Secondary schools / living - Auchterarder and Crieff

[Tintinn]

We are thinking of moving to either Auchterarder or Crieff.
I quite like Crieff - things to do, scenery etc, though seems a little run down, and a bit far from a train station?
Auchterarder seems very busy and they are building lots of new houses, so I wonder how the school and other infrastructure will cope. But I get the impression that the secondary school is better than in Crieff?
My DC is academic, and I would prefer a school that caters well for bright kids, and has lots of subjects available at higher and advanced higher stage.
We don't have lots of money - need reasonably priced housing.

[christmasmum]

Did you think about Dunblane? Not far from either of those places but apparently has a much better high school. Lots to do in Stirling too.

[Tintinn]

We are renting in Dunblane now. Buying is extremely expensive here. Also the high school is ok, but academically speaking not that great. It has a better reputation than it deserves in my view, with a lot of middle class parents and private tutoring going on, which gives it better results than it perhaps deserves.
So really need views on Auchterarder and Crieff, if anyone who knows about them is out there?

[TheHeartOfTeFiti]

Doesn't sound like dunblane has changed since I was there 20 years ago. Yes auchtarder gets a better name than Crieff.

[pinkje]

My nephew is at Auchterarder, I don't think he was too impressed with the range of AHs and he's interested in science/engineering though that's something that'll change with any new staff.

It has quite a small school roll, the primary is on the same site so they share resources such as library and gym. That can be quite appealling from a community aspect - in fact it is called the Community School of Auchterarder (or something similar).

Auchterarder itself is one very long road (bugger to park on) and it is well catered for all types of shops although only a co-op by way of a supermarket.

I'm in Dunblane and my experience is that there is some tutoring going on but not because the teaching is inadequate but because some parents (yes a lot are middle class professionals working in Glasgow & Edinburgh) are extremely competitive. That's in sports too.

You could also argue that the high scores are also attributed to the gene pool....

[Tintinn]

I don't understand why some schools seem to offer such a limited range of advanced highers and even of highers/national 5s. Looking at the website for Crieff they don't seem to allow you to study Geography (a v important subject, surely) above S3?! Surely all secondaries should offer at least the key subjects (3 sciences, maths, english, history and geography, a language) at higher/national5 and at AH? That's what schools are for, isn't it? It's such a shame to see children have to choose from a very small list of what is considered convenient by the school, and change career plans accordingly. Apparently some don't even offer maths AH, or all 3 sciences.