Private school vs James Gillespie

[Shire14]

Hi, can anyone offer thoughts on the merits of George Heriots vs Gillespies? We're in the catchment area for Gillespies primary and our daughter is due to start there next year. I know Gillespies (High) is supposed to be one of the best of the state schools but we're half wondering whether to try and go for private. I'd be inclined to see how primary goes at Gillespies and then decide on private for secondary, but my husband has other ideas! Any thoughts? Thanks

I have children at James Gillespie's Primary and am pretty pleased at all it offers and what they do. The staff seem great. Downsides I would say are the lack of IT and music (though plans for both), and not much PE; also it's pretty packed, so they might be in a class of 40 + 2 teachers in P1, and there are staggered lunches etc. I guess smaller classes and more extra-curricular would be largely what you would be paying for in the early years...anyway, visit both and see what you think - there is a day in the first week of November to visit your council catchment school. Hope that helps - feel free to ask more questions!

Someone with a child at one (or both) of those schools will be along in a minute, but here's my perspective from many years of seeing friends' and colleagues' children start at Gillespies primary.

Yes, both Gilliespies primary and high are good schools. That does not mean that what they offer is the same as what you'll get in a private school. (Also, be aware that the differences between different private schools are probably even bigger than between Gillespies and GH; if you're considering private, make sure you make a reasoned choice of which private schools to consider, don't just assume they're all the same.)

Over the years I've seen:

• children go all the way through Gillespies primary and high and be absolutely fine;

• children do Gillespies primary and then move into the private sector in a planned way;

• children be pulled out of Gillespies at various stages, primary and high, because it wasn't working out there;

• sadly, one case where the child went all the way through and was not fine - got to university without the skills needed and dropped out there.

You can't draw any statistical conclusions from my non-random sample! My point is just that all paths exist. So you need to consider carefully the match between your child and the schools you consider, and the impact paying fees would have on your family, and then you need to keep those things under review as time passes.

It's hugely personal and what suits one child might not suit yours etc, etc..

My twopenn'orth is that our son did primary at Heriot's (we were moving, didn't have a good state primary near us when he was starting) and although it was good in the early years, once we got to about P4, problems started and we were really unhappy with the staff and the way the school was run.

We moved him to Edinburgh Academy where he has flourished - the boy who Heriot's said would scrape a few Standard grades, has just got excellent grades in his Highers, is doing his Advanced Highers this year and we're currently going through the hell that is UCAS forms. Horses for courses - some kids thrive at GH.

In your position, knowing what I do now, I would send him to Gillespie's for Primary as it has a great reputation and friends' children are loving it and then I'd look at all of your options for secondary.

Good luck

Interestingly I know someone else who has done the same as BurningTheToast but very recently; from what I've been told there are a lot of unhappy Heriots parents at the moment so I would maybe see if you can manage to speak to some current parents if you know any. This was early primary age.

I'd recommend both James Gillespies Primary and High and have two boys who have been through both and are now 14 and 16. My son recently got straight As in National 5 exams at 16 - he feels the teaching is v good. There is less sports than in a private school, so it depends what you want. There are some small class sizes in High School as they get older, it depends on the numbers taking subjects. The special needs support is great, especially at the High School. My boys have enjoyed the choirs and some of the afterschool sports clubs.

It depends where you want to spend your money, my kids go to some great sports clubs which aren't school run and we have paid for a brilliant tutor in one subject. Initially we could only afford state, that's not true now but we love the school. There are all sorts of children and no snobbery. However in honesty the number of pupils on free school meals etc is tiny as the catchment is an expensive place to live with v little council housing. There are v few out of catchment places, a few for younger siblings.

The High School head is very inspirational. He's fairly new and tried to change the current policy of no uniform at all. He consulted extensively with parents and pupils and then accepted that no uniform was right for the school and admitted to changing his thinking. It's jeans and hoodies all the way and surprisingly little designer brands / clothes competion / blue hair. There is uniform for school concerts etc (tie with black and white). The Primary School head is a new one so I can't comment. There is sweat-shirt style uniform there but its not v strict.

My background is private school but I've not felt let down by James Gillespies. I can't really comment on Heriots, they do have great architecture :-)

We are parents of 2 girls at GH. One in P5 and the other in P7. We absolutely love it, as do my children. If you have any questions, please PM me.
There is an open day tomorrow from 9.30 and it's worth popping in.

I will add look at all private schools and like any school it will have its negatives and hiccups along the way. So far we have not experienced this.... but I doubt it won't ever happen.
Try and go to open days

I'd love to live in this catchment area but it's out of our reach. I've heard not great reports about sciennes in terms of additional support but not heard anything bad about JG primary. I know a lot of people who have loved the HS but if you have the £ for heriots and it's on your raidar I'd def have a look. Friends have children in the senior school and enjoy it. They looked at all the private schools and allowed their child the choice. As a previous poster said open days for private schools are advertised now but they do welcome parents to look around on a normal day. Would still mean a selection test though.

Thanks for all your messages! We went to the Heriots open day today and will go to the Gillespies one in November. I think it's going to be difficult to decide. Does anyone have experience of George Watsons? It's not quite so good location wise but since we're looking at Heriots I think we should at least consider it! Thanks

How did you find the open day? I have friends with children at Watson's and they equally love it. I think you just get a personal feel of what's right for you

I agree with Justquery. I think it's a bit like finding a home - you can go round a few but (hopefully) when you walk in one, you just know. It can be quite surprising and not always the one that makes the most sense on paper!

My DC are at Watson's (S4 and S1). They love it. DS was also accepted at Heriot's and I sort of assumed that was where he would go but he was adamant he wanted to go to Watson's. It's a very large school but once you are in it, it doesn't feel large and IME the staff really care about the students and take a real interest in them. Plus it has S3 projects and if you are at all an outdoorsy family, your DC will love S3 projects (12 nights away- DS was way up north doing sea kayaking, overnight camping, gorge walking, Munro climbing etc)

Oh, and their Open Day is this Saturday. Go and you might have DS as a tour guide.

Just picking up on George Heriot..would really appreciate if anyone know how serious is sport..are the S1 secondary MUST take up a sport and do it after school and weekend...many thanks..

Thanks auchinlay. Do you feel your kids get enough individual attention given the large class sizes? Have you heard much about how the new north Morningside primary will affect Gillespies when it opens?

Burningthetoast and statisticallychallenged, would you mind telling me a bit more about the problems you've experienced/heard about at Heriots? Feel free to PM me! Thanks for your input 🙂

I suppose the class sizes aren't a big issue in terms of learning, as if they're in a 40 P1 class there are 2 teachers, so more individual attention. Then they mix all the classes for P2 and have 3 x 30, which is normal for Edinburgh I guess. The new primary will reduce the catchment (when it happens...) so the school roll will gradually go down, but that's a while off and I don't know if everyone who can will move to the new school. Generally I think it's a good school, with some great teachers, but with quite a bit of pressure on space and extra-curricular things.

Hi all,
Could anyone tell me how much would the typical class strength be at GW? DS is starting his primary next year at Watson's.

Hi Ujna,
My DS is also starting p1 at Watsons this August. He’s currently in their nursery. I believe the p1 class sizes are about 21/22 and that increases a bit gradually as they go further up the junior school.

Many thanks chocolatesolveseverything , that is useful to know x

My dc are in P1 and P4 at GWC. The P1 class has 20 in it at present, and the P4 has 24.

Hi,
Can anyone advise on St Thomas' High School versus Boroughmuir? I have heard bits and pieces about both from parents with kids at a particular school, but feel these haven't been objective. (I think as humans, when we make a decision we tend to make that decision work, unless things go very pear-shaped), hence why I'm asking for honest opinions. Would like to know plus's and minus if anyone has experience of both schools? Thanks

I'd start a new thread if I were you, and put Boroughmuir and St. Thomas in the title, you'll be more likely to get people come along with personal experience. I'm hugely biased as I went to B'muir as a child and we're in catchment for DS to go there. We went round the new building at their open day, it looks really good and the teacher I spoke with (who taught me many moons ago) said she loved it.

Thank you for the advice KingLooieCatz, but not sure how to put the schools in the title?!

Also, I wonder if anyone can give advice on James Gillespies High School versus the previous two. (St Thomas' and Boroughmuir). I would be grateful for any advice, thanks!

@Happy40 scroll up, just under the blue bar that say Talk>Local>Edinburgh etc there is an option to start a new thread in this topic. Click on that. In the subject box put St Thomas'/Boroughmuir/Gillespies or whatever you want to ask.