Moving to Edinburgh and Scottish schooling system

[Cyclinggirl]

Hi all, I'm new to MN but having joined read through a few threads I'm hopeful that you can help me. DH and myself are conidering a move to Edinburgh for a lifestyle change, I've always loved it and he has family up there. My dimena is that we have three children and no idea about the Scottish schooling system! DD and DS (twins) have just turned 3 (October) and younger DS is 2 in January. Having done some research Sciennes Primary and South Morningside come highly recomended but when looking up about admissions and when we would have to be in place to apply I became thoroughly confused! Can anyone help?! We would be fairly flexible re. location, so long as it's not too far from the airport for travel to London. Has anyone experience of schooling in Scotland and how compares to England? Also what it's like bringing children up in Edinburgh?

Thankyou!

Apologies for the spelling mistakes!! :)

Are the schools private or state? I live in Scotland, and can help with understanding the state system here, but have no experience of private schools.
We lived in Edinburgh for a while but it ws pre dcs, dsis is still there (childfree), so again, possibly general help, but nothing specific.

Any help is appreciated. Simply understanding the state system is a start! If DS and DD are 4 in October 2012 when would they start and when would we need to apply?
Thankyou!

DS & DD would start in August, when they are 4ys and 10 months. You'd need to apply in the January (check on local authority website) of that year.

Your 2-year-old would start when she was 4.5, or you could defer for a year and wait till she was 5.5. This is very common. Be aware, though, if you defer and have alread used your 2 years of free pre-school education, your ECC may not agree to pay for a third.

I'm not in Edinburgh, so I can't comment on the schools, but I hope this information about starting ages helps.

My information is rather rusty, but I think your DC would start P1 in August 2013, with a year of part time nursery before that. Generally dc go to the local school so you'd have to be living in the catchment area of the school you're after. I have seen stats that say 80% of placement requests for a school with a different catchment are granted, but wouldn't rely on that in your case.

Sorry - just seen that your youngest is a boy, not a girl!

If they are 4 in October 2012 then they will start in August 2013 at nearly-5, although you would have the option of holding them back a year if you wanted (but no state support for additional nursery year).

Your January DC would have the option of starting at 4 and a half, or of waiting till 5 and a half, and you would probably get support for the additional nursery year, though it varies between councils (But Jan and Feb DC tend to get it in a lot of places)

In either case if you did hold them back a year, they would start in P1 when they did start, and not skip a year like they would in England.

they would start primary 1 in august 2013, with your january ds you can choose whether to send him in 2016 or 2017. registrations usually take place in january and are advertised in the local press

PS, Portobello is lovely! Other side of the city from the airport, but the bypass cuts journey times.

Ive 2 DS in scottish state system.

Term time is mid August to end of June. They would start in August 2013 so just 2 months before their 5th birthday. So for an August start the kids must be 5 already or will turn 5 before the 28th Feb the following year.

Many primary schools have associated nurseries they could attend (state pays for up to 5 2 1/2 hr sessions I think) which is obv good as they get to know other kds they will attend school with. Or they could attend another pre-school nursery if your chosen primary doesnt have its own nursery.

Sorry if you know this already, they do primary 1 - 7 then off to High school after that (so they would be about to turn 12 when they go off to High).

We have a weeks holiday in mid October, 2 weeks at Xmas, 2 weeks at beginning of April, then about 7 weeks from end of June to mid August

Ive had a very positive experience with our state schools and think if you do your research well, checkin HMI reports and speaking to locals if possible, things should go well

HTH

Hi! If they are 4 in Oct 12, you would apply in Nov 12 to start in august 14. We are about to go through this process for ds2 who was 4 in July 11. So you would need to be in your new home (in catchment) by Nov 12.

We moved from London to Edinburgh for lifestyle reasons when pregnant with ds1 and have never ever regretted it. I miss my friends and things but love it up here! You get all the lovely benefits of a big city but gorgeous countryside on our doorstep. My kids go to cramond primary and its a fab school... location good for airport. I have friends at morningside and she really rates that too, and she knows what she's talking about as a teacher.

Either way I highly recommend it! Any specific questions just let me know!

Oops! Meant start in august 13!

Keep bumping to actually get up to date info on the 2 schools you mention. I do know friends whose kids went to South Morningside, no problems, but both sets did go on the private secondary schools - George Watsons and Heriots. Not unusual as the private school sector is relatively big in Edinburgh. I also know ex-teachers from Sciennes, which has historically had a great reputation, but that reputation has itself led to problems with over popularity issues I believe.
In general there is a very impressive mix of both private and state schools in Edinburgh. Nearly all my friends here have got what they wanted for their kids.
It is a very easy city to live in, relatively small, nice little 'villages' IYSWIM. They have managed to destroy its traffic network of late due to the dreaded tram network and that will continue for a couple of decades years yet. But all things are relative, surrounding motorways aren't really a big issue, nor is commuting, and certainly my DD has grown up with as good a degree of city freedom as she would have had anywhere (though maybe not the sexiest weather). Plus we have the best arts festival in the world, the best book festival and the best end of festival fireworks ever. Enough to keep you busy.

Specifically, you'd need to be in place by November 2012 in order to register your twins for admission in the year starting August 2013. Edinburgh is doing its registration for August 2012 next week (which is two months earleir than Glasgow, which does it at the end of January)

One of the plus sides of the Scottish process is that catchments are fixed for the year that you apply - so none of the English nonsense of not knowing if you will be close enough to be in catchment. The schools and/or education department of the council will be able to tell you specifically if the houses you are interested in are within catchment.

Although I'm in Glasgow, we had assumed that one primary school was our catchment school as it was closer and it was only on ringing the other (preferred) school that we found out that it was actually our catchment school as there was a weird "dogs leg" in the catchment boundaries. So it is worth checking.

Wow what a great resource of information - thanks everyone for taking the time. I now know when we need to be in place so the next step in the process is to pick a few areas and go to look at schools. There's a lot of threads on schools and areas here on MN which will help.

The whole 'which school is best' thing is a bit overwhelming, especially trying to satisfy three very different personalities! But I'm determined not to get too hung up about the whole thing and keep things in perspective (hmm who am I kidding).

Chooster, when I've done more delving I'll get back to you. Moving away from friends and grandparents will be hard but I want to live where my children will have exposure to city, country and culture. We're used to the cold and rain as we're from Manchester!

Thanks again folks.

Before you buy/rent a place in a particular catchment, find out how oversubscribed that primary school is. eg I think S Morningside had problems a few years ago (or rather the parents did!) and couldn't give places to everyone - this is unusual in Scotland. I can't remember who at the council has the information but there's a number to ring iirc.

Also find out which secondary school a primary feeds into so you don't have to move your child when they're settled. I think in general, the primaries are good. At secondary level, that's less true - there are some secondary schools that have pretty bad reputations and some which are highly regarded.

Just out of curiosity Chooster, why did you pick Cramond when you moved from London?

Thank you LaPruneDeMaTante, I'll bear that in mind. I have had secondaries in mind when looking at areas as I understand how important they are. Although a lot can change in 10 years! I don't want to disrupt the kids again if at all possible.

I agree with LaPrune in looking at what secondaries the primaries feed into.

With regards to the primary schools some of the most mentioned schools on this forum inc S Morningside do have issues re overcrowding. SM was built (1890 approx) as a two stream school (two classes per year) it is now a three stream with two classes being held in a church hall and 4 classes in TUs (transportable units, put up in the 70's). The dining room can't cope with lunch time, pack lunches are eaten in the childrens classroom, while the small dining hall serves the kids, others have to wait (their turn that week/day) so sometimes they miss out on play time.

Beware of the bypass. My parents live in Edinburgh and using the bypass can be horrendous at peak times. If you are looking for a location with good access to the airport, think very carefully before heading east!

The bypass can be described as "horrendous" at peak times, but to be honest I have found it much shorter and easier to deal with than the M62 or the M621!

If the OP is coming from Manchester, she'll be used to truly horrendous traffic!

As for Edinburgh being family friendly, I would say that it definitely is. It's a small city, easy to find your way around, there are lots of attractions and distractions in the city and nearby in the surrounding areas.

Nice easy access to the east coast if you fancy a day at the beach, great links via air and rail to everywhere else. My parents live in Dunfermline, where house prices are cheaper than Edinburgh and used to commute to Edinburgh city centre for work, although mum is now retired and dad is based in Dunfermline now. I live in Leeds, but have often pondered over moving up to Edinburgh as I really enjoy it and all it has to offer. We have in-laws in Glasgow so we would be much closer to all our family if we moved.

I'll keep a wee eye on this thread

Too true Singingsands, the M60 is on par with the M25 during peak times. But I agree that making the journey time to the airport minimal is preferable as travelling to London from Edinburgh is not ideal!

I'll aim for West, NW and SW to start with and see how I get on. All the information on overcrowding is worrying and I'll certainly be looking out for that when considering schools. A previous post suggested Cramond which is also near the coast.

Lots of information out at the moment about the reduction in class sizes to 25 and how the schools are dealing with that, so lots to question when visiting. Now feeling more confident that I know what I want, which is reassuring, so thanks again all. If there is still so much uncertainty about High schools when the time comes I'll be considering private.

Well have booked my first recce weekend in December, involving the Christmas festivities with the children at the same time. Can't wait :)

CG

Going by your posting name, you should also be able to do some good cycling round and about Edinburgh. And next year you could do the Pedal for Scotland - a c.50 mile ride from Glasgow to Edinburgh (you can pay a bit extra to get transport for you and our bike across to Glasgow).

On the question of traffic, and having lived in both the South East and in the Greater Manchester area (including commuting from Bolton to Leeds for a while), people up here don't fully comprehend what regular traffic jams are really like. We complain when you have to wait an extra half hour in a jam......

The Edinburgh bypass can be bad and when there is an accident, can be horrendous, the Kingston Bridge in Glasgow ditto - but they are not like the daily horror that is the M62/M60.

Bolton to Leeds must have been awful! I did Huddersfield to Leeds for a while and that was bad enough at rushhour. Thanks for the info prettybird, I do more coaching than cycling these days so the new velodrome at Glasgow will be a great assett to me!

Ds (11) is currently obsessed with cycling (along with rugby - although he hasn't decided whether he is going to be a professional rugby player or a professional cyclist! ) - he's recently starting with the GlasgowRiderz, the kids cycling club here. He had one session on the track bikes on the outdoor track and loved it - but didn't manage another go as it was wet all of the subsequent weeks except for the following week when we got there on time but not early enough to get one of the track bikes so he is really looking forward to the new velodrome opening.

He did the Pedal for Scotland this year for the first time - his first long ride and he coped very well.

He is driving us mad with his requests for a drop handle bar bike - I keep on telling him that he is "between sizes" - but what he doesn't know is that a brand new Luath Islabike is already hanging up in his grandfather's garage, ready for Christmas! :)