Moving to Edinburgh, Royal High catchment

[ScruffyTwiglet]

We're pondering a move to Edinburgh and hoping to get into a school with a solidly 'naice' catchment as we've had issues with my poor well spoken, slightly pompous DD where we are currently are.

I just don't think we can get what we want for Broughmuir and Gillepsie's catchment (normal sized garden and not right at the edge of catchment). We are now looking the the Royal High.
I love the idea of being near the beach, but I can't seem to find any sorts of mini town centre, near Blackhall, Barnton etc. I'd love the children to be able to walk to shops and for me and DH to occasionally walk to a pub.
I'm not missing anything am I? I'm guessing it's just the payoff for slightly cheaper houses.
Ideally we'd like detached, not busy road, 4 bed plus study and normal sized garden (ruling out most new builds). Budget is £650k.
Any thoughts would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

In the royal High I think your best area for that small community might be davidson mains or even Cramond (not sure if that's still royal high) as they've the wee main street with a pub or two and some shops. Not sure that you're out priced with your budget for the other areas though, might be worth checking Morningside still as yoit budget is pretty good for edinburgh!

Davy mains is a reasonable high street, with decent shops and a handful of pubs. Traffic on the the main streets is bad though and you want to make sure you don't end up on a rat run - make sure you visit in rush hour.

All Edinburgh catchments are mixed. Some more than others, of course. But in a city where a quarter of children attend private school and poverty and extreme wealth is often just a street apart, you are going to get a mix. Which is a good thing, IMO.

Thank you both. That's very helpful. ee really need to get up there and recce asap. My mum grew up in Davidsons mains and I used to visit my grandparents there till I was about 8. Just as an aside.

I'll have another peruse!

Lonny I know a mix is good, I'm just fed up with being self conscious of having one of the very few big houses in our area. I don't want to be like that any more. My daughter is already having issues because of it, and because we're both socially awkward. I just want to ease their way as much as possible. It's difficult to explain and I'm aware I'm sounding like a dick.

Don't worry, I'm on my high horse. Again. Anyhow, Your budget will buy you a garden shed in Barnton proper, so move there and problem solved?

Royal High catchment includes Blackhall, Cramond, D Mains, Cammo, parts of Clermiston. You can download catchment maps from the council website.

I live within catchment, and have to say there isn't much in the way of village centres here. None in Cramond or Cammo, as others have said. There are shops on the main st in D Mains, at Barnton junction & on Queensferry Rd in Blackhall. And of course the big retail park at Craigleith.

You might also want to consider flight noise at Cramond, it can be intrusive.

650k is a pretty healthy budget & you shouldn't exclude Boroughmuir/Gillespie's catchment for that.

Yeah, I've looked at the catchment maps, which is why I've largely discounted Boroughmuir and Gillespie's, right now I can find about two houses big enough that we can afford and they're on a main road. Also they're right at the edge of the catchment, one is 2 miles from the school. And if there's a catchment tweak then we'd be out.
I think I'd rather have lots of houses to choose from, so we're thinking RHS.

There is maybe more in Blackhall than I'd thought in the way of shops and restaurants, and also maybe Clermiston. It's all very fragmented though from what I can see on street map and I was hoping I'd missed a whole clump of stuff. Interesting about plane noise at Cramond. Thanks.

No problem Lonny I am trying to explain our motivation, clumsily!

I hadn't considered Trinity, just looking at the number of free school meals. But looking at the catchment map and google maps it all looks lovely.
I'll have a better look at it today. Thanks.

I have a number of friends in the Trinity catchment. Whilst they're happy to use the local school for primary, all are planning on private for secondary.

In your situation I would consider Silverknowes, D Mains and Cramond. All lovely and near beach and Lauriston Castle and the cycle path

That's exactly what I was alluding to Sauvignon. My friend's boy was at South Morningside and they lost a whole class group at P6. It means state schools in nice areas can be very unbalanced.

We're in Cramond & the class sizes plummet after p5/6, as many kids go privately.

Ironically, the teacher:pupil ratio's end up better in state school than in private schools because of the mass exodus.

In RH catchment I'd go for right on the edge so it's walkable to Stockbridge.

Interesting thought about Stockbridge. Thanks.

Thanks so much everyone, I'm sucking this all up.

Bear in mind your dd may move in the opposite direction, ie to being one of those living in the smaller houses in the area!

A budget of £650 is really quite healthy in Edinburgh!

Yeah, Jim that's another reason why I think we're better solidly in the catchment for Royal High rather than just squeaking in to Biroughmuir or Gillepsie's.

Thank you everyone for not ripping shreds off me for saying things like that.

Seems to be ok for RH catchment, Starfish , yeah.

No... I was thinking of doing a draw a search thing on rightmove tomorrow.

I've just had a look. Wow!! That's awesome. Thank you.

Forgot to ask earlier if your DD is already at secondary school age? I think Royal High is full to bursting & has already allocated places for S1 - schools go back on Wednesday here.
There is a special team in the council who deals with S1 entry, but outside of that I think it's just a case of contacting the school & seeing if they have a place.

No, children are primary age, we are just thinking ahead.