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!!

It is unusually cold right now! Not always like that, to be fair. Enjoy your visit.

Agree re the weather. I've been up here for three years and this is the first year where we haven't had a prolonged spell of great weather. As I'm back to work shortly, I'm sure the weather will be great in August/September!

Tantun I have first hand experience of 3 of the Edinburgh private schools (for different reasons). While academically there is not a lot to choose between them they all offer different things and have strengths in different areas. Some offer a more English style curriculum with GCSEs and A levels while others offer the traditional Scottish curriculum. Your choice may depend on if you intend staying in Edinburgh for the entirety of your children's education or move elsewhere. The 'feel' of each school will be different and you will know which school is the right fit for your children. We knew within 5 minutes which school was right and it wasn't the one I thought it would be.

While you can visit now during the school holidays it is good to visit when the school is actually in action and see what it is like but time may not allow this. The Scottish schools usually start back mid to late august, although some of them may not be until september.

Good luck Edinburgh is a lovely city for families.

Hello and welcome!

I would second the PP who suggested looking at the long term. The large day schools in Edinburgh are doing the Curriculum for Excellence whilst the day/boarding schools are studying either GCSE/A Levels or IB. I think the exception to this is St. George's who are also doing GCSE/A levels (but I stand to be corrected). If you plan to be in Scotland for the next 10 years at least then it won't matter but if you intend to move somewhere else then the Curriculum for Excellence tends to be a narrower focus of subjects but with greater depth whilst the GCSE's are a wider focus with less depth. I would suspect it would be more problematic to transfer from the Scottish system anywhere abroad as the International schools will do the English GCSE. Just a thought!

With regards all through schools, there are obviously many who are fans but my thoughts are that you don't know how your child will progress and what is a good fit at 7 might not be a good fit at 12 (I have personal experience of this) also the atmosphere can be claustrophobic being with the same people for so many years to make it a disadvantage rather than an advantage.

I would look at Cargilfield Prep School, which is a private day/boarding prep school (primary) which teaches to the Common Entrance syllabus with links to all the major secondaries (whether in Edinburgh or Scotland as a whole or further afield) which would allow the most flexibility to see how your children develop which in turn allows you to pick the best school for their needs at Secondary.

Cargilfield is situated in Barnton, lovely area, on the outskirts of the city but with very easy transport links and they have minibuses to take children from various pickups in the city centre. It has a warm welcoming feel to it and it has a pre-prep for the little one. Certainly not the least expensive school in Edinburgh but from my experience it offers an education second to none.

Hope your trip has gone well. I moved up here last Sept with DS aged 14. He started at ESMS S2. It's a fantastic school for him. We bought in trinity which is easy for school bus and really friendly area. Got a lot more for our money, terraced house with lovely garden. Good luck!

Hello again everyone. Well, we are back in Dubai and sweltering in the heat and humidity, particularly after the lovely cool weather in the UK this summer. We had a wonderful time in Scotland and were able to visit all 5 schools over 2 days: Heriot's, Watson's, Edinburgh Academy, Mary Erskine, and St. George's. My husband and I were completely blown away by the amazing standards and facilities at all the schools. I think all of them would provide our daughters with a wonderful education and would be a great community to be part of. Our favourite was St. George's as it just felt so right for our girls. We also loved Edinburgh Academy. Both seemed smaller, and as our girls are in rather small schools here, we feel it would make for a smoother transition. The other 3 schools were amazing too and had facilities that were utterly wonderful, but we felt they may be a little too big for us. I suppose the decision now comes down to the question of single-sex school versus mixed, and I have to admit to leaning towards an all-girls' school so far. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Thanks to all of you for your wonderful advice! We loved Edinburgh and can't wait to go back again next summer!

I was keen that both my dds attend an all girls school as that is how I was educated, but my DH was keen for co-ed. We visited the schools you mentioned and ended up selected GWC and have been very happy so far. Yes it's big, but the lower primary (nursery and p1-3) feel like a separate school within the big school so it's not overwhelming. Then Upper primary (p4-p7) is also separate but all the way through, the school sensitively integrates them so by the time they reach senior school, the pupils are very comfortable with the size. It's also got excellent facilities which are all on campus which for us is a big bonus.

We live quite near watsons and have a garden/garage/drive.
Walking into town would be a stretch but it's an easy walk to bruntsfield/morningside an buses are easy and reliable for further.

If you like EA look at houses in trinity if you can afford it. It's a lovely area.