Edinburgh private schools with no entrance assessment

[mycatisannoying]

Hi. Older two children went to fairly academic private schools, but youngest (12) struggles a bit more with her learning and school in general.
She is at Steiner and doesn't like it. I just want her to be happy and achieving as well as she can
I've heard good things about Clifton Hall (small and nurturing) and Watson's (good support for learning), but both have waiting lists. She'd love to go to Heriot's but it's very academic, and I think we have to be realistic.
She is keen to move. Any other ideas?
Thanks.

I would agree with your suggestion of Clifton Hall. I know lots of children that attend that now thrive having struggled in mainstream. My next suggestion would be St George’s-SFL is excellent and it is small and nurturing, inclusive for sports, lots of extra curricular for giving confidence.

I wouldn’t touch George Watson’s with a barge pole. Both my children went there and I used to sing the school’s praises on here but unfortunately we discovered massive gaps in their safeguarding for more vulnerable children, and ended up with an awful experience which I would not wish on anyone. Am trying to be careful with what I say here as we are raising our experience with the Independent School Registrar, but if you Google the school’s reaction to an earlier (5ish years ago?) finding by the registrar, have a good read and ask yourself if that’s the response of a school which has learned from their mistakes.

I’ve also heard good things about Clifton Hall. I visited the school many years ago when we were deciding and met the Head. What put me off at the time was the more limited choice of Highers/AH, but I don’t know what it is like now and in hindsight I would go with the environment over the course range.

I should add that I think all of the Independents (apart from Clifton Hall) have entrance assessments. Often this is just to determine the level of the child though rather than it being a certain score they must achieve. I’m not sure I would consider Heriot’s from what you have said.

Also to add, a friend’s child was on the waiting list and they thought they would have to wait until S1 when they added a class but space came up quickly around May/June for the August for p5 entry.

Do you mean a school which is not academically selective @mycatisannoying ?
All private schools do entrance assessments in order to make sure they can meet the needs of the child. And some are better at meeting additional support needs than others. Some get their good results by making sure they only take very able pupils.

In your situation Clifton Hall is your best bet as they take a diverse range of abilities. Add her name to the waiting list as there is often movement in the private sector.

PP mentioned St George's and that is also worth a look. It's nurturing and great at individual support. It is not academically selective however despite this it doesn't really have a wide range of academic abilities if that is what you're looking for.
By the top end of the school virtually everyone leaves with at least 5 highers and there's only about 2 girls every year that don't go on to university, So if a girl is less able academically they may feel left behind in the exam years even if the school accepts them.

I'm not aware of any other Edinburgh schools that are not academically selective at secondary level

St Mary's?

My daughter is dyslexic and autistic (‘high functioning’). She is academically able. I had assumed she wouldn’t be accepted in a private school as she has these additional needs. I’d this an unfair assumption? She would benefit from a nurturing environment that her current school where she suffers from bullying.

I don't think it's a valid assumption no, plenty of kids with diagnoses in all types of schools, and some state and some private schools. Schools of both kinds good and bad at dealing with them depending on the particular school environment and what's right for your child.

I know a family who have just moved their child to Clifton Hall school as they feel it will better cater for their fairly significant additional needs. The child has speech delay and other motor issues, I'm not sure of the diagnosis but support needs are not insignificant.

Some private schools are better set up to support additional needs than others.

How old is she? Edinburgh Academy could be a good fit. Good pastoral and SfL. Ethos of being accepting and inclusive of differences.

Many thanks everyone - really appreciate your replies

Would you consider looking outside Edinburgh, my girls are day pupils at Kilgraston (Bridge of Earn, Perth).

www.kilgraston.com

It is a lovely school with fantastic pastoral care as well as good academic acumen.

There are a lot of day pupils there who come from Edinburgh

pm me if you want anymore info.

No, that would be madness in my view! Thanks anyway though

I wouldn't rule out Heriots without contacting them first. I know they have a support for learning department so must accept students who need extra support. My son started there in Secondary last year and he says all teaching and systems are so clear, he finds it so much less stressful than his previous school.

Agree with previous poster, Kilgraston is an excellent school. My daughter struggled in local primary, getting 10 mins twice a week support with significant dyslexia. Self esteem and confidence at rock bottom, coming home from school asking me why the teachers were not helping her to learn. Heart breaking stuff.

After a lot of thought, mostly around the logistics of how to make it work, we took the plunge. The most important thing for us, is now my daughter is happy and knows she can learn with the right support. Pastoral support and the support for learning are excellent.

Daughter gets school bus every day and I collect couple of times a week.
Nearest school bus stops to Edinburgh are South Queensferry and Ferrytoll.

i respect you think it is madness, and I did wonder how it would work, but it is working for us. Depends where you live in Edinburgh I think.

Madness for us, was keeping on with something that was not working for our child.

I wish you luck in finding the right school be it private or state. So hard to see our kids unhappy.

Like Zog14, I can only sing the praises of Kilgraston. Our eldest is there, we moved her for primary 6 and she has now been there 5 years and we are in the process of moving our youngest.

We stay fairly close to the school, but she takes the school bus and has had so much support in all areas of her education.

Quite a few of her friends travel from Edinburgh, some flexi board a couple of nights a week and others are just day pupils.

It’s worth seeing if St George’s have places. My DD didn’t find the entrance for there too taxing. Maybe do some practice at home and see whether she ‘gets’ the non verbal reasoning and verbal reasoning type questions. You can google 11+ questions and find free ones.

My child is at Clifton Hall and can’t sing their praises enough. A really supportive, family feel to the place. The staff are great and communication is very good.
A pp mentioned small range of highers, but this is no loneger the case. The Head has added 1 subject per year and now there is a very diverse range of subjects.

Great to hear - thank you!
She is on the waiting list now 🤞
The only thing that I find slightly offputting is the relative inaccessibility of it I don't drive so she'll need to get the school bus, which still isn't massively convenient (and no public transport there). And I worry that she'll be disadvantaged by not being able to hang out with friends after school, which she can do currently as her school is so centrally located.
But hey, we'll cross those bridges when they come!

What’s wrong with the local state school?

Can’t speak for the OP, but at ours there’s not much actual teaching going on in lessons. ☹️

Oh dear not so good

but is that much different to a Steiner school where the child is now?

The families often arrange things as we are all in the same boat. The Parent Reps also organise events like Gravity days. There are sports and clubs after school too.

I appreciate this is an old thread but we’ve just removed our child from Clifton Hall due to a massive amount of issues both with violence / aggression / disruption from
fellow students plus horrendous fear based teaching practices to control the classroom problems. 22 kids rammed into a tiny classroom that’s got no freeflow. Spelling tests, teachers shouting & screaming at 5 year old children. Threats of being written in a book if they so much as laugh at a fellow student who likes to play the clown …. and then basically being given a form of detention. And zero communication & all issues being pushed under the carpet. It’s been totally horrendous so I would think very carefully before putting young children in to this school. Rod Grant is full of it on social media & to the papers but direct actually action safety in school at his own school.

I have just seen this post added to the thread which I was following because last year I moved my children to this school, based a lot on feedback from mums net!

I appreciate that every experience is different, however I completely disagree with the comment above and want to share my more positive experience so others will have a bit of balance and some facts to rely on.

My children started early this year having moved from a state school due to one of my children's needs not being met.

I have to say that since moving the kids to Clifton Hall School they are completely different. They are excited to go to school, happy, confident, progressing academically, emotionally balanced (having lost the pre school run anxiety we battled daily before) and just generally so much more relaxed about life. They run in to school every morning, high fiving the teachers en route to the classroom and are aware and proud of their achievements! They also know what they need to work on, but are not anxious about it and get the help they need in these areas.

They have a lovely small class with great friends who are all kind and caring and celebrate each other. Occasionally the children have their little spats which is completely normal, but generally they all get along and care for each other and this is encouraged by the junior school teachers.

I have never had an issue with seeking a conversation with a teacher when needed as they are at the door every collection and drop off if you want to talk . You also have direct e mail to the teachers and get weekly updates on the online system. The head teacher does coffee with the parents every week with each parent getting an invite once a term. The office staff know the kids by name and face unlike the bigger schools so it is a very personal service you get a lot of the time.

Last year our children did a 'special person' activity where each week a pupil got to go away and have fun with the PSW whilst the teacher and the rest of the class made a poster about them saying why they are so amazing. At the end the special child for that week got presented with a poster poem about all the things that make them unique and wonderful.

I believe the above post to be referring tot he lower junior years based on the comment on the classroom. I agree the classrooms for J1 and J2 are small however they have an accessible fenced garden outside it with lots of fun toys and sensory stuff and the kids can free flow into it. My children said that in the summer they go out and do some lessons in said garden. They also get to use the woodlands during lessons and the nursery at after school club. The playground is massive and has a big play frame, trees to climb on (resulting in lots of wonderfully ripped waterproofs) a massive undercover sandpit, football posts to name a few.

They also have a buddy bench which the kids can go sit on if they want to chat to a buddy (of which every child has one from the upper Junior years). My kids love their buddy's and tell me that they have seen them often. The kids come out of school with muddy shoes and smile on their faces every day and run around the grass with their pals not wanting to leave the school grounds; so I cannot believe for one minute they are 'cooped up' in a tiny classroom all day.

All of the above has not come from teachers or a formal school visit. It has come first hand from seeing my children when I go to collect them for weekly instrumental lessons, (available but supervised if they are young) or from speaking to their friends parents. If you want to be involved as a parent you really can see first hand what the school is like. Nothing in my experience has been swept under a carpet.

I am so sad to see that @Minnie2401 has had such a bad experience at CHS. I do appreciate that everyone's experiences are different and I would advise anyone thinking of sending a child to any school to visit and make up your own mind. I honestly don't think that the above comment reflects the majority at this school.