Edinburgh High Schools

[PK2022]

I'm hoping to get some advice. I'm a single parent, just moved up to Edinburgh with my son to start a new life after a very hard few years. I worked for months to get a flat in a central area to have what get was a solid chance of getting into a good state school. We got our offer today, for Tynecastle High School. I'm disappointed - not just by the low academic achievement level (307th/340 in Scotland!) and the distance from our home (2 buses, 45 minutes) but also the website content which gives a very amateur impression and has little to reassure me.

I'm planning to appeal, so my question would be, does anyone have experience of appealing, to know what chance I might have?
Or, does anyone here have kids at Tynecastle and can vouch for the quality of the teaching and environment?

Thanks for any information.

Definitely faster/easier to walk to Tynecastle from Marchmont then bus - it's not far and less than 39 minutes for someone healthy. Would be good exercise and could get the bus part way sometimes.

Tynecastle will have poorer results due to more deprived intake - nothing to do with how good teaching is. All school websites are a bit rubbish.

But perhaps a place will come up in the catchment school?

Thanks yes! I've found out so much today from many helpful people and am feeling much better informed

Thanks yes, he will get used to the journey and will find his preferred routes, but it will feel like a long way to him in a new city at first. I'm a big walker but he hasn't developed my taste for it yet!

I'm sure he'll get on absolutely fine at Tynecastle OP, and the journey won't be as bad as initially first thought (it can be done with one bus with a fairly short walk either end if he really didn't want to walk). DS is in his catchment school and that still involves a half hour bus journey. But if you are appealing to see if you can get him into Gillespies any quicker then it's perhaps worth emphasising that you have had a difficult time and that to help your DS settle you'd really like him to be able to go to local school, make local friends etc. It's luck of the draw how sympathetic the appeals panel will be tbh.