Flora Stevenson, opinions

[larret]

Hi everyone,

We've been living in Edinburgh for 10 months now, we're in Flora Stevenson's catchment area. I'm trying to find some friends for my older son (4y soon), I'm worried he might have a hard time at P1 since English is not his primary language (his main spoken language is German). He is doing better and better with his English thanks to the nursery.

I've heard that Flora Stevenson is supposed to provide some good quality education. However, what I'm really worried about is that my son may have a rough time there since he knows just few local kids, barely speaks any English. I'm worried he may be bullied, or not supported. Can anyone tell me his/her experience with Flora Stevenson? I've read another thread (pretty old one though) saying it's not very multicultural. Another one mention some problem with bullying in the past. And then another one where someone said they improved their anti-bullying procedures a lot in recent years. I'm totally confused!

No idea who or what Flora is, but whatever school he goes to your child will be fluent in English by the end of his first term. Honestly.

It's been a long long time since I've lived in Edinburgh but Flora Stevenson primary was always highly regarded and it has a fairly affluent catchment as far as I remember. Bullying can happen anywhere and to be honest, I've yet to hear of a school that manages to deal with it completely. However, 5 year olds are usually very open and inclusive, I really don't think your son will have any issues and before you know it he will be conversing perfectly happily in English (with or without a Scottish accent!). Unless you are going private, I'd go with it as your catchment school and just see how he settles.

Floras has a pretty good reputation locally, and from our experience also has a decent mix of cultures and nationalities; it may not have large numbers from any specific non Scottish background IYSWIM, but there seems to be a fair number of families who have relocated for work and so on.

It's a relatively big primary and I'm not aware of any significant bullying issues either.

You will also have difficulty getting an out of catchment place around there - Blackhall and Stockbridge are both very full as are Wardie and Trinity so you would either have to go further afield, private, or to a poorer quality school than Floras.

Is your son going to nursery at the moment? If not I would suggest trying to get him in to the Floras nursery to start in August so he will have a year building friendships with his peers before he starts school.

Thanks for the answers. He does attend the nursery together with his 2 years old brother, but it's a private one, not Flora's. I think it's a great idea to get him to Flora's nursery first. That definitely might help him.

The on site nurseries tend to do lots of transition events with the school too which will make things easier. You'll probably find his english will come on in leaps and bounds mixing with english speaking kids too, he'll be a different boy by the time he starts school.

Hi @larret,
I am in the position that you were in in 2017.
I am moving to a house in the Flora Stevenson catchment area with my almost 2 and 4 year old boys.
Can I ask how you're getting along with Flora Stevenson?
Also, can I ask which private nursery your 2 boys were at as I'm also searching for a nursery for my younger son.
Thanks!

52 languages are currently spoken by children who attend Flora’s - we moved from London and whilst Edinburgh is nowhere near as diverse, there is a sense of multiculturalism at the school. I have several friends who have children where English is an additional language who are happy at Flora’s!

Happy to answer any questions you have.

In terms of private nurseries - look at:
Crewe Road Nursery
Arbour Green
New Town Nursery
Early days as Palmerston Place

Hi we are in need of some advice. We’ve had a very difficult year as my youngest son has been diagnosed with a life limiting condition and we are relocating to be closer to a main hospital (sick kids) so we can get him the best treatment. My older sons catchment is Floras and we want him to be happy, particularly with everything that’s going on at home for him. My oldest has a hearing impairment and some attention difficulties as a consequence of this. We would be very grateful for any advice from other parents at Floras about what it’s like there? He is 5 in January so due to start school in August next year and will be in pre school starting January 2021. Thank you in advance