Moving to Edinburgh

[Tantun]

My husband and our 2 daughters (aged 2.5 and 7) are thinking about moving to Edinburgh in a year or so. We have been living in Dubai for 10 years and are ready for a change. Been looking at schools and have checked out George Heriot's, Watson's, Mary Erskine and Edinburgh Academy so far. Any thoughts/advice? Am I missing any? Also looking at areas to live - we love the idea of being to walk into town but would love a garden or access to public garden space. Any suggestions of nice areas to live with a young family? Any help or advice would be welcome!!

Schools-wise, depends what you are looking for but I would not instantly rule out all of the state schools. There are a lot of good schools in Edinburgh, and it's also fairly common to do state for primary then private for secondary in some areas

In terms of nice areas where you can walk to town - a lot of the accommodation close to the city centre is flats although many of those will have a shared garden at the back and they are old Edinburgh tenements where it is very normal to have families living. Stockbridge, Inverleith, Comely Bank, Marchmont, Bruntsfield, Morningside, the city centre itself, the west end, murrayfield, Roseburn,Belford, Ravelston are all really nice family friendly areas where you could walk to the middle of town no problem at all.

Edinburgh has a splendid choice of private schools. My daughters attend George Heriot's and love it! I have friends with children at watsons and the academy who love their choices.
Watsons is the largest independant school in Edinburgh with 2600 or 2300 pupils, something like that!
Edinburgh academy is much smaller as is George Heriot's which is kind of in between. It's worth getting information and visiting schools or speaking to them so you can get a feel of the environment.

Good luck!

Thanks for the advice. To be honest, we're not exactly sure what we're looking for but will know when we see it! Watson's sounds a big too big and daunting and I do like the idea of a reasonably sized school. The main reason I haven't considered state schools is that we don't know what area we will live in and so don't know the catchment areas. The choice of school will come before the choice of property. Doesn't that rule out state options? Also, do the good state schools tend to be difficult to get into? We love the idea of a school where they don't have to change schools for secondary but can go straight through til the age of 18 - less of an upheaval. I'm loving the look of George Heriot's so far but I think visiting the schools is a good idea and is something I'm planning to do. I'll be in Edinburgh in August - any idea if I can visit the schools during that time or are they closed for the holidays?

Regarding areas to live, I've had a look on RightMove and a few estate agents and there are some lovely flats with access to public gardens. I'll definitely have a look at those areas and see what comes up. But I suppose that anywhere with a few shops and good access to town (even if by bus) is fine.

Thanks for the helpful advice.

Hope you have discovered espc - most Edinburgh property firms use this with a few exceptions eg savills, frank Knight, retties.

ESMS (Stewart melvilles and Mary erskine) operate on a diamond formation or coed for primary, single sex for secondary 1-5 and then back to coed for final 6th year. This may also appeal as a wee bit different. All the private schools have different strengths and weaknesses and suit different types of kids. Good luck with your move and welcome to Edinburgh - a fantastic city for families!

Most schools have admin staff in over the holidays so if you phone they are likely to be able to help you re visiting

I know you're probably going private but to answer your questions re state schools - if you live in the catchment at the time of applications for P1 then you ( bar a few very rare exceptions) are guaranteed a space. As your youngest is currently 2.5 then I'm guessing they were born sometime around Christmas/New Year so you'd be looking at applying for the space around the time of their 4th birthday. So they're fine, basically. For your older one you would be looking at finding a space for them however the advantage you have is their age - primary schools have legal max class size of 25 for p1 and p2, but this goes up in primary 3 so often spaces are more available at the age group you are looking at. It would probably be harder if you were moving in with a 5 year old and trying to get a place then IYSWIM? This is certainly the case at our local school which is refusing placing requests in p1/2 but has space further up.

Catchment maps are available on the council website - there's an interactive catchment map where you can plug in a postcode and it will tell you the catchment as well as having downloadable maps for each school if there is one you like.

Do you know roughly what your budget is and what size of property you need? Might help us to suggest some more specific options for you

Assuming you go with private, I would pick the school first and then decide where to live based on that. For instance, Watson's and Mary Erskine's are in totally different parts of the city. Yes, many of the state primaries are excellent, but entering a private school at secondary level is hassle and competitive.

Being able to "walk" into town is quite a tight criterion. The Edinburgh bus service is excellent and you may want to focus on being on a well served bus route instead. We live in a nice quiet residential area but the bus takes us into town in 15 minutes. Walking would take almost an hour and is not really viable.

What edbabe has said is very accurate. Choose your school first if you intend to go private. The good state schools are very competitive to get into for primary and secondary and if you want to do private school later especially George's Heriot's, it is highly competitor. In secondary they have 260 applicants and only 33 spaces for first year. (that was this years numbers)

My dd1 is at Watsons and I was wary about the size of it too. However, the nursery (for the year preceding school) and P1,2 and 3 are housedin 'lower primary' which is a separate building located on the campus. The P4-7 'Upper primary' are located in another building on campus. Thereafter they are in the senior school. My dd1 has just completed p1 and has loved every minute of it. As parents we have been most impressed with the school, we've found it incredibly friendly and cohesive and don't feel the school massive as she is almost in mini school of its own. However she will benefit from all the many facilities on campus - inc a new pool and sports building, playing fields/pitches at school (unlike Heriots for example) and an unbelievable array of other extra curricular activities.

Open days for most private schools are in Oct, and you generally need to apply the Nov preceeding the year your children are entering. Best to contact them all and see what the state of play is. I'm sure they will be able to show you around outwith term time if needed.

Good luck, Edinburgh is a lovely place to live and we're spoilt with a great selection of private schools. I have friends with kids at pretty much all of them and they are all happy with them.

We have just moved up and after lots of research (much reading of old threads here!) we went for ESMS as we all had a really good feeling when we went to look around. We then managed to find a house we could just about afford on Blackhall and it's great - really friendly neighbours, cafes and shops a few minutes away, 15 min walk to school and easy to get the bus into town, takes 10 min and has been no hassle with the buggy. We didn't start out thinking of a private school place, not particularly what we had planned at all, but having phoned several schools and been told of long waiting lists and low chance of getting a place in an area we wanted to live we opted to take what seemed the most straightforward option and we will just have to figure out our lifestyle around that. We needed a P2 place - I phoned our catchment school after we moved and was told no room, needed to apply, be rejected, go through the appeal process and see what happened. Our girl is already anxious about all the changes so for her, it was helpful to know months ago where she was going to school. There is a P3 place in Blackhall though if that's what you need :)

Catdil, many thanks for the information. I hadn't known about ESPC but went online and have now registered, so thanks for that! I've also registered with various other estate agents. As for schools, am still keeping an open mind and will do as you suggest and call them to see about a visit. Fingers crossed!

Statistically minded: thanks so much for the information on how the state system works. As I haven't lived in the UK since having children, this is all new to me and rather confusing! But because the school will be the first decision we make and we will have to register them before considering a property, I think private is the way to go - it helps lessen some uncertainty at least! As for budget, we have no firm idea yet as it all depends on mortgage approval.

Edbabe, I agree about the potential hassle of entering the private school system at secondary level. I love the idea of being at a school where my daughters can go all the way through with no more upheavals. Also, I take your point about property location - I guess we just want to be somewhere where we can walk to a corner shop and a few cafes and shops and not feel isolated. And a good bus service is essential especially as I don't hold a UK drivers license and am hugely daunted by the thought of driving on the other side of the road!

Starfish, thanks for the inside scoop on Watsons. I suppose if they are divided into buildings, then the overall size of the school is no longer an issue. As you said, they would feel like smaller schools and yet have access to all the great facilities. I'm coming to the UK next week for a month and so will call the schools and try to arrange visits and then go up to Edinburgh to see them in person. Hopefully, one of the schools will just feel right and my decision will be easier as they all seem to be really great.

LilyDa, I also loved the look of ESMS. So is Blackhall a good area to look at if we get a place at that school? The thought of being able to walk to school is lovely as I currently have a 30 minute drive for my daughter's school. A residential area with families and some shops and cafes sounds ideal. Looks like I have a lot of work to do!!

Hi Tantun

I really like Blackhall, it's worked out well for us. Am also looking forward to walking to school as we've been driving, seems like a friendly neighbourhood generally, several families on our small street. My daughter has a place in Rainbows locally, there's a well regarded playgroup for preschoolers, and as well as the little shops & cafes there is a big retail park very close by with supermarket and several other shops. And bus routes are great, definitely the better option over driving for getting into town anyway. I think school visits will be really helpful, we had pretty strong reactions to all the schools we visited. Good luck :)

I have heard good reports of St George's School for Girls.

It sounds lovely LilyDa and am trawling the internet now looking at properties! Thanks for all your help!

SconeandJam, I've actually just been looking at St. George's and it's now been added to my list. Have also checked out Fettes. I think I've pretty much covered them all!! Thanks for that!

If you want any info on George Heriot's please feel free to message me

Look at Murrayfield for easy walk to Mary Erskine's. From there, you are better served by buses, cafes, etc than Blackhall (which is nice, but more of a car location). There are some lovely properties but perhaps on the expensive side. Stress to the schools that you are moving from overseas and have 2DC. We were told that they (ESMC) hold back a few spaces for such cases. Other schools probably the same.

We're out and about most days and rarely take the car, can take direct buses to city centre (via Stockbridge if preferred), meadows, Marchmont/Morningside, sick kids, Cramond, Portobello, so don't really feel it's a car location as such, but then I guess maybe it depends on where you live within the area. A house with a garden in Murrayfield wasn't really an option for us

Regarding Fettes, just be aware that it is primarily a boarding school with a very small proportion of day pupils especially in the senior school. Therefore the running of the school is geared around the boarders with longer school days and Saturday lessons, but longer holidays than the normal day schools. We looked at it for DS but felt that day pupils are very much considered the outsiders and there is an expectation that eventually even Edinburgh based day pupils will ultimately board in the later years of secondary.

Also they follow a different curriculum to the rest of Scottish school, doing the International Bacc. in senior school rather than A Levels (English system) or Highers (Scottish System) which may be an advantage or disadvantage depending on your preference. I know that these qualifications seem a long time away for such young children but if you are thinking fo keeping them in one school in the long term then you need to factor this in to your decision making at the outset.

Hello again to everyone. We have now arrived in the UK and will be here for a month, including a week in Edinburgh. I already have appointments to visit George Watson's and Edinburgh Academy, and am waiting for hear back from the other 3 schools (Heriot's, St. George's and Mary Erskine). We have also found a few properties which we love and are hoping to arrange viewings. Am off to buy some thermals as we are simply not used to the cold anymore! Thanks for all your help and any further advice is of course always welcome!

Welcome - next time you come please bring some nice weather with you!

Hope all goes well and keep us posted how you get on.

uniqlo heat-tech tops are great for the scottish weather (I had to wear one today, twas freezing in Edinburgh!)