Edinburgh Primary Schools

[Botero]

Hi all, I will be moving to Edinburgh in the next few months and I'm trying to work out the best place to buy. I've been trawling through these threads and the information has been great. What seems to jump out is to make sure what secondary school, the primary you are in feeds in to.

What I'm struggling with is understanding the different primary schools and if there are some which should be avoided.

Looking at my budget (max 300k), size of apartment (2 bed) and desire to not be in the suburbs - the below are the schools which appear a lot. I've put the related high schools next to them.
Any information about any of the schools would be so helpful. Would especially like more information about schools in Leith, as I've found many nice apartments there but I'm a little bit concerned. Thanks in advance!

Abbeyhill – Drummond Community High School
Leith Walk Primary - Drummond Community High School

Leith Primary School – Leith Academy

Parson’s Green Primary – Portobello High

James Gillespie Primary School – James Gillespie’s
Preston Street Primary – James Gillespie’s
Tollcross – James Gillespie’s

South Morningside – Boroughmoir High School
Bruntsfield Primary School - Boroughmoir High School

Victoria Primary – Trinity Academy
Wardie Primary School – Trinity Academy

Granton Primary – Broughton High School
Stockbridge Primary – Broughton High School

Shameless bump.

I know nothing about the north / Leith schools but here are rankings by exam result (if that measure matters to you) www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/education/these-are-10-top-performing-secondary-state-schools-edinburgh-ranked-exam-results-1321518?amp

Hi museummum. Thanks for the link.

I'm able to get lots of info on secondaries but can't seem to find much on primary schools. Or the threads I've found are from 10 years ago.

Do you have children at primary school in Edinburgh?

Wardie Primary / Trinity Primary are both good.
Victoria is a very small school and is having a new building built which, to me, seems a bit out of the way

@Botero - my kids are at a primary on the south side that feeds Firrhill so no help to you, sorry.
My kids have friends at gillespies, south morningside and Bruntsfield (all good schools, tbh I don’t see a lot of difference between them although south morningside is very crowded and has two sites which can be a pain for the school run)

Thank you! I'd read that about south morningside too - although looks like there'll be a new school in that area, changing the catchment of a few schools there.

Are you moving here from England? My experience in edinburgh is that people are not nearly so obsessed with choosing schools and most schools are of a similar standard. The only difference being that a few serve areas of the city that are more deprived (but none you’ve mentioned and again that’s more of an issue at secondary).

Yes, moving from England. I also had a view that people weren't so obsessed until I started reading threads and panicking that there was a big disparity between schools. I'm still shocked at how many kids are in private school though.

Yes a lot go to private schools and I've been told they are relatively cheaper than in England. A few of our friends choose to live in a cheaper area with bigger houses and send kids to private school. Maybe an option?
The South Edinburgh primaries feeding into Boroughmuir and Gillespie's are all fine from what I know. And then there are the Roman Catholic schools as well if that might be something you would like to consider.

My boys went to Parsons Green which I thought was a good school.
It has 1-2 classes per year depending on intake.
Eldest DS was always in a single class, youngest in a composite class after P1, but that gave him advantages as he was youngest in his class (end of Feb birthday just before the cutoff and I didn't defer him as was an option), but typically in a class with the year below age wise plus his year.

Porty High School was rebuilt a couple years back and much nicer than the old one.
It's large (1400 total I think) and has a range of abilities.
Eldest did so so at school, but enough to get into Uni and has just got a 2:1.
Youngest messed up his exams in S6, but after a year off is getting back into HND. I would say mess was of his own making (lack of revision) and not as far as I know anything to do with quality of teaching.

Duddingston area is quiet, but good public transport into town and walking distance (or bus) from Portobello.
I'm literally on the edge of Holyrood park with Arthur's Seat in easy reach for walks.

Preston Street Primary takes in the University of Edinburgh families accommodation, which gives it an international feel (perhaps 20% of the kids are international). They got a good recent inspection report. There is a new primary being built in the middle of Morningside which is needed as a lot of the schools are overcrowded in this area. Royal Mile Primary is tiny - feeds into James Gillespies HS still. You need to be living in catchment to get a place in the High Schools, and it hard to get an out of catchment placing in Primary School too.

I’d focus on which schools you can get the type of property you want near. You’ll need to be in catchment and bearing in mind ‘offers over’ system you may struggle in some of those area where catchments are small eg stockbridge/Gillespies

I'd be happy with all those secondary schools, though they are quite different in character.

Buckstone is a good area too. It’s quite far out but the schools (primary and secondary) are good. The housing around the school is more affordable too so attracts a lot of families.

Do you know Edinburgh well? I am asking because the areas you are looking at are quite widely spread. Also sometimes a school which is supposed to be good on paper might not be something your child likes because it's very big and crowded or maybe it's a pain to get to etc so might be worth renting a while to get to know the place a bit better.

Sorry I just realized I have no idea if your DC will have to transfer school, in which case you don't want to mess about, or if they are not school age yet which gives you a bit more wiggle room.

Thanks for all the responses. I'm going to sound absolutely mad but I don't have children yet but am planning to adopt in the coming few years and so local school is a priority for me.
With an adopted child I can envision that whilst exam results in a school are important, more so is the ethos of the school and the support given.

I know Edinburgh reasonably well although I've never lived there. I've visited at least twice a year for the past 3 years with the idea of trying to get to know different areas better. I'll be visiting in mid July in the hope of looking further into particular areas and viewing some properties.

@Bumply - I love Holyrood Park and my dream street is Royal park Terrace, but it seems very popular. A property went on the market there last week and was under offer in 2 days. I hadn't considered Duddingston as it seemed a little quiet - not the city centre, but also not the beach. How do you find it living there?

If you’ve never lived here I strongly strongly suggest you rent for 6-12 months and buy from the position of a renter (chain free). It will make it sooooo much easier to find the right area and right property.

Renting is definitely a possibility although I've been waiting to buy for a long time and am now in prime position to do it and may not be in a year or so time. I'm a first time buyer, so no chain to worry about.

Also it helps if you rent first as a lot of properties are 'offers over' which means you have to wait for the closing date to find out if your bid was successful. Unless you bid very aggressively you might have to go though this process several times!

The offers over is definitely an interesting system to get used to. I've luckily got a great solicitor and mortgage advisor who have been very helpful.

Is that solicitor and mortgage advisor in Scotland/Edinburgh. I’d suggest so, you need someone familiar with the local market. My sister sold a flat in city for 20% over home report and in certain areas there are lots of cash buyers. It’s a lovely place to live though. We moved a few miles out about 5years ago to get more space & private garden

Yes, both Edinburgh based. I originally had a London based mortgage advisor and the move to an Edinburgh based one has been brilliant. I had my mortgage in principle agreed within 2 weeks and his local knowledge is great.