OH NO they are closing 22 schools in Edinburgh

[nailpolish]

not dds school thank GOD

bogwabbit - dont knock Edinburgh then!!!
wher ei live in Edinburgh we have a huge green park across the road - itll never get built on (nature reserve)
i dont feel overcrowded

• and i like living in a place where there are lots of people from all voer the world - or "outsiders" as you called them

"welcome to scotland" eh?

It's her opinion, naily, why get so nippy about it?

I mean, if she doesn't like it, more for you then?

You've expressed your opinion of other places in this thread (Fri 17-Aug-07 11:32:57), yet when people come on and say they don't like living in Edinburgh, it's not for them, they find it overcrowded or whatever other opinion, you get all shirty.

So what? What's it to you if they don't? They can bog off elsewhere and hte people who want to stay there or come over there can.

im not bieng nippy or shirty
you cant barge in and say "oh dont knock my hometown" and then go on to knock someone elses
!

Edinburgh's one of the greenest cities in the world. It has a massive park right in the middle of it next to its prime shopping street (how many cities can say that?) and an even bigger park, with a mountain in it, about 1 mile away. As well as lots of parks that are not getting built on. Yes the building is going mad at the moment but I don't see the parks disappearing. Instead they seem to me to be knocking down a lot of ugly old crap and rebuilding on the land.

We do consider ourselves very lucky to have bought a flat for under 100K a few years ago and made a profit - then moved out to somewhere a bit more suburban (though still in edinburgh) to get more rooms for our money. But this is one city where I can see why it's expensive. I would hate to pay this much to live in London but for Edinburgh it's worth it.

Returning to the OP, the schools are a worry though. I live in an area with a good primary and a famously bad secondary (at which a bullied girl had to go to court to get an injunction against her bullies as the staff weren't stopping them - nice). Our area is hoaching with under-10s but then everyone moves as secondary approaches, so there are no teenagers here.

Back to the topic, leopard, I really hope they don't close these schools, because some are operating at near capacity and in many cases, the school is actually the closest one, but the pupil counts as out of catchment because they're across the road which is the boundary.

They should take that into consideration, especially as there is such a drive to end the school run and get more kids to walk or cycle to school.

Drummond is FAB. We have had several students from there and they've all been articulate and well-prepared.

Plus, closing Victoria when there is all that new housing going up in that area is daft! Short-sighted, too.

Ditto Bonnington because The Fort - the tower, that is - is slated for demolition.

at dd's school they are nowhere near capacity - one year only has ten pupils in it

DD1's is over-subscribed as a primary school.

But as it's an RC, it hasn't got a catchment area so much as a 'district' - a district that's grown more as many Polish people have moved into the area and lots of them are pracitcing Catholics.

It just seems like the actual closures weren't thought through very well.

I mean, the Fort's been slated for demo for years, much of it is boarded up, but because the council hasn't been able to move the rest of the occupants, it's still standing.

So it doesn't make sense to close Bonnington and not the Fort.

dds school is half RC
probably the main reason its not closing
RC schools are safe

Two RC schools are slated for closure, though. St. Catherine's and St. Cuthbert's.

I'm not knocking Edinburgh...far from it. I'm just saying that as well as all the good things about it (and of course there are loads of them: the Queens Park is an amazing, brilliant piece of the countryside right in the middle of the city for example), there are lots of downsides.
As for 'outsiders', again I've nothing against them but I find it quite sad that people who are born and bred in Edinburgh are forced financially (and I'm not necessarily talking about dh because he was happy to move) because a bunch of upper-class Hugos and Lucindas colonise the place.

Well bogwobbit - I'm an English "coloniser" in Scotland and as I'm middle-class and professional, yes I probably have more money than some, and can afford a house some people couldn't (though it's far from palatial and my name's not Lucinda). But be careful, because if it's sad that I can move to Edinburgh, is it also regrettable that Scottish people can go and live in London, or New York or wherever they like?

Ah well, that makes it all right then.

well bogwobbit, i have to say i agree with you - i'm edinburgh born and bred and since having the DDs virtually all the new people i have met are english. i do live in a posh bit (altho not in a posh house!) and most of the other mums round here conform to what you say, ie have sold houses down south for massivo profits and have bought something fab up here. in fact i had an estate agent round here the other day who said that house prices in this area were inflated by that very fact. none of my friends could afford to live in this area now, sadly.

i don't think snowleopard that anyone is saying 'colonisers' can't come here or aren't welcome, but it is annoying at times.

Message withdrawn

What makes it all right? I'm not saying whether it's all right or not, but people are free to move around. The reason I'm slightly annoyed in my turn is that Scottish people expect (quite rightly) that they can go and live in England and buy whatever house they fancy and can afford, wherever they want to. And many, many do. In fact as you may have noticed a good proportion of British, London-based government, media and industry is run by Scots who I expect have bought quite nice houses that many English people couldn't afford. If you are going to moan about people moving from England to Scotland's capital, are you also saying it's equally bad the other way around? Because you should, if you don't want your statement to be thought of as possibly a little racist.

Well, I'm foreign and couldn't care less who is buying what.

We're not city folks, we find it too overcrowded and expensive for the space you get so we're moving on.

It's a question of priorities. For some, having cafes, arts, attractions, pubs, restaurants, museums, etc. is vital and it's what they value doing.

For others, 'something to do' means lacing up your walking boots, getting the kids on the bike or a pitch black night sky in which to view the stars.

Horses for courses. Big cities depress me and I've lived in lots of 'em. For others, it's the other way round.

There's room for everyone and it's a good thing we don't all want the same things.

Message withdrawn

Too right, snow. People are free to move on if things don't suit them.

29 September, Pruni, thanks for asking .

Expat are you heading north, south east or west?

West, seb

Snowleopard i don't think anyone's being racist - I am quite sure that people in London or wherever are just as irritated when the tables are turned by the Scots. I just think that house prices frustrate everyone and its easy to blame other people. Everyone is entitled to want affordable housing in the area they were brought up in, whether that is in Edinburgh, Stornoway or Cornwall. and it is sad that this isn;t always possible.

you are sooo behind the times redrobin all the london types are moving to n.berwick. its amazing the place is awash with them all gloating over the fabulous schools.

, the goat.

They've been doing that for years, though.

In fact, DH's Irish nana came over as a domestic servant to an English family that had estates in both Ireland AND a 'summer house' in N. Berwick.

That was where she met DH's grandfather, a fisherman from New Haven, gave the family the boot (she had been raised by nuns in an orphanage) and lived in Scotland for the rest of her days.

and who can blame them...scotland really is teh best place to be!