Secondary Schools Fife/Kinross/Stirlingshire

[oldmac]

I am hoping to get some personal insight from fellow mumsnetters about secondary education in these areas of Scotland. We are hoping to move in the next few months and while I have read all there is to read about particular schools, there is nothing like first hand knowledge. HMIE reports can tell me attainment etc but not what the school is really like. So I am looking for information on how nurturing, anti-bullying, encouraging, supportive, both academically and socially/emotionally, etc these following schools are and any other information that you think could be helpful in deciding between them.

The schools we are thinking about are Dunblane, Wallace High, Kinross, Madras College, Bell Baxter, Waid Academy, Balwearie and Inverkeithing.

(have posted this on local sites too but not much traffic there!)

(I'm not at the poo-filled pool very often these days.)

Would that be Burntisland by any chance? I used to take my Dd there for late evening training and it was often closed by a 'code brown'.

So far it seems most folks seem to have a positive experience of Dunblane, Kinross, Madras (but building issues) and Bell Baxter (but massive). Anyone experience of Waid Academy? Really know nothing about it and not heard anything about it either but it is obviously the school for the lower half of the East Neuk. I know some of you have experience of Dunfermline schools. This is further south than we had been looking but what is the feeling about the high schools there? Thanks again.

Oh how did you guess dotdot?

Waid is getting a new building.

Haha Primal - we're never at the poo filled pool either as we gave up on swimming lessons. DH and DS2 have chanced their arm in Kirkcaldy pool lately but not me

You are lucky. They changed the whole structure of the lessons and the shit has hit the fan rather than the water. Muchos complaints.

It happened so frequently Primal Lass! I used to take my Dd down for the last hour when she was training for competitions. She was the only synchro swimmer they ever saw and to give them their due, they were brilliant at accommodating her and really interested in what she was doing.

I know some of you have experience of Dunfermline schools. This is further south than we had been looking but what is the feeling about the high schools there?

My DC have left Queen Anne, one only just and the other last summer. I fear that they had the best of QA under the old Head. He was an old school disciplinarian and the school grew under his leadership. The new lady isn't faring so well and the school is slipping in many ways. It's a fairly new and impressive building with massive grounds and good facilities.

I don't know Dunfermline High so well, other than it's new building looks excellent. It's a really big school so I'm sure it has it's issues with behaviour.

Woodmill is an old building and looks really tired. It's results have improved over the past few years (mainly due to the amount of private housing in the Duloch Park area). It has lots of discipline issues and disruptive pupils even though the staff try very hard to work with them. I wouldn't send my child there.

St Columba's (RC school, but open to placement requests) is another building in the same era as Woodmill (and next door to it), but it's better kept and very well run. They're not so big on sports or music, at least not visibly, but it's where I would send a child for academic reasons.

Beath and Lochgelly. Both nice buildings and big on sports, but no.

oldmac - I'm not sure that Bell Baxter being massive is necessarily a bad thing. It does mean there are lots of opportunities to be involved with things, but more competition for places I suppose. I know that you are not at that stage yet, but it also offers a large choice of subjects at Nat 5, Higher and Advanced Higher levels. DD was showing me some photos at the weekend. There was one boy whose name I didn't recognise and she said he had only joined for S6, as his previous school in Glenrothes didn't do the Advanced Highers he wanted to do. Anyway, a previous poster reckoned Balwearie and Inverkeithing were bigger...

I totally agree PurpleFrog that it is not always a bad thing and there are definitely lots of pros - the subject choice is a big one as I know many parents are despairing of the 'columns' in other schools, however larger schools can be intimidating - especially for those coming from small rural primary schools. In a similar sized secondary near us I have heard that teachers have to sit with photos at parents evening - certainly in first year - as they have so many pupils. Not really the 'personal touch'.

At Balwearie this year they told the new S6s there were "no columns, just choose 4 subjects with one as reserve". Which DS1 did.

First day of S6 last Tuesday, he was told to report to guidance where they informed him that he couldn't do two subjects as "they were in the same column"

I had 8 missed calls from DS before I managed to reach him, he's had to drop one of the higher advanced subjects he was going to do. He's gutted.

He said the queues for all four guidance houses were the same, do the "no columns" thing obviously went well...

I know this is an old thread but am interested to know how things turned out for OP as we are making similar decisions involving very similar locations and need all the help I can get!

Hi @oldmac, what did you decide in the end after all this advice? We are looking at the same schools as you plus some in East Lothian. Sounds like your child is similar to my DD1 and I'm looking for the same type of school as you - she's in Y6 in England and hoping to move to Scotland before she starts S1, but it's looking harder as not a lot on the market just now and I keep jumping from one school area to the next, looking for that perfect school. I hope you found one that is working for you and your child.

@WhatsTheKerfuffle I haven’t been on mumsnet for a few years now but certainly the information I got at the time was very helpful. I have personal experience of Kinross high and would have no issue recommending it. All since I posted Waid have had a lovely new building and we visited before making our decision - it had a good feel about it and all the pupils were very smart in uniform but we decided we wanted to be closer to the middle of Scotland than in the east Neuk (still close enough to visit often though!). Madras in st. andrews are finally getting a new building after many years campaigning for one I think. However, my friend has had issues with bullies in her children’s class and it hasn’t been dealt with swiftly. Dunblane still gets a good name as far as I know. It’s very difficult now as I would imagine you can’t visit what with restrictions. It’s hard to get a feel for a school without visiting. Let me know if I can be of any more help.