Relocating to Edinburgh from New Zealand

[fishyscott]

Hiya lovely mums - help please!! We are moving to Edinburgh in Dec; we have 3 primary school aged kids. We need to advice on where to base our search for a nice family friendly neighbourhood with a good primary school (which has spaces for all 3 kids). West side of the city would be good for an easy commute to work. We plan to arrive early Dec, house hunt, enrol kids before the end of term - is this at all feasible? I've seen a few nice looking houses in Balerno to rent with local schools being either Dean Park or Currie - are these good schools?

Colinton & Oxgangs are physically close so might be possible.
Colinton sits in catchment for the army housing so has not been as popular as children will move / change as the squadrons move.
Area is great and feeds into Firrhill high school.

Don't discount east edinburgh. Brunstane train station goes to south gyle. We live in portobello and my husband works in south gyle and has a 30 min commute by foot and train. And about the same by car round the bypass if you time it right.

I am thinking about deferring my P6 child to P5 (his birthday is end of Dec) as he has already missed a term of Scot P6 - it would remove the high school pressure from our search as our work visa is only for 2.5 yrs. What are the current ages of kids that are in P6? - he is currently 9, turning 10 next month.

The majority 9 turning 10. He would be one of the oldest if you defer but no doubt there will be other Dec/Jan/Feb birthdays that will have done so too.

I have another question .... if we rent a house in a school catchments area that doesn't have spaces for all my kids - where will they go to school? the nearest school that has available spaces? and will they be able to stay at that school or do they run the risk of losing their spot should another child have priority eg if a new family moves into catchment. The dilemma.....

They would go to the nearest that had places BUT that could be some distance away. However, if you stayed for senior school they will still get a place in your local catchment school. As long as you are in catchment it doesn't mattter what primary you went to.

..and yes , once in, they would stay at the primary school for the remainder of their schooling.

sorry haven't read entire thread and you might be sorted by now but did you check whether Dalmeny primary had spaces for all your kids? We are thinking of moving out that way and looked around the school and it is really lovely and they are very under-subscribed. It is a lovely wee village too, right next to south queensferry (by the sea) and with a train to south gyle and town!

I think it might be quite a shock going from a big school to a small one. My kids are at a big primary school with some composite classes, and the parents seems to agree that it doesn't work. I'm sure it can work in some schools, though - it probably depends on how much experience the school has with composites. A small school might have much more.

I can't give you any tips on Rosewell - sorry! I would suggest though that you don't let school places dictate your decision of where to live so much. Often, places come up at the last minute and they will fit you in. Move to a place that is nice, conveniently situated and has good schools and keep your fingers crossed!