Morningside to Queensferry Road - how easy a commute?

[maggiethecat]

Bear with me please dear E/burgh Mnetters. We are considering Mary Erskine for girls but would like to live in the Morningside area. How easy a commute would it be to go from M/side to Queensferry Road?

edinburgh too wee to have N Vs S rivalries.it isnt london

Laughing at well heeled types and looking over at my ten year old trainers!

The Edinburgh forum posters have been so helpful and one of the things that I have picked up is that there are many good schools around. But when we started our search (bearing in mind that I had never been to Scotland, let alone Edinburgh) we were guided by dh's prospective colleagues who have children at these schools.

Timescales and distance have been factors limiting our search for schools.

If I could do it differently I would spend a couple of weeks there and get a better feel of where we want to live and then try to select accordingly.

Interestingly, one of the earliest posts suggested working out choice of area first and then school after and I understand now what she meant.

Not easy to do though.

Don't think she meant divide in the perjorative - think she was alluding to a difference in the feel.

only new town feels distinct to me,rest of it samey to me.

not keenon the balerno,currie sprawl

Knickerelastic, I was looking back at some of my other threads and realise that you were the one who suggested choosing area then schools .

Hi Maggie,

Yes thst was my advice to chose the area first then the school - not the greatest bit of advice if you really don't know the town at all! i can only imagine how difficult it must be moving somewhere that you don't know at all, areas that locals instinctively know are great or a bit iffy are all just names on a map which mean nothing to you.

I guess one thing about Edinburgh is that it really has lots and lots of lovely bits to live in - Morningside, Bruntsfield, New Town, Trinity, Stockbridge, Blackhall, Murrayfield - all of these are lovely parts of town, and there are many more that i have left off the list!

I think in one of your previous posts you mentioned that you've prettymuch decided on Mary Erskine's for your DDs. I can totally understand that as it would make life alot easier in terms of knowing that the schooling was sorted. I don't know much about Erskines I'm afraid, except that it is a very well established school and the facilities seem great. (sorry to be useless - i'm much more across the state school sector than the private).

FWIW I think that living in either Murrayfield or Blackhall would be great. They really are very nice areas with some lovely houses for sale. Not cheap - but very nice.

Has any of this been of anyuse to you? I think I've just rambled on..... Anyway edinburgh is a fab city to live in so best of luck with all of it!

Maggie, just in case you will try to contact schools this week, it is the February break at the mo, state schools off for the whole of the coming week, but most independents are off till Wednesday.

K

Thanks Knickers. The sooner that we get there and try to settle in is the better we will all feel.

Erskine's is not in the bag yet as although dd2 has been given offer we have to find out about dd1 who has not been assessed yet.

Thanks for reminder about halfterm Kaumana.

If you went for Mary Erskine's, nearby Blackhall is a lovely area - perhaps not as good parks or shops as Morningside, but lots of families and a community feel.

Agree with knickerelastic - there are lots of other good state primaries out there, not just the oversubscribed ones such as Sciennes, James Gillespies etc.

Community feel ticks one of the boxes - good.

The other thing to bear in mind with ME is the girls will be on two different sites - would be easier to live nearby. I have three children there who will have three different finishing times! Will be moving nearer!!

I wouldn't worry too much about amenities in the immediate areas (if you are looking at places like Murrayfield for instance, which is very nice) - Edinburgh just isn't that big and especially if you have a car, going in to a nearby area for the doctors/shops etc really isn't a big deal. I would try to avoid going across the city at rush hour as that tends to be nasty. If you are set on ME then in all honesty almost every area near it is perfectly nice. Most of Edinburgh's rough bits are on the outskirts

Anywhere around Trinity/Stockbridge/Craigleith/Blackhall/Ravelston/Belford/Murrayfield/Roseburn are all nice. Also consider chunks of Saughtonhall which are very close to ME and very nice areas, but seem to be a bit cheaper just because they are Saughton rather than Murrayfield/Roseburn. Once you go south of the railway you're getting a bit rougher.

I know OwlMother, that's why I was not too keen on them initially and did not even plan to see them when we visited but changed my mind lastminute. Am glad that I did see them (Mrs Rycroft was really good).

Still feel a bit regretful that both girls won't be on the same site. Realise how imp it is to be near.

Scotsgirl, still checking Citylets website for some of those areas but not an awful lot on at the moment. Hopefully things will get better in spring.

Even if they were on the same site - probably don't have too much to do with each other anyway, P1 play seperately (I think!)

Did you look at Watsons, would have been my first choice but we're at the wrong side of the city? It's the logical choice for Morningside. We are very happy with ESMS, have moved our youngest earlier than planned because we've been so impressed. Mrs Rycroft is lovely!

I know what you mean but I have this romantic vision of dd2 being at things like assembly and excitedly shouting out to her big sister.

Did not look at Watson's - think I was scared off by the sheer numbers before realising by the time our visit was up that many private schools are quite big - perhaps bcos of economies of scale.

What has impressed you the most about ME? Is there anything that you are not so happy about? I am not so comfortable with class sizes of 25 (and I think it's one teacher and a TA) which would seem to suggest that there is not as much individual attention as you might expect.

Rycroft was very charming and although I knew that she selling her school there was an enthusiasm that seemed sincere.

The size is fairly daunting, ,my son is in P6 and there are more children in P6 at ESMS (200) than there were in his entire previous school. Also class sizes are not small, seem to be between 22-26.

We have had a really positive experience with ds1, he has gone from being a child who didn't like school, capable but not performing, to one that eagerly laps it all up. He has nothing but positive things to say about it, and despite the fact that his current day is really long ( on the school coach at 7.30 and off again at 17.30 with an hour of homework on top) he is unbelievably happy there.

We have had nothing but positive interactions with the teaching staff and ds1 is able to participate in a wide range of extracurricular activities.

Because we live a distance away we only started ds1 in p6 and this was our initial plan for the other two, however we have been so taken with it that we have been waiting for a gap to open in p2 ( this never materialised, the new p3 class makes it possible for dd1 to start in August) and ds2 starts p1 then too. We might see you there is you decide to plump for esms!

They've clearly got it worked out bcos despite big numbers there seem to be many happy parents and children. We may just see you there!

The independent schools in Edinburgh can be quite large, as can the popular state schools. DS is at Watson's, which is the largest school in Scotland in terms of numbers. However, we chose it because we went on several tours and really liked the ethos of the place. Also, the junior school, senior school are on the same campus so we felt that would make the transition between stages easier. And the playing fields etc. are all on the same campus so DH felt that the children would have more use of them e.g. they wouldn't have to use some of the gym time travelling to the playing fields.

DS was at Sciennes and we moved him to Watson's. I would have to say he loves both schools, but prefers the Watson's playground.

We live in the south side, and I really like it. However, we are looking to move within walking distance of the school and it is hard to find anything we can afford. So I can sympathise with you.

I think the north / south thing for me is that the south is nearer to the hills etc. so it feels quite open. While the north is near the beaches and river so to me feels a bit more enclosed. DH grew up in the north side and feels the exact opposite to me! It's all just based on gut feeling really!

Stockbridge is great, similar feel to morningside. I don't know the other areas too well, but I hear Blackhall is nice, and Ravelston appears lovely.

Chrys, I remember you saying that your ds was at Sciennes and that space was a bit tight. I really got a good feel about the school when I visited - it did not have the same calmness as some other schools but a buzz can be a good thing. I remember one little boy skipping down the corridor. Numbers within the building did seem quite big.

Another thing that made an impression on me and was the start of another thread was the playground - which seemed to be just an open space. I could not see anything specific for the litle ones (perhaps they roll stuff out at playtime?). I gather that children should use their imaginations at play but zero equipment is stretching things a bit.

My dd2 liked one of the climbing frames at ME and seems to remember that most of all - if only life were just about climbing frames!

I think the good thing is that whichever side you're on it's still relatively close to get to beach or hills. Far different from where we live now - that's why our backgarden is sacred

Sciennes is a good school, with excellent teachers. But for us it was just too crowded, and the school was quite open about making decisions based on numbers rather than what they felt was best for the children.

With regard to the playground, what you see is what there is! There is no play equipment other than skipping ropes. They have different playtimes for different groups of years so the littlest children are not out with the P7s, but there is no separate area for the P1s so they can feel quite overwhelmed by it. Also from P4 onwards the children can go to the Meadows in their lunchbreak which I believe they enjoy.

I was told by PTA person that they have worked with the numbers issue and tried to use that to their advantage. I can't remember details but I think it was along lines of developing teaching styles to suit; so much so that teachers have been seconded off to other schools to impart teaching methods.

Was also told that PTA is very active in raising funds and have contributed much equipment etc. I suppose things like sandtables, a few ride-ons etc never made it on the list; I wonder if because of practical issues?

The PTA was very active, and did contribute a lot but I think it was mainly equipment for use inside the school.

To be fair, they were innovative in terms of team teaching etc., but for us just too crowded.