Moving to Edinburgh

[Berri85]

Help! Please, we are moving to Edinburgh in October and do not know where to live. Husband will be working in Corstorphine. Looking at Corstorphine and Prestonfield. Any Mums got any insight about primary schools in these areas? We'll need to rent until we can sell our house. Any insight much appreciated!

Not Prestonfield unless you're putting in a placing request or sending children private. Prestonfield has..... a very mixed demographic shall we say and the school feeds into Castlebrae which takes kids from some of Edinburgh's roughest areas.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-21536087

Avoid, avoid.

Corstorphine a really nice area. Other areas on that side of town are Davidsons Mains and Silverknowes. Remember that catchment areas are set in Edinburgh and don't change, so you can log onto the Council website, input your potential address and see what primary and secondary you'd automatically get a place at.

Prestonfield is also an odd choice if he needs to work on Corstorphine as it's the opposite end of the city. I suppose it depends on your budget and what size of house you need too. I.m not in Edinburgh anymore but am originally from the West/South of Edinburgh. It's really impossible to suggest without knowing what you'd be looking for and what you can afford i.e. I don't know whether you have a Barnton or Pilton budget. Yo could also look outside the West/South of Ednburgh. imo you should be thinking further ahead to high schools rather than primaries as that is more important. Technically you can apply to any school (placing request) regardless of whether you are in the catchment or not but I'm not sure what the out of catchment allocation rates are like. Plus you must always also register with your catchment in case you don't get offered a space.

How your DH will be commuting is also a factor (will he get parking?)

Come back with some more details OP and people will be able to help a bit better. Edinburgh is a fantastic place to live so it's a good move :)

Thank you both, that's really helpful. More info: The budget would be capped at 1000/month. I'm a stay at home mum to two children - age 4 and 1. Our 4 year old is currently at prep school here in England, but his birthday is the beginning of March, so he won't be starting school in Edinburgh until August, so I'm going to have to figure out nursery school for him for two terms and then primary school. At the moment we're looking at a couple of houses that would put us in the Carrick Knowe catchment area, so any feedback about that would be wonderful. And I guess I could do placing requests for any of the other schools in the Corstorphine area - again, feedback would be appreciated.

I should also add: I guess what we're really looking for, is somewhere I'm not going to feel isolated as a stay at home mum, and where my son will be happy at school and have nice friends. I'm originally from Edinburgh, but moved away at a young age - so I'm really looking forward to moving back and getting in touch with my roots :-)

Carrick Knowe is fine but it'd be a bit of a change from prep school! Most of it is 4 in a block type housing, very working class but not so much benefit class.

The thing about edinburgh is that the desirable bits are very much mixed in with areas that are less so. A matter of streets can make a huge difference.

I've linked below some places within budget but as I say it's been a while since I have lived in Edinburgh so I may be a bit out of touch - I know they are small but you don't get much for your money unfortunately. Would you be looking at private school for your DC when you buy?

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-50577975.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-61590535.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-50418813.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-61068106.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-61888888.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-49738134.html

Placing requests is a risky strategy. I don't have personal experience of Edinburgh schools but where I am there are lots of people who are in our primary school on a placing request, out of catchment for the secondary, and because of pressure on places won't get their kids into the secondary with their friends. You'd have to do a bit of homework to see what the situation is in your area - Forrester is an OK secondary school but Craigmount gets far better exam results so I would imagine there are a lot of placing requests for it. Obviously if your wee one is only 4 it seems silly to be worrying about secondary already, but it really is so much more simpler to rent in the catchment area for the schools you want.

All catchment area maps are online and these won't change before August. Anywhere north of the main road in Corstorphine would be a good bet, imho.

I'd also look at Colinton and the surrounding area, Firrhill is a better school than Forrester by a country mile. Colinton Mains is a very similar area to Carrick Knowe and an easy drive/bus trip to Corstorphine. Fairmilehead area too. Juniper Green maybe or look outside Edinburgh to the west. Or South Queensferry?

Edinburgh is a great city to live in - friendly, cosmopolitan, always lots going on. I live on the other side of city so can't help with schools. But, unless you want to go private (and there are lots of private schools here) think about investigating catchment areas for the High Schools. Most primaries in Edinburgh are good but the secondaries can vary. There was a report on the local news today saying that for the best High school in the city (Boroughmuir) expect to pay a premium of £120,000 on properties in the catchment area.

Just checked on Rightmove & there's a 2-bed upper villa in Parkgrove for £765 pcm - sorry don't know how to link. School catchment is Clermiston for primary & Royal high for secondary. Not far from Corstorphine- just over the hill.

Thank you all so much for your help and advice, I really appreciate it. I've done a lot of research the past couple of days, weighing up what youv'e all told me. And I am moving back in favour of renting a flat in Morningside - I have family there, I know it well, I've met other mums and kids there and believe the primary schools are good and it puts us in catchment for Boroughmuir Secondary. While we will have less living space, I think it may be less of a culture shock for our son moving from a prep school to either South Morningside or Bruntsfield primary than it would be going to Carrick Knowe/Fox Covert etc.

That seems sensible OP. I'd still consider Craiglockhart and Colinton as they are a quick scoot through to Morningside, still handy for Corstorphine but with a similar demographic to Morningside and catchment to Firhill school which is a decent school. It was decent when I went but is very much up the league tables and I think does a lot of liaison with Boroughmuir.

Thanks WaxOnFexkOff - I'll definitely look into Craiglockhart and Colinton too.

Corstorphine is a fab area to bring up children. We had planned to live in Craiglockhart and ended up here by accident. Broomhall is close to Carrick Knowe and puts you in the Gylemuir catchment. Half of children who go to Gylemuir move up to Craigmount. Forrester has pretty good exam results these days and the pastoral care has been outstanding. A new head was appointed earlier in the year and the teaching staff give their all, so I wouldn't completely discount it!

South Morningside is a brilliant school. Highly recommend it. Calm happy atmosphere and great support for all children there. It is much less crowded now that there are two main sites.

I live close to Corstorphine and it's a lovely area