Help please with schools and areas in Scottish East Coast

[WhatsTheKerfuffle]

Hi, we are hoping to move back to Scotland after moving to England over 20 years ago. I'm originally from Dundee. This time we move with a 10 and 8 year old so our move has to revolve around schools.

We've been looking around Broughty Ferry and North Berwick, but not many properties up for sale in these locations so we're casting our net wider around the East Coast (and beyond) and floundering desperately as there's not much up for sale so I keep jumping from one school to the next. We'd love a beach, but there is a real emptiness in the property market so we might have to give up that dream as we'd like to leave soon so that our P7 child has time to settle in before secondary. We'll pretty much work from home with travel to London, so pretty flexible on location. We've ruled out country living, despite the amazing houses, as we don't want to be a taxi service and we'd love our children to move around independently as they get older. We'd love somewhere 'rural' though, so no cities.

Have looked at Bridge of Allan recently as well as Dunblane too - Wallace High looks like to has a diverse mix of children with a reasonable flow of new children from people moving to work at the university (or there used to be pre COVID ). Can anyone comment on what BofA or Dunblane are like for teenagers and give any info on Wallace High?

Really I'm just looking for suggestions of really nurturing secondary schools that offer a lot on the creative side as well as challenges academically. I'd love a smaller school for both children, but then the curriculum seems to get quite narrow and to get the wider range of subjects creatively I think we need to consider the large schools. My DD1 might also be ADHD and dyslexic (mildly on both, but the older she gets the more different she seems from others in terms of focus) so schools where anyone has had a good experience on those areas being well understood and catered for would be helpful to know about too. We're finally having her assessed as it will be important to get the best help for her at secondary.

Specific questions on areas/schools we've looked at

• Can anyone comment on Anstruther and Waid Academy and generally what it's like for teenagers in the area? Any issues for children with English accents or is the school quite diverse? Good or bad experiences at the school?
• Same questions for Bell Baxter too
• I know we've wandered away from the East Coast, but same questions for Balfron High as the school sounds great.
• We drove around Kinross as the school there sounds good too, but we didn't think there was much for teenagers there - can anyone tell me we missed a bit and there's lots to do?

As you can see we are a bit all over the place!

Thanks so much for any advice at all on schools - really any locations are helpful to research.

North of Dundee?
South Aberdeenshire or Angus?
Stonehaven and Laurencekirk both have good secondaries I think. Also mainline train stations for London link or 30 mins into Aberdeen for the airport.

What about monifieth? I live here and the beach is right there, monifieth high is a good school and also grove academy if your thinking of the ferry or barnhill

@BluebellsareBlue we looked at Monifieth too as the beaches are fab and loved the school ethos too but no houses for sale. Lovely area so everyone is staying put I guess :(

@gracielooloo maybe not as far as Aberdeen, we’ve just looked a short distance up the coast from Dundee and then down the coast beyond Edinburgh and in towards Stirling areas. I’ll check out those two suggestions tho, thanks!

F you are travelling to London for work I would keep looking around n Berwick. The schools are great and you can get the train to London easily

I grew up in Dunblane and my mum now lives in Bridge of Allan. I love it there! I'm in London and desperate to move back there. The countryside around the towns is great and there is so much to explore. The Trossachs are on your doorstep and their are great walks up Dumyat which can be done from your front door in BofA. Bridge of Allan has a lot more cafes and restaurants than Dunblane and there is an amazing fish and chip / ice cream shop! I went to Dunblane High School which has a focus on academics and strives to be top of league tables. I don't know much about Wallace but my impression is that it is much more inclusive and diverse and that it is great for kids with additional or specific needs. I wouldn't use these words to describe my experience at Dunblane but it was a school that the pupils thrived in. The uni is a great campus that is open to the public and has a great sports centre with Olympic swimming pool. Both towns are well connected by train to Stirling, Glasgow and Edinburgh and you can easily head north to Dundee and Aberdeen from Stirling and Dunblane station.

Carnoustie - one to avoid. Huge issues with bullying and violence.

@ImperfectTents The problem with the lovely North Berwick is that very little is on the house market and only new builds seem to come up on the market and the new big development has sold out (we don’t fancy a new build anyway having compared old style with new). We want to move pretty quickly, but if we had lots of time we’d definitely wait. Think we have started our search a couple of years too late :( Will keep checking!

Have you considered Dunbar? Good secondary school, lots of lovely local beaches, good transport links, and a nice wee town and friendly community.

@Spin4Gin ah I hope you get to move back one day! That all sounds really positive :) We did find a property in Bridge of Allan, but it’s v expensive and I think we thought houses would be cheaper and we’d move with money in our pocket from selling in London. Looking at a house on Chalton Road, if your Mum knows anything about that part and how friendly it is?

That’s great to hear your sense on Wallace High re Dunblane High and mirrors what I spoke to Wallace High about too. It sounds like a great area to move to and just be absorbed into the school easily.

@ChickenwingChickenwing oh that’s good to know!

Gin is spot on I would say. Mine are now 19 and 20, so not long out of school. They went to Dunblane on placing request rather than Wallace but that wasn't particularly related to the school. Ds1 had issues with being bullied and wanted a fresh start. He doesn't have a diagnosis but is possibly on the spectrum and the geekier nature of Dunblane served him well, I'd say its a school where its easier to be academic. Wallace has shot up the rankings though and I don't know anyone with anything bad to say. Obviously sons friends and neighbours dc go there. From what I see walking past, image is a bit more important at Wallace but obvs that's quite a small sample. Kids seem happy and I know many who've achieved well.

Plenty of sporting and non sporting opportunities and I'd say a great place to raise kids and easy access to the bigger cities for those keen to spread their wings.

@russetred Yep we looked there too but sadly sane as North Berwick and little or no houses. It’s proving hard to find a school and match up with a house as there are literally none in some areas - we are looking for a five bed so that we have plenty of space for visiting family and friends

Chalton road is lovely, that would be upper bridge of allan so in the most desirable area.

Are you looking at rentals too? I would focus on area first, with the aim of renting, then you can even move before you’ve sold your house.
We moved from England to Scotland and found lining up schools and house sale and house purchase all at once was too big a job.
You could get a rental which is smaller than you need long term as you can put relatives up in an Airbnb maybe for while you’re renting. Then you can find a house at leisure, do any building work on it and then move in.

Obv check sold prices to get a feel for movement and prices.

Presume you’ve found ESPC?

I think a lot of the houses are quite far apart, though I think some might be split up?

Once DC have school friends and join scouts and other clubs, it should be easier to make friends.

Really helpful @WaxOnFeckOff. Was your DS1 bullied at primary school? My DS1 would go to Bridge of Allan primary and unfortunately because of his age he’d go ‘back’ a year and so my children will have a three year gap rather than the current two in England. I’m hoping it’s a good school and from the chat I had with the school it sounds like it’s geared up to welcome new children and has a diverse group. It didn’t look great when we drove past the other week as there was a lot of scaffolding but it reads well from online info. Its good to know that a placing request might be granted to Dunblane as my P4 son is pt more suited to an academic school.

Linlithgow, easy commute to Edinburgh, lovely town and 2 mins to Firth of Forth; beach!
This is a nearby village;
4 The Avenue, Philpstoun, Linlithgow
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-72186591.html

Yes bullied at primary but not Bofa. Primary seems fine and I think Wallace does fine with academic DC nowadays. DSs friend went to Edinburgh to study maths from Wallace after 5th year. His primary school in England thought he was a bit slow...

@GreyishDays might be what we do too. The good thing is that the schools, certainly in Bridge of Allan said we just fill in a form on the council website and hey presto, with a few days, your child can go to the schools. Waiting lists galore in our area here, so that was a pleasant surprise and at least makes schools in BofA easy. I know that a lot of the other schools seem to be bursting at the seams so it’s not always a case of ‘move to catchment and get into school’

Certainly up until a year or two ago, placing requests were not an issue and the school were actively looking for extra pupils. I think it got a lot busier when the private school in BofA closed.

Housing supply is a problem for all the areas with good schools in Scotland, i suppose the towns are just smaller than the equivalent in the SE.
My kids are or have been at Kinross, i think its on a par with Dunblane for teenagers (i was a teenager in Dunblane) minus the station, but it does have direct bus links to Perth and Edinburgh for shopping trips.
It has a public pool and gym which Dunblane hasn't. It has a wide catchment so i have ended up doing a lot of taxiing to villages (i dont live there either!)
Anecdotally Dunblane is not set up for SEN kids. Kinross was good for DS2 with ASD, help for DS3 who has ADHD (late DX) has been driven by me, but they readily agreed to extra time in exams etc.
English accents are not a rarity in Dunblane which is a help.
Have you considered Linlithgow?
When i moved back up from London it was property availability that drove my location choice but my budget was limited as i was a first time buyer.

@SBTLove ah now my husband thought Linlithgow was a bit old fashioned (he said pubs for men and hairdressers for ladies!). Maybe his view is 30 years out of date? Is their plenty for children and teens to do there?

From all the info Dunblane High is out for my DD1 for sure. Thanks all. Even if she isn’t diagnosed, there’s a something that just makes focus and stillness hard for her and I don’t want school to not understand that and make a transition even more daunting than it might otherwise be in a school more able to understand.

There are some teachers from Stirling area schools on here e.g. @lidlfix who might be able to give an insight.