Diverse area advice for Mixed family wanting move to Edinburgh

[AccidentalGeordie]

Hi,
It's my first post here and wonder if anyone could give me an idea of diverse areas for primary schooling and living in Edinburgh. We are a mixed family (black/white) with 1 DD about to start year 1.
Currently living in the North East of England, so go a few times to Edinburgh to visit. Husband a Geordie looking for bigger city.
I work permanently from home (IT ) so would be looking at 3 beds, initially to rent.
Want to know people's experiences as mixed families living in Edinburgh. We live in the suburb now and school is fairly diverse, with a mix of kids of different ethnicities/ mixes, and pooling from different socio groups, so looking for something similar. State primary is large (700) which we love as has more funding for other activities. Don't have a budget, but happy to move jobs to up budget (cause I didn't know Scotland paid more tax).
Its planning stages and see if we can make it work.

In general Edinburgh is not an ethnically diverse city at all. That said, I don’t think most people would bat an eyelid about a mixed race family! Where to live really comes down to budget as family sized houses in good school catchments don’t come cheap.

I've not lived in Edinburgh for a very long time, diversity is more likely to be Indian/Pakistani , Chinese or Eastern European as far as I remember and maybe more concentrated in city areas such as leith, Gorgie etc, not really what you are looking for in terms of housing/schools. I agree though that in general a mixed race family would be fine in any area. What type of environment and money do you want to spend? I know you said no budget but it's an expensive city, private or state school?

Latest statistic I could find

About 8% of the population is non-white, which is up from 4% in 2001. The largest non-white group are Asian, with Chinese being the largest subgroup account for 1.7% of the total population ofEdinburgh. The Indian population accounts for 1.4% of the population while Pakistanis are about 1.2% ofEdinburgh'spopulation

The black population of Edinburgh is likely so small to be statistically negligible. You might find parts of Gorgie or Leith have a slight concentration of Indian/Pakistani population but generally where one lives is dictated by income.

There is one mixed race family in my street, they have been renting for a couple of years. A 3 bedroom flat in my area would be around £2,500 to £3,000 per month.

I live in Broughton/Leith area and it's prety ethnicalky diverse. Dds primary school had kids with something like 25 different languages. Her friendship group is 50/50 mixed white and other. There has been some racism which dd witnessed but school seem to be swiftky on it (I am saying that as the parent of a white child though.) We have mixed race kids in our extended family also. Is a great area although not the cheapest for housing, but there are some social rents.

Agree Leith and Broughton

I used to live in Edinburgh. I think it’s a very welcoming city which does feel diverse in certain areas and you would be fine anywhere.

I would say areas like Newington and Slateford/Shandon in the south and Leith in the north will feel more diverse. But you will need to watch secondary school catchments was some are better than others. I would go by secondary schools you are happy with first and look for a house that way.

I lived in a relatively non diverse area at the time and there were a few mixed race families and I hope - like - to think they were very welcome. Certainly I never heard of any issues and Scottish people are generally very friendly.

25 languages might be an exaggeration but there were lots!

Bearing in mind it's a capital city, home to seemingly countless universities (at least one globally revered,) and the whole conglomerate that constitutes the International Edinburgh Festival, it would be odd if one couldn't assume that Edinburgh citizens are aware of their place in the world and welcome all comers.

But obviously you need reassurance on a more granular level. As a non-white person living in the city for a couple of years a decade ago, I encountered one, single instance of overt racism that was swiftly put down by the man's colleagues. And one utterly shocking episode where a student doctor attempted to diagnose my gynaecological problem as malaria.

There was perhaps an element of surprise amongst public sector workers - the people one deals with in the normal course of organising your life - that I had high expectations of the service they were tasked with providing. If this is a general thing it may impact your interactions with state schools, health service, etc. But equally, things may have improved over the past few years.

In all areas of the private sector (I work in the Arts) people were unfailingly decent and I never felt at a disadvantage.

So I'd say that, if you can find a school with the right ethos (this almost certainly cannot mean a school with a high proportion of non-white children, as the statistics show) and are accustomed to asserting yourself ...

Tbh, if I were moving there with small children I'd be inclined to live right in the middle of the city - in the midst of a huge international cohort of students, academics and arts practitioners - and choose an independent school serving an international clientele.

Edinburgh is a very international city but, as you see by the stats pp quoted, it's not particularly ethnically diverse. There are 4 universities so we get a lot of international families here for 2 or 3 years. They would tend to live in city centre.
However there is a pretty small British Bame population.

My DC went to state primary in Edinburgh suburb and there were 3 non white families in a school roll of about 400. They're now in private school for secondary and it is much more ethnically diverse. They both have friends of Indian/Pakistani and Far Eastern origin, as well as several with one non-British parent (Polish, Russian, American). Where they live is spread right across the city and beyond though.

I think Leith or city centre will probably give you best chance of ethnic diversity if that's what you're looking for.

DS went to Tollcross Primary, very diverse by ethnicity, nationality and socio-economically, and at one point held the record for the most languages spoken in a primary school in Edinburgh. Very inclusive culture as well and as close to city centre and often under capacity, accustomed to children coming and going.

DS now at Boroughmuir and going by the names of classmates, still pretty diverse.

Good luck with the move.