Anyone live around Inverness/Loch Ness?

[SuperGlowBug]

We’ve been seriously considering moving up to the Highlands. My parents are from around Inverness but I was born and raised in England. Have spent a lot of time up there though, although not around Loch Ness and obviously only holidays!

DH and I have five DC ranging from 6 months to 13!

We were looking at the Loch Ness area as from what I can gather the schools are good.

DD has just started in year 9. She’s August born so very young for her year but very academic. DS is in the last year of primary (year 6, June born). We’d be looking to move ready for DD starting year 10 (Scottish year 4?) and DS starting secondary, so over the next summer holidays.

Any advice on schooling/the area/anything really much appreciated!!!!

Hi OP

Do you want to be in a "city" ie Inverness (it was an honorary title, on the v small scale for a city!) or more rural ie Fort Augustus?

Also what line of work would you and your DH be looking for?

Thank for your reply, we were thinking of Glen Urquhart secondary sonaround there somewhere. Would be close enough to Inverness for the kids when they got older but rural enough that they could enjoy the space.

DH is a builder/plumber by trade.

Ah so Drumnadrochit area.

The traffic on the a82 to get into Inverness can be quite bad due to the large volume of tourists (do t know if that's something that would put you off!)

Depending on where you're coming from, you could get a lot more house for your money.

Not sure what the schools around Drumnadrochit are like so have a look online but imagine the class sizes will be smaller.

Practicality wise online shopping would be your friend if you don't want to come in to Inverness but there's a new road link which would save you going through the city itself to get to supermarkets.

If you're outdoorsy the area is great but eg if you like going to the gym you'd need to travel in to Inverness.

What area would you be moving from?

Have you considered Perth and Kinross or Angus as they're a bit closer to other cities than Inverness?
I love the area but it's a 3 hour plus drive to get to Dundee even.

Perth area is much closer to eg Glasgow if children want to go to a concert when they get older.

Thank all

Probably Drumnadrochit area.

For us the main things are great schools, being rural but close enough to a city for kids etc and being close to extended family.

The school inspection reports are difficult to gauge as some of them have no reports available to read and that’s on the official website.

Where are you currently based? Are you used to living rurally?

I lived in Inverness briefly a few years ago. I was very quickly champing at the bit to move back to Glasgow. Inverness is officially a city, but in reality it doesn't have the amenities or opportunities or diversity you would expect from a city. I remember my boss seemed to quite resent the fact that I wasn't local. Any time I so much as mentioned Glasgow she would say "we need someone who's committed to the Highlands, not someone who's going to run back down south at the first opportunity". Aye, well it was your attitude that made me want to get out of there, hen!

And it IS a long way to Glasgow or Edinburgh (trains are diesel powered, and it's often actually quicker to get the bus). It really wasn't for me, (though granted the horrible boss might have had something to do with my distaste for living there!) It could be quite a shock to the system for a teenager who is just getting to the age where she wants to socialise and go to concerts and things.

Having said that, my cousin lives and works in Inverness and loves it there, so it obviously suits some people!

We live in the countryside just outside Bath. DC are all at fantastic schools in Bath but we spend half our life in the car on school runs into the city and although we’re rural we’re hemmed in with main roads around us...

DD is quite a homebird, she doesn’t really head into town often and is quite quiet for a teen (so far!)

I’m going to tag onto your thread if that’s ok.
We’re in hospitality and it came with almost as a joke that there were leases available in the highlands. I spent an entire day thoroughly falling in love with the idea and I’m not trying to work out the reality. Also our car was broken into last week and suddenly I’m yearning for more space and know your neighbours.
Ds isn’t particularly good at making friends so I’m worried about moving him to a smaller school where potentially there’s only a few kids to be friends with. Could go either way though?

Just looked up Glen Urquhart High School. It seems to have had a very good HMIE inspection. It's a very small school; only 200 pupils and 25 teachers. I can see advantages in that (family atmosphere, probably more individual attention) but also disadvantages (claustrophobic, probably fewer subject choices).

If you're rural currently it could be an easier transition, though there's going to be a big difference between Scottish Highland rural and just outside of Bath, an hour and a half on the train to London rural.

Apologies if I'm coming across as very negative. It's the sort of move that for some people can be great. I just found the transition unbearable myself and think people should go into it with their eyes fully open!

No not negative just realistic! I can’t find a website for Glen Urquhart high school or an inspection report for Fortrose Academy which is on the Black Isle and meant to be good

I couldn't find an inspection report either, but did find an article saying they'd had an excellent inspection report! Only seems to be a Facebook page rather than a website for GUHS.

You'll find all the school handbooks here

I took a quick look at the Glen Urquhart one -- my main concern with such a small school would be the breadth of subjects offered from S4-S6.

for us the main things are great schools, being rural but close enough to a city for kids etc and being close to extended family
I guess it must be about the last one because for the others you'd be better outside Glasgow (great countryside; good schools and a great city within commuting distance). I'd seriously consider how close you want to be to family and how often you plan to see them because Inverness has very little to entertain older teenagers and your DD will be one shortly. I have friends in Inverness and I love to visit it but it's in no way comparable to Glasgow or Edinburgh

Fortrose is a good school as well I live over that way as opposed to Loch Ness area.
How old are your dc going to be when they move here? Just because your ds is in last year of primary doesn’t mean he will be going to secondary in Scotland we start at 12 here so he may have another year in primary to do when he gets here. He wouldn’t generally be put to secondary a whole year early. It’s very likely your dd would go into 3rd year rather than 4 the year. We don’t have reception up here so dc don’t start school until 5 and are kept within their peer group so if she will just have turned 14 when school goes back in August she’d be third year not fourth.

There is loads to do for teenagers in and around Inverness I moved back here from the city because I had the best of both worlds for the dc. My dc (one teen one near teen and an 8 year old) have plenty to occupy their time and they all have very different interests.

Wow, thank you so much everyone for all the advice and practical info/links!

I’ve got family in Wick, Golspie, Forres and Inverness although haven’t seen Inverness family in years. I think some of my second cousins have school age kids so perhaps I ought to contact them .

Do most of the kids go on to Scottish uni? I’ve heard that it’s really difficult to get into if you actually live here and they prefer fee paying English or foreign students rather than Scottish ones. DD has always wanted to do law, realise it’s year away though...

I have fond memories of Inverness. Loved the musical clock as a kid and the new shopping centre (which was better than our shops in Bath!) and TK Maxx as a teenager.

I lived in Inverness for 2 years when my husband was a junior doctor. I had a newborn baby so could have felt isolated. Instead I got a proactive nurturing HV who helped me make links with other mums through various baby groups. Some soon became very good friends. I lived everything about my time there, the people, the beautiful countryside and loved the city itself. I’m only sorry that we couldn’t stay

Competition for Scottish uni paces is fierce, and law is fiercely competitive anyway. Have a look at the entrance requirements and be aware that dd will have to be hitting the upper range. You also have to have been resident here for 3 years to get a free place - worth double checking that figure as I'm a bit hazy.

So where do averagely clever Scottish kids go to uni or is it difficult for them to get in anywhere?

It depends what they want to do but a lot of kids I know have gone to Aberdeen uni, few have gone to Edinburgh or Glasgow but majority I know go for Aberdeen. It’s a good uni (biased) close and easy to get to probably familiar with the city.
While competition can be fierce I don’t know anyone’s dc that has wanted to go to uni that hasn’t got in to at least one of their chosen Scottish ones. I know few people that have left Scotland to go to uni really thenones I do are ones that have either gone to oxford or Cambridge or a specialist place like stage school.