West Edinburgh Schools

[Saleve8]

We are relocating at v short notice from France to Edinburgh. We can get the children into a few private schools if necessary but they are young, p3 and p1 so if we can possibly get into a good state school I would rather go down that route.
After many phone calls here is my shortlist. Any thoughts/feedback on these schools wld be really appreciated, positive and negative.

Juniper Green (possible places)
Currie Primary
Nether Currie Primary
Balerno (Dean Park)
Carstorphine
Ratho
And any other suggestions? We don't mind being a bit rural so even further west is a potential if any good primaries to recommend. Both Currie schools will take out of catchment do that is a big bonus as we don't yet have a house! Any recommendations north of the bridge?
Many thanks in advance.

Id probably go for Balerno as the High School is good.

We're in Aberdour. Lovely place to live, primary is fine, secondary is a bit more variable.

Thanks! Not even thinking about secondary yet as who knows where we will be by then! So just want the best Primary for them. Will check Aberdour.

Gylemuir gets a good name! That's pretty close to Corstorphine.

The P1 place would possibly be your decider as they can be few and far between depending on when you plan to arrive.

Juniper green is fantastic - both of our DC went there and got a great primary education and lots of extra curricular opportunities. Good catchment and engaged parent body. Fairly new school building and good facilities. Currie High is the secondary for the catchment which is also excellent.

I'm in Cramond catchment; near the beach, yet easy to access the city centre, airport & transport networks. Both the primary & secondary school (Royal High) are very good. Plus there's good wrap-around care.

However all the schools around here are full to bursting & it could be difficult to get in. If it's a P1 place you're needing, the council deal with school admissions. For P2 onwards, it's a case of phoning the schools & seeing if they have spaces.

Corstorphine is a great school. I went there. Nice place to live as well.

North of the bridge has endless possibilities. Right up to Kinross which has fabulous schools and are highly regarded. Fife is good too.

Depends how far west you want to go :) I love the Stirling/Bridge of Allan area, plenty countryside, massive amount of stuff for kids, hills on your doorstep and handy for Glasgow and Edinburgh.

A bit less far is Larbert, decent primaries and high school.

I went to Juniper Green primary and then Currie High School and have a relative who works at Nether Currie- all great options!

I have several colleagues with children at Bonaly Primary (not far from Juniper Green) and they're very happy with it . Would you consider South Queensferry? Echline Primary and Dalmeny Primary in SQ are highly spoken of.

Thank you everyone, that's all great food for thought. Both Currie Primaries have spaces so that is looking like a good option. I would love to be more rural but need to think about the commute to work. I am keen on Juniper Green too which looks and sounds fab but they can't give us any confirmation of spaces till week 27th June, just waiting list.

Edinburgh isn't very big so you can get out into the countryside/seaside without a great deal of difficulty.

I went to Firrhill high and had friends who lived in Juniper Green and Bonaly that went there too. Plenty of access to open space and Spylaw park used to be a treat to go to.