scools in lanarkshire

[lilac4]

hi all. we are soon moving to scotland from Northern Ireland. DH has got a job in airdrie and we have no idea about the area or schools. looking for areas from east glasgow to motherwell and coatbridge around based on good scools. DD is doing Gcse here and need admission into S5 and DD2 will be in S3 in august. can someone please help us decide where we should move.

[ttlshiwwya]

I've friends in North Lanarkshire who are very happy with Dalziel in Motherwell. I think the RC alternative to Dalziel - Our Lady's is good too.

For Dalziel I suspect you will need to live in the catchment area but there is reasonably good choice of housing.

[NewerThanNew]

Hi, I live in North Lanarkshire (Coatbridge). Happy to answer any specific questions.

North Lanarkshire is a deprived area tbh. Airdrie and Coatbridge town centres are awful. Just this afternoon i was walking through Airdrie Town Centre for lunch and saw the police telling off a group of school kids who were shouting abuse to people in the street. On a Sunday when i go for my shopping, there are again loads of small gangs of kids running riot around the shops and loitering in the street shouting abuse at each other or to people passing by.

Coatbridge is marginally better. Less of the teenage gangs and more of adults off their face roaming around or hanging by the steps of St Patrick's Church. One 'intoxicated' man started saying some awful things to my child as we walked by him the other day on our way to the library. Complete shit hole.

Asides from the high crime rate and anti-social behaviour, there are lots of schools and things to do in both these areas. There is a bowling and cinema complex in Coatbridge and The Time Capsule for swimming and Ice Skating. There is also the Summerlee Heritage Museum which is nice. Lots of good public transport links, too.

From my experience, I'd definitely avoid Airdrie. Would make life easier for your husband for commuting, but it's just not a nice place at all.

There are some nice-ish spots in Coatbridge. Carnbroe is a nice area. And Blairhill is sometimes considered 'the posh' part of Coatbridge.

The two major high schools in Coatbridge are St. Andrews and St. Ambrose. St. Andrews - I would not recommend. I have a friend who works there. However, if your kids are sporty then they have a really good sports complex/gym facilities.

St. Ambrose appears to be better. And have good links for children interested in music. It's also right next to Drumpellier Lochs, which is a lovely walk.

I have limited experience outside of Coatbridge and Airdrie. I've visited Motherwell a few times for shopping, and the town centre isn't great. Though has less 'stoaters' than Airdrie and Coatbridge.

Sorry i can't be more positive. I'm looking for a job/house outside of Lanarkshire as i don't want to live here any longer. Went out last night to find that my car had been scraped yet again by daft school kids walking by and vandalising everything in their sight (have caught them doing it three times previously to other cars on my street).

Maybe we could swap?

Any other questions re. Airdrie and Coatbridge just ask on here. I've namechanged anyway to answer this post so no privacy concerns.

[bloomandwilde]

Have you looked at Stepps? It's literally just inside North Lanarkshire's boundaries from the north-east of Glasgow.... a different world from Coatbridge and Airdrie. Good motorway links, the village is nice, prices aren't too high. The secondaries are either Our Lady's Cumbernauld (be careful, there are two Our Lady's in NL) or Chryston High. I would go with Our Lady's over Chryston.

You could also look at some parts of Cumbernauld (Croy, Denny). Parts of it are lovely.

[WaxOnFeckOff]

How far is your DH willing to commute and what sort of budget do you have? Lenzie isn't far (about a 25 minute drive) and it's got a great reputation. Or you could even look further afield such as Stirling (about 40 minutes away) or across at West Lothian, think Linlithgow is about half an hour away.

[MissEliza]

Lenzie is a lovely commuter town with a good school (not as good as it used to be) but you would need to check about school places. Stepps is nice too. They both have good transport links. I wouldn't go near Airdrie or Coatbridge.

[MoreProseccoNow]

East Kilbride might be worth a think, or Bothwell/Uddingston (slightly nearer).

[Needthesunshine]

Strathaven is nice and Strathaven Academy has good reputation and exam results. It's about a 30 minute drive from strathaven to airdrie.

[sailorcherries]

I stay in Cumbernauld and have done all my life. The inner part and town centre are shit, however I stay on the newer side and always have done (Cumbernauld is separated by the M80 motorway). The area where I grew up (Dullatur, Carrickstone, Craigmarloch, Balloch, Blackwood and Smithstone) are all well maintained, low levels of crime and good areas to bring up a family. In my time living here I've never once had issues.

There are also two good schools, Our Ladies which is RC and Greenfaulds which has a good exam result rating, good HMIe inspections and the new building only opened in October 2016. There is also three other high schools if they don't suit.

The town itself is a 10 minute drive from Airdrie and, due to good motorway links, about 20 minutes from Glasgow and Stirling, 40ish from Edinburgh etc. It's a good commuter town.

[lilac4]

thank you all for your honest and lovely replies. DH is a doctor and his job requires night time travel sometime so we also need good motorway links. cannot aford ti be more than 30 mins away from airdrie. after reading all replies now im focusing on lenzie.the town seems lovely but lenzie academy seems to have split us. hubby says papers exaggerate things. but im concerned and worried about bullying etc.

[lobsterface]

Dalziel is a good high school, Motherwell close to Airdrie and good transport links.

[lilac4]

thanks lobsterface. dalziel have no spaces left. only option with us there is to rent out in its catchment area and apply for placing request and then hope we find places for the kids there. i am worried if they dont have any places available by august. my kids r focused on studies. but school environment contributes to it too. so can you please name another maybe not but ok school in the area as plan b.

[bloomandwilde]

There must be a denominational secondary in Lenzie- is it Turnbull? Both Turnbull and St Ninian's (Kirkintilloch) have excellent reputations.

People will saw their right hands off to get a space in Lenzie tbh.

[sailorcherries]

Turnbull is the RC school in Bishopbriggs.

Lenzie, for all it seems great, isn't actually the be all and end all.
When I was growing up there was a group of 4 siblings, 8 kids in total, who went to Greenfaulds and Lenzie. Two sets of siblings, four kids, went to Lenzie; one set of siblings had one in each school; and one set had both kids in Greenfaulds. Every single child who went to Greenfaulds went on to university and have good careers, every single child who went to Lenzie never went to or dropped out uni due to grades and an apparent snobbery putting them off their learning.

It might not be the same now, but that is my knowledge of the school. It's not as rosy as it seems.

[MissEliza]

TBH sailor at every school with a glowing reputation you could find kids who didn't do well. I grew up in Lenzie and lots of the kids who lived nearby went to private schools. I reckon a bigger percentage of the people who went to Lenzie Academy got into uni than those at private school but that's just one person's experience.
Interesting to hear someone talk about bullying at Lenzie Academy. Although I enjoyed my time there, it was quite snobby and cliquey. I can't say if that's still true. The people I know whose children are there seem happy but the school has definitely lost its standing academically.

[Bluntness100]

I'd also second bothwell or uddingston,

[Lidlfix]

Take a look at Stirling- particularly areas near to motorway such as Bannockburn or Torbrex. You could placement request Dunblane High School (welcomes placement requests). My Stirling friend is a hospital doctor in the area your looking at and the commute has been fine for her.

[sailorcherries]

MissEliza I understand that there are those children at every school, however the three families who sent their children to Lenzie did so because it was a 'better' school and their children would 'achieve more' and 'do better than the rest of us'. It was interesting to see that this wasn't actually the case. I also know of the bullying/snobbery/cliques because those other children found it quite hard to fit in, having not grown up with the children who lived locally or coming from some of the same backgrounds (again something I've never experienced at my 'normal' school).

The OP wanted opinions on the areas and schools, my experiences of Lenzie Academy were not positive ones. I certainly don't think it has the same results/reputation as it did even twenty years ago.

Alternatively OP, Braidhurst in Motherwell is sports orientated and accepts children from outside the area on sports 'scholarships' as such. They do commit to doing their sport x amount of times a week, and must catch up on learning in their own time (never English or Maths though).

[MissEliza]

If you read my post fully Sailor, you'll see I agree Lenzie is definitely not as good academically as it was 20 or 30 years ago. I used to have a friend that transferred to Lenzie from Greenfaulds. She didn't do well academically either but I remember her being pissed off at her parents for moving her from her friends at Greenfaulds so maybe her motivation wasn't too great!

[lilac4]

hi all. thanks so much for helping me out . u all have given me great suggestions and advice. we r visiting Scotland next week to see a bit for ourselves. for now we have narrowed our search down to cumbernauld for greenfauld and our ladys and motherwell or Hamilton if hubby doesnt mind the rushour drive.any suggestions on good localities within those schools catchment area.

[lobsterface]

Enjoy your trip Lilac. You might be horrified by Cumbernauld - it doesn't win any prizes for its beauty! Uddingston is a good shout though, it's nice.

[lilac4]

sorry just to keep my text a bit short i didn't mention we were going to look at the whole area. including uddingston bothwell, stepps, croy etc. our main focus will be good motorway links for hubby. and good schools. which i hope all these places have so then we are left with search for houses in family friendly catchment areas of desirable schools. so we wil also check out estate agents in the villages/town to see whats available.dont know if thats doable. but sitting here so much away is not going to help. a trip to scotland is a necessity i think.

[MoreProseccoNow]

Have a look at S1 homes/Rightmove online for an idea about cost/availability of renting properties.

Remember there's no agency fees in Scotland for tenants.

[user1485426324]

If your looking at Uddingston/both well or Hamilton then you'll be glad to hear that the improvements in the M74 are now done and the rush hour commute is far better than it's been for the better part of the last three years. Hubby makes it to Glasgow in 35 minutes these days from Lanark

[Skyllo30]

Is your husband going to he permanent in Monklands or is he on a training programme? If the latter he'll move every year so being based nearer Glasgow is better.

The worst of the roadworks in the central motorways are over so traffic will be "usual" rush hour rather than horrendous!

[lilac4]

hi all. skyllo30 my husband s a consultant and its a permanent post. we v been visiting scotland these days and lobsterface you are right. Cumbernauld is out of the race. though croy and stepps and a few other areas dont look too bad. we like lenzie but there are no reasonable houses to rent these days in the catchment of lenzie academy and the like and other good schools. so will buy house instead. so far woodlie village looks good but its out of catchment area of lenzie and bishopbriggs. but fingers crossed will find something soon. have not fully explored Hamilton yet. and we passed through Uddingston. its nice but again no houses available to rent. also i dont know if Uddingston and bothwell schools are any good. stirling side is a bit away for hubby.