Moving to Edinburgh- 4 year old boy

[dubai71]

Hello all
We are moving from London to Edinburgh next summer. Our son (only child) will then be 4yo and so I am looking into private nurseries and schools for him- he would be a day pupil.
Currently I have considered Heriots (like), Watsons (concerned about size), Academy (seem to be mixed reports on here so am not sure), Fettes (too many borders- don't nat my son missing out on fun!), Loretto (same point as Fettes), Cargilfield (not sure of boarding ratios yet) and Stew Mel.
Are there any others you think I ought to consider? Any views on the above?
My son is an outgoing and energetic wee boy who seems to be smart (as much as you can tell at this age!).
MTIA for your time.

My DS is at Loretto (he is 4) - you don't really get boarders until secondary age and there are lots of after school activities to get involved in. It really is a lovely school , the nursery staff are excellent and the transition to school is handled really well.
I have friends with children at Heriots and Stewart Melvilles who are equally happy. I think Fettes is only for older children so you would need to find a different nursery/prep school for a few years.
Good luck with the move!

Thank you Lones80 for your kind reply.
I appreciate you don't really get boarders until later but am hoping that we can get this move right and so our son would be in the one school all the way through. Although that is possibly over ambitious especially given August 2017 nursery entry to all the schools I have contacted so far is massively oversubscribed!
Was so organised in terms of London education and happy with our choice. Ah well hopefully it will all work out.

Do you know where you will be living?

Hi catdil
No, not as yet. We are flexible as long as we have good access to airport and city centre sot thought I'd try and sort schools first...

Places for the preschool places go out this Autumn normally for Autumn 2017. Lots of people put children down for more than one school, so it's worth putting your son's name down in case places do come up after the first allocation due to this and then throughout the year as people move. I know someone who got phoned up on the first day of the school year to see if they wanted a place.

Honestly, I think the main difference is that some schools follow the Scottish year and system (Stew Mel, EA, Heriot's, Watson's does IB) and some follow the English public system (Fettes, Cargilfield, Merchiston and, I think, Loretto). There is a clear difference in price between the two especially once you get to 13+. Having visited the day ones, they all felt good and I think the DC would actually do equally well at any of them.

Sametime- thank you for your helpful reply.

i like esms as I think you get best of both worlds. Mixed sex during primary - single sex when study is very important and then back together in sixth year. It suits my son - however the fact the school is on the north of the city and we are south does annoy him as most kids round where we live go down Watsons / heriots route. His friends are all mainly north of city so not easy to 'drop' in on.

Loretto is the wrong side of the city for the airport if you weren't thinking of living in the Musselburgh area to be nearby. Heriots is in the city centre and Watsons just to the south but draws in from a wide area all over the city.

Our eldest dd is about to go into P3 at Watsons, and her first 2 years at the school have been fantastic. I was also concerned about the size of the school as it is huge, but pre-school and P1-3 are all housed in their own building, which feels like a mini school. It's contained on the campus so there is familiarity with the rest of the school, but doesn't feel as large and daunting. Same for p4-p7 - they are also housed in a separate building but are obviously more integrated with the senior school. The good thing about GWC is that is is one campus, everything is there, so no traipsing across town for other activities. We've found it a very happy environment, and our dd has thrived so far. It seems to cater for all types - be they shy, outgoing, sporty, not sporty, arty and so on. I know it's still early days to draw such conclusions, but everyone is encouraged and seems to find their own pace there.

The most important thing is to visit the schools, obv with logistics in mind, but then go with your gut feeling. We visted ESMS and Heriots too, but GWC just seemed like the right fit for us all. Having said that, apply for more than one school if that works for you as places for P1 in private school are in demand and you may not get your chosen one.

Thank you Starfish. That is a really helpful message. I must admit, having gone to a small school myself, I found the idea of the scale of GW immense so really good to get your views.
I hope your DD is enjoying her holidays!