Edinburgh independent schools

[maggiethecat]

Have considered a lot of the advice given here (Dh refers to it as 'gospel according to MN') and have shortlisted a few state schools to see when we visit Ed in just over a week.

I thought that it might be useful to look at a couple of independent primaries as well since there is no guarantee that we'll get our chosen schools (esp since we've missed application deadline) or that both girls will be together.

We've heard that St Georges is good academically but that's not all that matters to us - also still not sure if we want same sex school.

Watsons has been mentioned as being very nice and will have a look at that.

Any others recommended?

Maggie - your question to Mssoul about Flora's
"Did you find that the children had good music experiences even if they were not part of the specialist school?"

I asked just this question of the acting head who filled in till the present head arrived and she basically said 'no, the fact that the music school is based there does not mean that the rest of the school has more exposure to music or more chance to participate in musical activities or learn an instrument.'

But this contradicts Mssouls's experienece so I don't know really.

At Stockbridge there are after-school activity classes in recorder, chanter, guitar, general music and singing this term apart from the other sports/language/arts classes.

Hi
how is the search going? Not sure it will help but we are in catchment for Sciennes and ds went there fir P1. Teachers are great but it is incredibly over crowded with no space for activities and very limited outdoor space. We moved ds to watson's and are very happy with our choice. Lots of children go to state primaries and move for secondary so your children would not be the only new ones if you did that. Apparently 25% of children in Edinburgh go to independent schools so it is pretty standard.

Bookswapper, Carol has already apologiesed for the tone of her post ponting out that these were not her personal views but suggestions in response to Bairns question. They were not intended to be offensive. Unfortunately this forum does not have the edit function so it has to stay

Shitemum I think lots of other schools have afterschool (or even in school) classes in various musical activities do you have any idea if floras gets any more or less than stockbridge or any other edinburgh?

Cuckooclock...my response was to Bairn's question as to why I had my knickers in a twist about Carol's post - I explained why. I agree it is a shame Carol's post has to stay unedited. "It takes a village..." and all that.

Thanks all. am in Ed and have not been connected this w/e.

Chrysanthemum, will go Sciennes this afternoon. Met couple of dh's friends who have children at school. One mum said she did not think music was strong.

Got a strong sense of how much private schools are used here - much more than London.

We only looked at one property which was okish. Friends' homes are stunning - gave view of the very nice period properties around.

Visited beach at Gullane and girls enjoyed getting feet wet.

Has been pleasant so far but today school viewing starts so need to get out of holiday mode.

Hi Maggie, thanks for the update. It's good to hear what you have been up to. I am sure it was a little chilly on the beach. It is very nice along there in the summer though. Keep us updated.

Squidgy - am back in London now and did not see Lorettos (remember seeing buses to M/burgh though).

In a nutshell it was a good experience esp since I was starting from zero.

Saw a bit of the city and saw 6 schools: James Gillespie, St Peters, Sciennes, Floras, St Georges and Mary Erskine.

Overall, got a sense that schools are larger than what we have been used to.

Got a good feel for St Peters, Sciennes and the two privates, for various reasons. Floras was ok too.

Shitemum, you may be right - got sense that the general school of Floras did not benefit significantly from having music school attached ie did not seem to have music that was any more special than other schools (I could be wrong but from answers to questions posed I could not pick up otherwise). Also, they have orchestras but these only seem to meet up for special events rather than on weekly basis.

Chrysanthemum, I did get a good feel about Sciennes but it is one of the biggest. On day of visit there were a number of teachers off and the dep who showed us around had been fire fighting that morning.

It may well be a case of being victim of its own success in being so oversubscribed. I got feeling that children would be well stimulated and teachers and children seemed engaged but I wonder if everyone has been worn out dealing with numbers overflow?

Other thing I noticed is that playgrounds (from what we could see) of most of the state schools seemed uninspired/ing. Surely some of the happiest memories of children are from the playground. I think that markings and things like seating (if you cant have some greenery) would go a long way in making things a bit nicer.

Mary Erskine had a nice feel - less formal than St Georges. Children seemed very happy at both though. More resources and facilities which clearly must be paid for. It was interesting to note that the state schools used macs (not sure if this is council policy) - thought that this would be more costly option so if it is policy they must strongly believe macs are the way forward [technophobe here]

Anyway, we have a lot to consider and will try to digest the info.

My girls are at St George's, both now in upper school, but have been there since primary. Great size of school- not too big, so much more personal. When one of mine was in Junior school, other was in Lower (middle)school,but as Junior, Lower and Upper are all right next to each other, it didn't matter. I would definitely recommend it. Single sex school seems to work very well for girls.

0131 my older girl liked St Georges as 2 girls showed us around and were very friendly and bright (they were also truthful and both said they did not like school lunches, but does anyone?).

It's a small school (mucher smaller than Mary E). We have noted that they have not contacted us since our return while ME has called to ask if we arrived back safely and wanted to check our address to write to us.
Perhaps St George's will follow up but maybe they don't need to?

I think that single sex can be good for girls but not sure if I want it for them from so early. Still think it's a nice school though.