Moving to Edinburgh - nice areas and schools?

[shelg]

Hi folks. I have just been offered a job in Edinburgh and will be moving there at the end of July with my 11yr old, a dog and a cat in tow. My son is due to start secondary school in August and I can't put his name down for a school until I move there. Basically, I want to identify a few catchment areas to move to that have good secondary schools which are likely to have a space for a late-comer. I don't mind commuting and would prefer a house than flat but need be able to get to Edinburgh Park fairly easily by train.

Any advise on places to look and good schools would be greatly appreciated :)

Do you want to actually live in Edinburgh? That makes a pretty big difference!

In Edinburgh the best rated high schools are generally busy. James Gillespie and Boroughmuir generally top the tables but chances of getting a late space possibly slim. And unless you have a biiiiiiig budget most of the housing in the catchments is flats with the exception of buckstone. Other schools rated well where you have more chance of a house would be craigmount, Balerno, currie, royal high, firhill. Council website has interactive catchment finder.

We live close to Edinburgh Park and a few years ago our catchment high school was changed from Craigmount High to Forrester High. It wasn't a popular choice at the time but having had a dd there for 2 years, she is excelling well and has just received a report in which every area was excellent.

My ds is 11 and moves there in August. It's come a long way from the school it originally was, we as parents are very impressed. The staff are vibrant and seem to love their jobs. I've found them to be very approachable too. There are small classes which slowly are growing in number as more children are moving there as their catchment high. If you lived in the EH12 area, you'd possibly be able to walk to work.

Thank you both for the info. I'm coming around to the idea of living in a flat rather than having a nightmare commute. GrooveCar, I was looking at Corstophrine but was then put off because it is within the Forrester High Catchment so it's great to hear that you have had a good experience there. How do they stream the classes? My son sat transfer tests in Northern Ireland and would've been going into a streamed Grammar school if we had stayed here so want to make sure he is in a school that can push him.

Parents night was last night, and I've been told dd is at National 5 level, 2 years earlier than she should be. The teachers said they have been busy working on how to challenge her more. They have a great Support base for working with children who need help or require a challenge. We didn't see it when dd was moving up but last year when I went with ds to see the school, they gave us some time in there and it was very interesting to find out more about it not being just for students who require more help. There is the Getting It Right For Every Child, in system which makes the school adapt for the child.

Ds has been tested in P7, but dd was retested in S1, so they would do the same I presume this time too. They seemed to be placed in register classes by ability as a set of twins were in the same house but not the same class and the one who was in the lower class was moved into dd's class.

I'd recommend contacting Mrs Scott at the school as she really is fantastic. She's one of the Deputy heads and she's really approachable and on the ball.

Thank you for taking the time to reply, you can't beat a bit of insider knowledge. I will follow up with Mrs Scott and find out a bit more. It's a tad stressful, want to make sure he is somewhere where he will be happy too. Many thanks.

Feel free to pm me if you want any more advice or suggestions. xx