Hello, first time posting after reading lots of threads. The community seems to have great insight so I would love some perspectives and help if possible. My DH, our two nursery aged children and I are trying to figure out where to set down some roots for the school years ahead of primary and secondary years and finding it impossible to find the perfect place for us - perhaps it doesn't exist... hoping we're just overlooking an obvious choice though!
By way of background, we've lived out in Lenzie, Helensburgh area and are near Killearn/Balfron now and trying to figure out where is right for us before buying a house. We used to love the west end of Glasgow, and loved our time in Lenzie as it was so quick to get into the city for work - but we've since had children and prefer somewhere a little more rural-suburban in terms of outdoors. Our families are north west and west so we moved out Helensburgh way throughout the pandemic and loved being a bit further out of the city with more green spaces around. It was a great place for that passage of time, then we decided to move as we would like to be in the catchment for a top school (DH went to school in Helensburgh and I went to a top school which was probably more like a private school in nature, and we felt if we stayed there we'd inevitably commit ourselves to private school secondary fees we'd rather avoid unless we find ourselves in a very comfortable position closer to the time, so we agreed we'd look for an area in a top catchment, something inbetween the educational experiences we both had).
As we have a couple years before primary we thought now would be the time to test out other locations, so we moved to Balfron/Killearn on the basis it's still very green, good schools and north west so accessible. We really love the countryside here, and the community spirit seems strong albeit we've not found much time around work yet to integrate and make friends. We left behind an amazing parent community so it is important wherever we go we manage to get a good life balance and make friends so the children have playdates and we have friendships too. DH works south west near the airport, and I'm likely to go from WFH full time due to needing to commute into Glasgow city centre in the future so we want to kick the tyres on our location strategy before we buy a house and settle somewhere - I'm beginning to worry about being able to do the school run myself 5 days a week as DH starts early, and also being able to make it into the city for 9am (I know it should be possible with wraparound care, I guess I'm just feeling a bit worried about how do-able it will be and whether we'll spend our whole lives rushing for the next 15 years). We spend half our time at the weekend visiting family north west of the city, particularly as one parent is long term in hospital and it currently feels like we spend our time travelling down to the Anniesland area more than enjoying where we are. I wonder if it's just the wrong time for us to move quite this rural - I'm not sure we have the right balance of 6 days travelling and 1 day at home (we love the 1 day at home) and with one parent deteriorating and one on their own this is likely to be how we spend our time for the years to come.
We thought Killearn/Balfron would give us a lovely blend of green spaces and great schools. I'm wondering now if it is still a better choice than perhaps alternatives, like Strathblane, which may be a bit more accessible 5/6 days a week and quicker for the commute to get a train at Milngavie during the week? Or alternatively Milngavie or Bearsden areas? We've looked there plenty of times as I spent a lot of past time as part of a sports club there growing up, however we wonder if there are green enough areas for the lifestyle and nature balance we're looking for.
(The southside seems to have a great amount of green space, but it just isn't worth the time trade off to travel given the amount of time we'd spend there vs the travel as we'd only really get one weekend day there a week).
The other thing on my mind is that our daughter shows a number of indicators of autism which we're working with the nursery and healthcare professionals to understand, so I'm also interested to know whether any of the schools in these areas are particularly supportive - I know Castlehill in Bearsden seems to have good support, and Killearn seems good from the little I've heard. I don't know much about any of the other primaries, like Strathblane or those in Milngavie or others in Bearsden. We'll speak to any schools we're considering if this is confirmed to understand what is in place, and would welcome any experiences and insight for us to consider?
We've decided Balfron is definitely too far out, and we've missed the boat for Jordanhill registration as DH felt it was too urban/suburban for the picture he had in mind for the kids (we lived there years ago). We'd like a nice green area the kids can ride around on bikes safely while they're young, maybe climb some trees and be outdoorsy, in a nice school that feeds a secondary with a great mix of sports, music, arts, extra curricular clubs - sports, STEM etc, and a good environment and strong academic attainment. The kids will be whoever they're going to be - we would like to just give them a good school where they can explore their interests and do well if they are academic, and avoid private school route as we don't want to spend so much time working long hours to fund it that we miss quality time with the kids, as that is what is important! Final thing is we'd like to make sure it's somewhere there is plenty locally for them to do when they're older in secondary school, so they can enjoy life and do the things they want to do with their spare time.
Where would you go from here, any suggestions?
Thank you!