Falkirk or Stirling?

[SandJuggler]

Hi, my family is committed to moving to Scotland in the next few years and we have done a lot of research about house types, prices, locations, etc. We are settled on 2 areas - ideally the Larbert side of Falkirk, or Stirling. Larbert has a good high school and is well placed for access to the 3 nearest cities but how does it compare to Stirling for quality of life, crime and safety. (Another factor is I am English and my wife and kids SE Asian). Where do you think we should focus on? What are the pros and cons of each location?

My boyfriend lives in polmont and is selling would not live there, or Falkirk or Linlithgow but that’s my personal preference.
Cambusbarron is lovely - my kids go to school there and I have older kids at Stirling hs - it’s nice & friendly. We lived in Cambusbarron & torbrex there are a few housing developments going up just now and some in the pipeline but I’m sure you’d get something for £180k but probably small/needing done up. Kings Park IS lovely expensive but v pretty. Broomidge is also ok.

I wouldn’t recommend living in Alva or Tillicoultry, Dollar is lovely but I would imagine the catchment school is Alva which I wouldn’t recommend at all!
I would suggest looking at areas of Alloa if Stirling is out of reach price wise and depending on school travel look at a placing request for St Modans (Catholic school, very inclusive, do accept requests from anyone, excellent and very supportive of pupils and families, take no shit with bad behaviour dealing with things quickly and well), you can check catchment areas on the local council websites.

Totally disagree with the above poster re. avoiding Tillicoultry and Alva, FWIW. We moved in to the area a wee while and have been really impressed. Realistically, with a budget of £180k, all of those suggesting Dollar, B of A, nice bits of Stirling etc are being pretty unrealistic as it’s going to be completely out of reach for a decent sized family home - we were actually looking there initially and could have afforded it but actively chose to go to the Hillfoots instead as there was so much more value for money, for the sake of 10 min extra in the car. Scenery is also absolutely spectacular and all of the perks of the ‘posher’ areas are still well within reach. No direct experience of Alva Academy yet but from what I understand it’s pretty decent and no worse than any other mixed catchment state secondary in the central belt - lovely new building and good facilities too.

Just noticed though that you mention Edinburgh as your primary commuting point - in which case if it were me I’d be looking more at West Lothian, or even Dunfermline-ish.

if ur not moving just now hopefully after the pandemic prices would come down
i’m in Falkirk yeah it’s ok but if money allowed would order stirling area
Larbert High is not as good a school as you may have heard

As a Stirling (actually a Torbrex girl) it stands out to me. The borestone/coxethill area are on the rougher side. And you also would have an amazing school right on your doorstep. Stirling high is one of the best. I have also lived in Alva and it has one of the best schools in Clackmannanshire. Alva is very beautiful but not much to do for older kids. Dunblane/bridge of Allan are the posher areas of stirling. Dunblane has a skate park and some lovely walks around bridge of Allan. Both lovely areas.

If you’ve got young kids there’s absolutely loads to do in Falkirk, fantastic parks and swimming pools, great library service and loads of heritage sights.

Hi all,

We are strongly considering moving from London to Stirling in the Spring and I'm looking for some basic information regarding schooling ages, as this seems very different to the UK system.

My daughter was born in Oct 2010 and is currently in Y6. Going with the UK system, she'd be moving to secondary school in September this year.

Can anyone tell me if in August this year, she should be transferred to Y7 primary or a secondary school?

Thank you in advance!

Err, Scotland is part of the U.K.
There isn’t a single “U.K. school system”.
Children in Scotland start school when they are 4 1/2 or over in August.
Primary school has 7 years. Senior school has 6 years

More details here
education.gov.scot/parentzone/my-child/transitions/starting-school

@Dziuba if your daughter is 11 she would currently be in P7 in Scotland (last yr primary)
She will start S1 (1st yr secondary) in aug 2022
The intake runs March-Feb here so she will be just into younger half of the year group

Hi all,

Thanks very much for the helpful comments! Much appreciated.

I work for a global company and am so used to referring to the UK (as my location) that I misspoke here and should have of course referred to England as our current home.

Rest assurred to anyond particilarly worried, I do know the difference (most days).