Boughton Primary or St Mary's Edinburgh ?

[MissyMcLean]

Hi there,
We've just moved to Stockbridge, but my 6 year old can't get a place at either Stockbridge or Flora. The nearest we can get is either Broughton or St Marys (East London St).
We're not sure which to choose. Although we're not catholic, I've heard St Mary's a very good school and it's slightly closer to where we live.
Any thoughts ? :D

Which would be your catchment school? Is it going to be a temporary move, or until a place comes up at the catchment school?

Catchment is Stockbridge.
I don't really want to change schools as it will be disruptive for my son, who's already traveled 12000 miles and left his friends to be here. So probably won't bother going on the wait list for Stockbridge.

If St Mary's are offering you a place I would take it.

Would you want to change for secondary though? The other pupils at the school you get in to would be in a different secondary catchment than you would be.

Guess feeder high school for St Marys is St Thomas' by the Meadows, and Broughton primary feeds to drummond community high. But if you live in Stockbridge your feeder high school is prob Broughton High school- which is a good one. I'd choose Broughton primary with a view to moving to Stockbridge when a place comes up or for the next school year.

Sorry, should have said. It's only likely to be for 2-3 years, so secondary isn't a concern.

Which would be the easiest for you to get to?
Say the car was at the garage which could you get to via public transport.

Also remember you can ask for your children to be excluded from Catholic church attendance ie on Holy Days and from specific Catholic teachings ie First Communion

Hello MissyMcLean
We will have to make the same choice between same schools for next academic year when we move to Edinburgh from elsewhere. Love to know which school's offer you accepted and how you are finding it?

Hi there IdIdoo,

We're pleased with the school so far. We chose St Marys, which turned out to be the best choice for location, as we've just bought a flat close buy.

My son has settle in well, with any complaints mainly coming from the different approaches by different countries. We moved here from NZ, so we were used to a more relaxed approach. My son isn't a fan of all the queuing! LOL

Bare in mind that even if you buy/rent a property in the catchment, it doesn't mean you'll be guaranteed a place at either school, so best keep your options open.

Hi MissyMcLean,
That's great news. I will give St Mary's a ring. I'm from Sydney so am used to the Aussie / NZ approach too, tho I left before I had kids! My oldest DD is 4 now. I'm also used to schools with lots of outdoor space - which can be harder to find - tho I think the forest school aspect to most primaries here in UK is excellent. I suppose that can be hard to manage in Edinburgh unless at an independent school with big green grounds!
We would be getting a place to rent or buy before end of Feb next year so as to be in catchment on time for getting offered a place - or that is the plan... I particularly like the east end of New Town too but the St Mary's catchment is bigger than the other 3 - Flora's, Broughton and Stockbridge, so it makes finding a place to live less stressful.
Thanks for getting back so swiftly.
Mind if I send any more questions your way, once they pop into my tired messy head!
Cheers!

No worries :D

It's good that you're arriving in February. My son had already done half of Year 1 in NZ, and we thought we'd be able to contact the school in advance (we had a rental prepaid for 2 months in the Stockbridge catchment zone) and make sure he had a place to start Year 2 in August. Unfortunately they wouldn't do anything until we were physically in the country and then we needed council tax bills etc, which we didn't have as it was a furnished rental sigh. We were really very lucky that St Mary's offered us a place.

The flat we've bought is in the Stockbridge catchment, so we could go on the waiting list for a place, but TBH I don't think it would make sense to move my son, as he's happy. Distance wise, we're kinda in the middle of the two.