Primary schools, nurseries and childcare in Edinburgh

[hackneymamma]

I'm possibly relocating to Edinburgh this summer and need advice on primary schools, nurseries and childcare in general in this city! My DS is 7 going on 8 and my DD is about to turn 3. DD will get 15 hours free nursery from September which is when I will (with luck) be starting a masters at Edinburgh uni. DS is in year 3 here in London. I looked back at threads on Mumsnet from a few years ago about Edinburgh and it looks pretty terrible for getting school places, massively oversubscribed etc! Is it still like that? I thought James Gillespie or Bruntsfield would be good, or south Morningside. I don't really know though. It's all pretty daunting. For my DD, I was thinking we might try and get an au pair for this year and mix au pair, nursery and me doing bits here and there. Any thoughts from Scottish mums would be hugely appreciated:)

I am not from Edinburgh but do live in Scotland.
Your DS will be going into P3 inScotland. To have a chance of getting into a school you have to live within the school catchment area, if not you can put in a placing request and hope you get it. The schools you mention are very popular and over subscribed, so unless in catchment you have a very slim chance.
I would suggest posting this on the Edinburgh board and you might get more replies.

My DDs are at school in Edinburgh and pretty much all city centre schools are over subscribed. All the schools you mentioned are excellent. We moved to Edinburgh last year and got place for 9 year old no problem but 6 year old had to go on waiting list for catchment school and attend another school for 3 months. One of your major problems will be that you can't apply for a place until you have proof of living in city, so council tax or utility bill. Good luck. By the way, edinburgh university have a nursery for pre schoolers.

I publish two guides in Edinburgh one is the Nursery Guide Edinburgh and the other is the School Guide Edinburgh - they have all the info on schools and childcare in the city. You can google them online. But on the whole you will always be given a place at your catchment area school - the over subscribed schools are when people apply for out of catchment area schools. Nursery places are not guided by catchment areas and you can use the funded place in a private nursery if need be. Best of luck with the relocation.

If your child is in Year 3 in the English system then they will be entering Primary 5 (P5) when they enter the Scottish system.

The first year if scholling in Scotland is called P1 (not Reception) so they are u
in Primary school until P7 (Year 6 in the English system).

Sorry, that should have read "they will enter P5 in August (not September, the school year begins mid to late August here in Scotland and finishes in June) when they enter the Scottish system"

Being oversubscribed should only be an issue if you're not in the catchment area.

For your DS, it's the same number but P for primary instead of year...because although there's reception in England, children in Scotland start later.

If you're moving in summer, the school holidays are different and they go back about a week or two into August.

It isn't the same number in Scotland.

Reception and P1 are the same. Year 1 and P2 are the same. Year 2 and P3 are the same, all the way to Year 6 and P7 being the same.

They're not because of the ages they start school at, if the OP's DS is turning 8 soon he'd have started P1 at 5 and a half(ish) so would be in P3 now.

It's not always the same, because of the cutoff being in winter rather than summer, but for the OP's DS it will be.

Wow thanks all! I didn't know there was an Edinburgh board on Mumsnet. I'll try and find it...

I went to have a look around the areas last weekend. It was so gorgeous and sunny and we had a good long play in The Meadows :) Because of the difference in school holidays I guess we will need to make our move at the end of July! Poor DS - he will have very short summer holidays which is not going to be popular!! A few trips to LegoLand and other bribes beckon...

@DoubleTheCuddles Thanks for the tip about the Edinburgh board. Also, this confirms our intention to definitely get a place in the right catchment area. Thank you!

@Namelesswonder yes the proof of address is a bit of a problem - chicken and egg! And thanks for the tip on the uni nursery. I had seen it on their site, but wasn't clear if anyone could apply. I'll have another look.

@nikkimiller Great and thank you! I will check out those guides asap. That's reassuring about the catchment.

@EngTeacherinScot thank you! I guess from August 2015 DS will be starting P5 as he is already in Year 3 here in London?

@tabulahrasa thanks for the advice. It's confusing with the differences in years. DS started in reception when he was super young.. only just turned 4 in the July then school the following September.

If your ds will be 8 in July he will be going into P4 in August.