Coming home (or almost home) - Help please?

[Macbeth77]

After 20 years of round the world travel, with the odd pit stop back to the motherland for family visits, we are homeward bound.
We are a family of 3 currently living Wirral, England and have been here 3 years. Hubby has been offered a position with a company based near Glasgow Airport. We are both originally from Ayrshire but were thinking more of spreading our wings towards Balloch. It will nice to be close to family but don’t think I’m ready for (just dropped in for a cup of sugar just yet).
Like everywhere Scotland has grown and moved on and not having lived there for 20 years we haven’t the foggiest about the best areas. Our plan is to rent for up to a year to try and get the area right and less hassle if we need to move to a different area.
Secondary school is priority number one for location. Our daughter would be starting A-Levels down here. I’ve reviewed the switch to Higher Grades and emailed lots of schools about ease of move, space etc...she is happy to move (I think we bred itchy feet into her) and she plans on going to Edinburgh University so feels it makes it a little easier to cut the apron strings with me...lol...she just wants to be closer for homemade meatball sauce!!
We would love countryside (we have 2 well exercised dogs) or beaches or hill and glen, basically nowhere too built up. Having grown up on trips to Glasgow and drunk last trains home I know the city but have no idea on the best areas or suburbs.
I’m ashamed to say I have never been to Dumbarton or Helensburgh (seemed kind of pricey) but have heard of lovely areas out there. We have scoured Largs to Greenock but nothing really fit the bill house wise.
I’m hoping some of you wise people can provide some local knowledge.

I’m on my way half pizza supper, Red Kola and cafes you can get a roll on slice from.....

Thank you

Lennoxtown? No idea of schools though. Otherwise I'm a fan of ayrshire - stewarton?

it's hard to be looking at the moment as obviously the property market isn't really operating normally. How about Neilston? Strathblane/Balfron area? I'm not a west coast person though :)

Maybe give folks an idea of requirements e.g. rooms etc plus budget and they might be able to give places that usually have suitable properties in budget.

Milngavie/Bearsden parts are rural(ish) with schools high in exam league tables (if that's the dealbreaker), but right side of the City suburbs for easy access to Balloch, Helensburgh, Loch Lomond, West Highland Way etc.

Or Eaglesham? Village that feeds into a high performing Secondary with quick access down M77 to Ayrshire coast if beaches appeal?

Huge windfarm at Eaglesham for walks and cycling too.

Someone may be able to confirm/correct me, but I think the residency requirement for Scottish universities is three years... so you need to be aware that your DD would have to pay full fees (as UK student, not overseas).

Although Helensburgh and Dumbarton have nice houses and beaches, I don't think they put you into the best schools. Balfron, Milngavie and Bearsden are probably best for school catchments in the west end.
Although you're averse to being too close to your family, East Ren has the best schools eg Newton Mearns and Barrhead. Sadly, no beaches. Eaglesham is lovely but it definitely has a small village feel. It is substantially quieter than the other places.

I'd go for Houston - fantastic high school & close to the airport, Braehead etc. Kilmalcolm is nice but schools are not so good.

Or East Renfrewshire, as previously mentioned - more suburban than villagey but great schools.

I was born in Dumbarton and although I haven't lived there for 30+ years, I have friends and family in Dumbarton, Balloch and Helensburgh. The latter would be my choice. Best school according to cousin, lots of restaurants and nice wee shops. On the fast train line to Glasgow and frequent direct trains to Edinburgh (if your DD wants to come home for a weekend). Lovely countryside around. You will get more for your money in Balloch, friends who live there like it because it's livelier (and friendlier) but there are some run down areas and not sure about the secondary schools (one sent their kids to a private school and the other's kids are in late primary). I tend to think bright kids do well in any reasonable school so wouldn't let the fact none of the schools are top of the league tables. In fact it can be an advantage to go to a school languishing at the bottom of the tables as you are eligible for adjusted offers, summer schools etc. However I guess the East Ren schools are good at getting more average kids into good unis. I believe if you are a UK resident you only need to be resident in Scotland on a certain date just before the course starts (and not solely for purposes of education). So moving this year would be fine for Scottish fee status. Just in case you didn't know there are limits on Scottish student places so it can be harder to get a place in some unis (Edinburgh being one of them).

Whereabouts on the Wirral are you - I know it well as have family there. Bearsden/Milngavie is more like Heswall or West Kirby, for example.

It really will all boil down to budget.

Residency requirements for free uni fees - you have to have been a resident in UK for 3 years, but only ‘ordinarily resident’ in Scotland to qualify for free tuition, there is no set time. Exact wording:

“You must also be ordinarily resident in Scotland on the relevant date.

Despite what you might hope, this doesn't mean you can move to Scotland the day before your course starts and still be eligible for the free fees. It basically just means you need to live in Scotland permanently, year after year, full-time and only leaving for holidays – there's just no set time frame on it.”

So if you sit highers in Scotland you’d probably qualify for free tuition.

I think around Balfron would be nice.

i might be reading it wrong, but I don't think it's that clear.

I thought the ordinarily resident in Scotland applied to the ability to apply to SAAS for your loan, not necessarily reflective of your tuition fee status. I'm pretty sure my niece had to defer for a year as, although she was born in Scotland to Scottish parents and she lived in Scotland until she was 12, she had only been back from England in January after the start of 4th year so didn't qualify for free fees at the end of 6th year as it was under 3 years.

I do wonder if things will change with tuition fees for Scottish students ; the universities are going to struggle financially - especially Glasgow, Edinburgh & St Andrews, who rely on overseas students fees to balance the books.

I think they will all be in the same boat tbh. Stirling has a large amount of foreign, particularly Chinese, students.

I'm not sure what they will do as they'll have a lot of places to fill and filling them with Scottish students isn't worth it to them.

What are your house requirements & budget for buying somewhere eventually? No point in renting somewhere temporarily if you want to buy there & find you can’t afford it.

East Dunbartonshire & East Renfrewshire are great for schools but some areas can be pricey. Balfron school good too but might be too far in terms of commute.

Check out the school rankings before deciding on an area:

www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scotlands-schools-ranked-best-worst-21981461

Balloch has nice areas but the school doesn’t get such great results.

How about Kilbarchan? Bridge of Weir? West Kilbride? All in good school catchments and on the right side of the river for the commute.

I'd go for Houston - fantastic high school & close to the airport, Braehead etc

Another vote here for Houston. Also you're half an hour to the coast at Ayrshire and 40 mins to Loch Lomond. Its ideal