We are moving to Scotland from England in May and my daughter will go into S5. She has a place at a private school in Edinburgh but we are still deliberating over whether or not to send her to the catchment state school. We can afford the private school but it will be a definite stretch. The catchment school is one of the lowest attaining in the city - I think 23% achieve the 5 Cs according to the published tables. The reason I would still go for it is I firmly believe the quality of teaching is mixed in every school (state and private) and my daughter is very self motivated and independent so I believe she will do well in whatever school she's at. She has also never had any issues socially, so I don't see that being a problem in any school either. I also think the convenience of being able to walk to school can't be underestimated. However, I am still torn about it and just don't know how to make a decision - HELP!
The second issue is that the choices at the state school would mean she'd have to do Higher English and Higher Modern Studies (as well as the three Sciences), however at the private school she could do Geography and Psychology (in S5) as well as the the three Sciences, which is what she'd prefer to do.
However, the issue is, even if you are sure at 16 you want to go into Science (medicine), is it short sighted not to take English? And if she does take English, is the private school really worth it for the sake of her first choice of Geography over Modern Studies (which she is not familiar with but I'm sure would enjoy just as much). She already has level 9 for English Literature and Language at IGCSE (a level 7 is equivalent to an A) - is that enough? Or would she be mad not to do it at Higher?