Fort William, Fort Augustus, Newtonmore, Inverness

[sunshinepunch]

Appreciating I've mentioned a very wide area, however, would l love to hear personal experiences of good small primaries in any of the above areas. Love to understand the reasons why you felt the school was a good experience.

Anyone?

Don't know anything about schools but wouldn't consider fort William unless you're ok with rain and midges!

@latissimusdorsi

Don't know anything about schools but wouldn't consider fort William unless you're ok with rain and midges!

😄 rain yes, midges not so much! Is it a known 'hot spot'? How much of the year?

We went to all those lovely places last August and didn’t meet any midges

No idea about primaries though!

@bigTillyMint

We went to all those lovely places last August and didn’t meet any midges

No idea about primaries though!

They are lovely places aren't they. Glad to hear you weren't harassed by the midge! Would you go back anywhere particular?

Love to also hear if anyone has experience with a great primary in/around the areas mentioned.

We are actually going back to Fort William (plan is to climb Ben Nevis ) this July!

I guess you already know the areas - Newtonmore was a lovely quiet little village, Fort Augustus had more shops and places to eat and was busier with tourists, and obviously Fort William a small town and Inverness bigger and more urban.

@bigTillyMint

We are actually going back to Fort William (plan is to climb Ben Nevis ) this July!

I guess you already know the areas - Newtonmore was a lovely quiet little village, Fort Augustus had more shops and places to eat and was busier with tourists, and obviously Fort William a small town and Inverness bigger and more urban.

Hi @bigTillyMint thanks, yes reasonably familiar with the areas - lived in Scotland before although only visited the areas mentioned, never lived in any of them. Good luck with the climb! Will be an awesome view.

I grew up near Fort William and went to a primary school called Banavie. It was good then but that was the 80s Not sure what it's like now! It rains a lot and the midges are awful. But I had a good childhood there nonetheless

Thanks @hilbil21 are you still in Scotland? (If you don't mind me asking).

Yep. Live in Helensburgh now.

Inshes primary school in Inverness is excellent but most of the primary schools are good in Inverness. You also have 4 secondary schools. If you go to the smaller towns there is very limited options on things to do once your kids are a little older which isn't great. Midges are not as big an issue either. They do tend to try eat you alive in areas like Fort William and the west coast though.

Sorry I just noticed you says small. You won't get many small schools in Inverness except maybe Bishop Eden's which was under closure threat. The smaller schools often have combination classes such as P1 to P3 together so classes aren't small.

Thanks @Fundays12 I hadn't considered the smaller schools would have combined classes but of course it's obvious when you think of it! I was worried my boys would go into a massive school (AFAIK the class sizes are bigger in the UK vs Australia on average?).

However I'm now thinking it doesn't really matter the size of the school, more how well it's run. Our son's current school has a fabulous Head so hopefully we'll find a similar story in Scotland. Thanks so much for your input.

When your looking at areas look at Scholl catchment maps. Schools each have pre sat catchment schools if you want a certain school you need a house in that catchment. You can apply for a school out with catchment area but you can't guarantee you will get a space as you normally need a good reason such as the child has additional needs best served in a certain school. What ages are your kids if you don't mind me asking?

Class sizes for primary 1 are no bigger than 25 kids. I think older than that it's 32 kids unless a combination class which will have no more than 25 kids. Covid has meant classes are very bubbled now and in some ways it's been a really positive thing.

DS will be going to Spean Bridge primary. I've heard good things but really its our only option as its close to where we live!

Thanks @fassnk & @Fundays12. My boys are 8.

What is a bubbled class?

Bubbled class is, because of Covid, kids need to stay within a "bubble", which is generally their class or year group.
So they're only mixing with the same group of children, not with lots of children across different classes/year groups. Cuts down the need for half the school being sent home to isolate for a case in one class!

Thanks @latissimusdorsi

My eldest is 9. It's maybe worth looking at what schools offer after school clubs if you work and also activities if they enjoy these.

This is the webpage that you need www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=531a30ee33564231866ff94e96607f26

For the very rural areas, to be honest you have very little choice in which primary school to go to as distances make it very challenging to go to any other school other than your catchment school. In more built up areas then you might have a little more choice.

I've found that the councils are so financially stretched at the moment that the teacher/pupil ratios are pushed to the limit (which is 25 for P1 and 33 for other primary classes, and 25 for any composite classes) so it is difficult to find a school with small class sizes

Most families use the nearest school (ie their catchment school). If you don't, you are left with having to find a means to transport your child to school yourself, possibly over large distances.

While it is important that the school your child attends is "a good one", there are other factors to consider - where do you work, where do you want to live? town, country, extremely remote? what sort of house do you want, or can afford.

Also, most children move on to the secondary school associated with their primary school, so it is worth looking at those too.

I think you need to think further than primary school if your DS is 9. Fort William has a high school, and for Newtonmore they go to Kingussie which is just a couple of miles up the road. Not sure where they go from Fort Augustus? You need to consider this because a long transfer to high school really adds to the length of the day and that’s before you factor in winter weather issues.

Sorry, I misread, I see they are 8.

@latissimusdorsi we find the opposite in our small school - the kids aren't in a bubble. There is absolutely no point in the P1-3 class being separate to the P4-7 class when most of the class have sibilants in the other class. Hope that makes sense! Basically the school is too wee to have classes in bubbles.

Totally agree that moving to a rural seat you have to think beyond primary - how long is the commute to school? Will your child have to board at the nearest state school during the week? Will they get the full range of subjects?