Catholic primary - what are your thoughts?

[wellhelloyou]

Which Catholic primary do you think is best in Scotland? If you had the opportunity to live anywhere (aside from Glasgow) where would you send your child?

Do Catholic primary schools in Scotland have high fees?

Actually, sorry should have said. Also interested in a really great (smallish) non-Catholic primary if you have an opinion on that too. Anywhere in Scotland (not Glasgow) Thanks

Most Catholic primaries in Scotland are not private so there are no fees.

Lots of schools in lots of places in Scotland are full and you might not get a place.

Are you really choosing to live anywhere in Scotland based on a primary school? Aren't there other things to consider too? Also, despite your clear bias against Glasgow, there are lots of excellent schools in the city and surrounding local authority areas too.

This is a very strange post. Do you have any concept of how the school system works because your question about fees makes me think you don't?

as others have said, Catholic primaries are state schools in Scotland and have no fees. in the west coast of Scotland they are as mixed as any non-denominational school and are often in more deprived areas. in the east coast i think they can be a bit more like they are in England where the fact someone chooses them means they end up kind of selective. Gaelic schools often fill the same space in the west coast...

Agree it's a really weird post. Also given that in Scotland we don't have league tables for Primary Schools, "best" is a subjective term. How are you measuring "best"? Everyone has their own opinion on what's best.

Hi. Thanks for your replies.

Sorry, I should have clarified. We've lived in Glasgow before (had a great time!) but we are just wanting to move to a more semi-rural location. In fact I would say we would like to consider outside of Edinburgh also. Nothing against either city.

Yes, you're right I'm not fully au fait with the education system in Scotland. We live in Australia and Catholic schools are not zoned and are fee paying, albeit it no where near the full private school fees.

I thought perhaps Catholic primary schools are zoned? It wouldn't dictate exactly where we live - but I was trying to understand if you could select a school, almost regardless of where you lived, or it they were zoned.

I had searched for a league table for primary schools in Scotland and couldn't find anything, thus asking the question @RaspberryCoulis you're absolutely right however, 'best' is subjective and perhaps I should have asked for personal reviews for any Catholic primaries.

I should have phrased my question a bit better. Does anyone have an personal reviews on Catholic primaries?

I think you need to narrow down your search area based on places you'd like to live and then narrow it down further using school catchments. I would look at secondary as well as primary catchments. There aren't that many catholic schools in the east the catchments can be quite large.
School application policies and catchment areas should be on the local authority websites. e.g. Midlothian outside Edinburgh:
www.midlothian.gov.uk/info/879/school_places/32/apply_for_a_school_place
You might have more chance of getting a place in a catholic school if you don't live in the catchment than you would in a non-denom school but as a general rule you'll need to live within the catchment area.

In Scotland every address has 2 state primary schools attached to it, one catholic and one non-denominational. You can apply to either but priority will be given to children baptised catholic for the catholic school. You can also apply to schools out with your catchment area but you will only get in if there are spaces available after catchment children. You can approach schools to ask about spaces in particular year groups but, crucially, you cannot formally apply until you have proof of address in the area.

There are only 2 or 3 catholic private schools I can think of in Scotland. They charge fees and are very expensive unless you are low income and can secure a means tested bursary.

Sorry I have no personal experience of catholic primaries but thought it would be useful for you to know how system works.
Most primary schools in Scotland are very good.

Please don't base your school choice on league tables and Ofsted reports. Every school I've known that has been "outstanding" according to Ofsted has been a very toxic place for children; the worst school I've ever worked in was an "outstanding" Catholic school; the children were emotional wrecks with eating disorders and self-harm through the ceiling. It's so difficult as parents to make the right choice but don't rely on Ofsted.

Thank you so much @emmathedilemma and @Sootess ...really helpful information. I didn't realise there were so many Catholic primary schools. I had a look on sces.org.uk/catholic-schools/ but it doesn't actually list the schools.

Due to the pandmic etc. we wouldn't look to make the move until next year (hopefully) however, just thought I'd try to have a good understanding of the system first.

pandemic of course...

I really think you need to choose an area you'd be happy living in, and then narrow down the location based on the school. You will presumably be there for longer than your dc are at primary!

I used to work in an over subscribed Catholic school and all entrants had to have letter of recommendation from their Priest to show active Catholicism.

There aren't as many Catholic schools outside the Central belt and East tends to have less than west. Probably the main way to identify is if it is called St something. Not foolproof but is a starting point. Some also say rc in the name.

Another way is to identify the high schools (usually Saint or other religious name) and then look at what their feeder primary schools are. Also useful if you want an RC high-school. Those are rarer than primary schools in the East and North.

I had family that did RC for primary but non denomination for high school as the Catholic high was just too awkward to get to.

In Stirlingshire, there is one Catholic high school and maybe 2 primaries?

@caringcarer

I used to work in an over subscribed Catholic school and all entrants had to have letter of recommendation from their Priest to show active Catholicism.

Was that in Scotland? I've not heard of that round where I am, baptism certificate is required.

Please don't base your school choice on league tables and Ofsted reports

Certainly not if you want a school in Scotland.

@AnnaFiveTowns that's very sad to hear - thanks for sharing.

@ItsIgginningtolooklikelockdown - good points

Thanks @WaxOnFeckOff

@caringcarer might be a bit difficult for us as would have only moved to the area recently.

Given that Ofsted is an England/Wales thing, pay no need to what Anna is saying as it's completely irrelevant to Scotland.

We do have HMIE though and inspection reports should be available on their websites. Most primaries will have a decent website now too.

We would of course (if there are spaces) visit as many schools as we could (in the area/s we had narrowed down to). We look for more of a 'whole' school existence - not simply grades.

I couldn't find many, if any, reports on primary schools @ItsIgginningtolooklikelockdown I did find a few websites however they varied in which information they provided. Thought I would ask on here for personal experiences too.

In rural areas there is often only one school, unlikely to be Catholic, kids are often bussed long distances. Outside of the cities there are few private schools. Primary schools do have strict class size limits so you might not get much of a choice. I think you need to work out where you fancy living region wise then people can advise perhaps

Thanks @mootymoo

Education Scotland does v few school inspections now and once you add in Covid you'll struggle to find many primary schools that have a report recent enough to base any kind of judgement on. The reality is that schools can change massively in the space of a year as well - new head teacher for example.

I think you'll probably get more helpful local knowledge/views once you've narrowed down areas a bit and set other criteria like maximum travel time or importance of secondary school.

Thanks @Sturmundcalm helpful advice