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Original poster

Castle Terrace and Tollcross school

15 replies

hapagirl · 03/08/2013 15:49

Hello,
I will be an Edinburgh mum in a couple of weeks! We are looking for a place to live fairly central but with the festival and short term lets, its not easy and our choices are limited because we need a place by the new school year. We only want to rent until we buy (we want to buy in New Town or West End) Anyway, I found a place off Castle Terrace. It would be okay for a little while, I could be a tourist and really take in the sites. But its centralness scares me a little. Is that area safe? Its catchment school is Tollcross. Any thoughts on that school?
Thanks for your help! :)

OP posts:

GrooveeCar · 03/08/2013 16:22

The school did share with the Gaelic school but they will be moving which will give a lot more space within the school. I've heard some really good things about Tollcross from happy parents and if we lived in the area, I wouldn't hesitate to send my children there.

Original poster

hapagirl · 03/08/2013 16:46

Thanks GrooveeCar. Thats good to hear!

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StatisticallyChallenged · 03/08/2013 22:20

Perfectly safe area- I work on Castle Terrace and live a 5 minute walk away.

Original poster

hapagirl · 04/08/2013 09:56

Thanks StatisticallyChallenged. Its good to hear from someone who lives in the area. We want to live in the city so I realise that we will probably have to put up with some noise and unsavory characters but I don't want it to be the flavour of the neighbourhood if you know what I mean!

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WillPenn · 08/08/2013 21:38

Had a mum friend who lived there (now moved) and found it very convenient and nice. Princes Street gardens is your backyard! Tollcross also fine school-wise so I'd say go for it!

Original poster

hapagirl · 09/08/2013 12:45

Thanks WillPenn. Signing Tenancy Agreement today. So excited about our new life!

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Yorkshirelass444 · 09/08/2013 13:56

hi there, i'm so sorry to jump on your thread, hapagirl- i've just left long-winded question in main part of site -i just don't know how to start thread on local!
i'm v interested in relocating to edinburgh and would prefer to live in city rather than suburbs so interested to hear of other families doing so.
however, my query is: which month is youngest in scots classroom born in? i'm in england and son is youngest and smallest in year- his birthday is august. i've read that (in scotland) parents of kids with birthdays between sept and end feb have option of holding child back a year and if they do so, are august kids youngest in year- or, in practice do parents rarely hold kids back for a year? i would love for my son to have option of same-age and younger playmates- as would he!

StatisticallyChallenged · 09/08/2013 14:36

I think holding back is relatively rare - it's certainly not standard so I would not expect an August born to be the youngest in the class by a long stretch.

I think the standard year is from 1st march (i.e. the oldest kids are born at start of March, youngest at end of February)

weebarra · 09/08/2013 14:55

DS1 is a December birthday. We chose not to defer him, he's about to go into P2. He goes to quite a big primary school with 3 P1 classes arranged by age. August birthdays were in the middle class.

GrooveeCar · 09/08/2013 16:09

Your august born son would be 5 or about to turn 5 when he starts school. Deferal is automatic for Jan/Feb Birthdays but you need a really good argument as to why they need to be deferred Aug-Dec.

The Scottish school intake birthdates are 1st March to 28/29th February. So the year in which your child turns 5 they would go to school in the August. But if they are Jan/Feb they can defer and start at 5 instead of 4.

Yorkshirelass444 · 09/08/2013 16:20

great! thanks everyone, that's really helped. Just following on from what weebarra said, are classes normally arranged by age or is it a mix? for example at my son's current school there are two classes in each year and they are a mix of ages (for that year)-they each contain younger and older kids whereas it looks as tho weebarra, your son's school arranges classes by age- is this unusual?
def approve of scots system in terms of kids age and would have deferred my son if england had similar policy

GrooveeCar · 09/08/2013 16:25

It depends on the school. My son's school is mixed, but I've worked in others where they are age order.

Original poster

hapagirl · 09/08/2013 20:12

Oh gosh, I didn't even know when the age cut off was. I just told the school my DDs birthdays and they said said that they would be in P1 and P3. My DD2 is born in March which will make her one of the oldest, I had just assumed that cut off was August and she would be in the middle somewhere. We are coming from the Canadian system where they are much more relaxed about academics at this age. I hope she won't be too far behind :(

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Yorkshirelass444 · 10/08/2013 11:31

I'm sure she'll be fine, hapagirl- she'll have maturity on her side! Hope it all goes smoothly for you.

Original poster

hapagirl · 10/08/2013 20:23

Thanks. Good luck with your move too (if you decide to move here). I like what I see so far :)

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