like towns and cities. So something with the best of both worlds is perfect.

[heidbuttsupper]

Hey op I'm from Glasgow whats your budget? Areas like Giffnock, Clarkston & Newton Mearns are excellent with links to the city, outstanding schools and lots of shops/pubs/restaurants etc. Bearsden and Milngavie are also great areas and are semi rural. These areas are expensive though. If money was no object, I'd live in Newton Mearns.

[OtraCosaMariposa]

Where is your DH going to be working and what is your budget?

There's no point recommending Beasden/Newton Mearns if your budget is £300 per month for rent. What else is important to you? (Local shops, close to a train station, excellent schools?) How old is your daughter?

[RJnomore1]

Prestwick or troon. Hour away from centre, nice towns, lots for families to do, on beach, countryside around. Prices will be lower than say newton mearns too (which is over rated, over priced etc).

Let me know if you are interested in the area I can help re schools areas to avoid etc.

[jellycatspyjamas]

Depending on budget you’ve got lots of choice East Renfrewshire (Eastwood, Williamwood, Newton Mearns) and East Dunbartonshire (Lenzie, Bearsden, Milngavie) border Glasgow and are known for excellent schooling, however both areas come at a price.

What age are your DC because that will influence which schools you’re looking at. Also worth bearing in mind that the school system in Scotland is vastly different from England and Wales, in particular there doesn’t tend to be competition for school places in all but a handful of schools so moving or changing is easily done.

If you’re thinking of living in the city itself, the West End bear the Botanic Gardens is lovely, parts of the south side around Shawlands are good too. It depends on the age of kids, your budget and where work is.

[heidbuttsupper]

There is also a lovely village in Glasgow called Carmunock. It's about 20mins from the city centre and about 10mins from a place called East Kilbride that has a shopping centre and a Morrisons. Again pricey but absolutley worth it

[Clangus00]

What about Ayrshire? Countryside and an easy commute to Glasgow?

[jellycatspyjamas]

Oh, I’d echo living further out towards the coast - some lovely areas and the commute isn’t bad by train.

[MrsLem]

I like Newton Mearns, they have a huge big new housing estate which is just starting to be built. It's a lot more built up than it previously was though. If you want somewhere rural, Dunlop is a lovely village with half hour train link to Glasgow Central

[Whattodoinleeds]

Ayrshire for sure. Great for commuting.

[Esto]

I wrote massive reply but it all disappeared. Gah.

Anyway I was saying, you're lucky! Glasgow is a fantastic city to live in. You can have a family home on a leafy street in the South Side or West End if you want to stay in the city. If you want a smaller town feel you might want to look at Lenzie, Bearsden or Milngavie (pronounced Mul-guy)?

You don't say what your budget is, the towns above are all quite well-heeled. You mention Paisley and Clydebank, neither of which are places I'd particularly choose to move across the country for (I'm not knocking them - I'm from Greenock!). The good thing about the Glasgow area is that it has good housing stock available at every level. I can imagine the choice seems overwhelming.

Maybe start with your husbands commute - will it be train or underground (subway) or bus or driving? If the train suits his work then start there with places with good train links.

Areas near the Campies are good for an outdoorsy feeling life (mountains, cycling etc) areas to the west coast are good for being closer to the coast, and areas to the East are good for exploring a lot of Scotland - easy access to central, east and north Scotland.

Good luck with the move!

[Treem]

Dunblane. 20 mins on the train right into the centre of Glasgow. Beautiful quiet little place with good schools. Has the added benefit of being right next to Stirling for all your shopping/cinema needs.

[CuppaSarah]

Sorry for not mentioning budget. Rental we want to stay around £500 for a three bed. When we buy we're definitely looking for a cheaper area. £125000ish for three bed if we can.

I've been looking at Aryshire, so funny some of you should mention it. We lived in Grimsby a few years back and loved being near the coast. I'm not 100% certain where DHs new job is. I know it's on the south west side of the river Clyde.

We're not super worried about academic performance at schools, obviously it's important, but we're more keen on how happy the students are. Anyone fancy explaining the general differences in schooling in Scotland? I haven't researched that part yet

Thank you all so much for all the suggestions so far! It really helps having some areas to narrow it down to.

[OtraCosaMariposa]

General differences in Scottish education:

Children start at between 4.5 and 5.5 and go straight into P1. No "reception".

They do P1 to P7 in Primary School, then go to secondary and into S1 when they are between 11.5 and 12.5.

Holidays are different. Scottish schools are back after summer this week, having been off since the end of June.

Exams and curriculum are totally different, especially at the later stages of secondary.

Children in Scotland are guaranteed a place at their catchment school, none of this applying for several and ranking in preference and hoping you get a place in one of them stuff.

[OtraCosaMariposa]

Oh and the budget is very much going to restrict where you are. Ayrshire might be a good choice. Would avoid Clydebank.

[jellycatspyjamas]

Children generally start school aged 5, if your child’s birthday is January or February (ie they’ll still be 4 in August), you have the choice to start school at 4 or 5, most people I know including myself deferred their January born to go the following year when they are 5. It’s the difference between your child being the oldest/youngest in the class. Deferral here is really easy and your child then progresses through school as normal.

Children attend primary school from age 5, starting in primary 1 and leaving in primary 7 aged 11 when they go to secondary/high school. High school runs from S1 to S6.

There’s isn’t a national curriculum in the way there is in England. Schools work to Curriculum for Excellence which has varying reviews depending on who you speak to. Strong emphasis on wellbeing and social/emotional development as well as academics. We don’t have Ofsted, or any of the Ofsted driven silliness around testing, attendance, uniform etc. School are inspected both as schools and as part of wider children services - focus is on education, welfare and leadership mostly.

Uniform isn’t compulsory in Scotland so there’s no must have a loges top, kids don’t get sent home for wearing the wrong shoes. There’s no grammar system, and kids mostly go to their local school unless their parents apply for a placing request elsewhere - school entry is pretty easy in that with a few exceptions it’s easy to get a place in the school you want.

[CuppaSarah]

The application process for schools sounds an absolute dream. We're stuck driving to the other side of town in rush hour everyday for DDs school because we couldn't get a place in our catchment school.

[jellycatspyjamas]

And parents don’t get fined for taking their kids out of school. There are processes for monitoring attendance and managing poor attendance but you can take your child out a week early on holiday without being penalised for doing so. In my experience primary schools are way more relaxed about the odd day here or there and there isn’t the panic that the child’s whole educational career is screwed because they took a day off.

[Esto]

That's a fairly tight budget even for the area but you should hopefully find something suitable. Ayrshire is good for being near the coast and beautiful countryside. If you want to be more central in Scotland maybe Falkirk? It is great for access to Glasgow, Edinburgh, everywhere really and is quite affordable.

The Rightmove app is useful for schools. In Scotland you are in a catchment area for a non-denominational school and an RC school at both primary and secondary level. The Rightmove app tells you which catchments you are in for each type of school.

[Esto]

Uniform might not be compulsory but most schools do have a uniform! Usually quite straightforward though, just school top or tie, black or grey trousers or skirt and black shoes.

[CuppaSarah]

Our budget is definitely tight, but we're not too worried about needing to compromise. Out of the cheaper areas where do we definitely want to avoid and why? Not that I don't trust your judgement, but we've lived in apparent awful areas before and not had any problems. We admittedly have pretty low standards .

[OtraCosaMariposa]

Indeed, uniform is worn at my children's schools, both secondary and primary. However,, all that's available "branded" at senior school is a blazer (£30) and a tie (£5). Everything else is black and white and bought from wherever you want.

And children are required to wear sensible black shoes and no trainers. Kids have been sent home to change unsuitable shoes. But agree that in general, school uniform purchasing and prices isn't an issue as it appears to be to so many down south.

[jellycatspyjamas]

Sorry, yes I don’t mean school don’t have a uniform with the expectation that children wear uniform just that there isn’t the pressure to have an exact skirt, with specific shoes or a pe kit purchased from the school supplier for mega-bucks.

I’ve never known someone to be sent home for wearing the wrong shoes though, that’s a new one for me.

[Esto]

Yeah the uniform issues in England seem extreme. I remember going to school with green and purple hair and no one cared (I was wearing my tie albeit at a super cool jaunty angle )

[OtraCosaMariposa]

The only rule our school has on PE kit is no football shirts and no offensive logos. DD wears leggings from Primark and a hoodie.

Agree totally that I don't relate at all to English/Welsh parents saying that they need a specific skirt, PE kit, sweater, shirt...we just go to Asda or M&S. Unless you're unlucky enough to have a child at one of our local schools where two schools merged and the children voted for purple shirts/polos and matching sweaters. Not easy to find.

[Stressedmummyof4]

Recommend the muirhead/Chryston area. There's a express bus takes you into the city centre in 15 mins. You wouldn't know you were so close to the city. There's views of the campsies. Still fields around with horses. Money is being injectors into the area and houses being built. It's where I aim to be in the next few years. Still has the village feel although the commute to the city it literally minutes on motorway!