Schools and community Huntley/Isch/ythanwells

[Estrele]

We are looking at moving to Scotland and love some of Morayshire/Aberdeenshire. We have found a house we love in ythanwells but other than sussing if we can sort internet for it ( we both work from hom), it is slightly more remote than I would want ideally for DS ( he is 4 and loves seeing people/friends etc). I am also due in April so am wondering what community/clubs and schools are like if anyone can tell me :) … from what I can understand we need to be looking at secondary schools to work backwards for the feeder school?
I also found some baby clubs in isch but didn’t know if there was much in Huntley. Also does anywhere have a forest school?- I can’t seem to find anything ( closest being the other side of Inverurie?) .
if you have read all this then thank you! Any thoughts/advice welcome!!

Bumping for you. I live in the north east but south of Huntley and don't know it very well.

The secondary school in Huntly (there isn’t an e!) is called The Gordon Schools. I am a former pupil but don’t live there anymore. It has a mixed demographic, as you’d find in most secondary schools in the North East and historically had a strong focus on sport. I think in Ythanwells the primary school would likely be Drumblade - which is quite a small primary although I believe it’s quite good. In terms of community for your 4 year old there would be swimming lessons, football, cubs, boys brigade etc. There is a baby group - Wee Toots - in Huntly and I believe there is a breastfeeding support group too.
I don’t think there is a forest school but I don’t really know!

You should be fine getting internet sorted, it’s not that remote!

Thank you!!

@florafoxtrot thank you!! And ooops I also realised I wrote Insch wrong … too tired and distracted and my phone also loves amending my words 🤦🏼‍♀️
thank you !! I will look up the boys brigade as hadn’t come across that :) had found cubs and tried to look into swimming as I saw the pool but was struggling with the timetable - guessing will be easier in person. That is great to know re the schools :)

re the internet apparently they keep saying they will put fast in ( upload is 1 if you are lucky at the moment) but every year postpone… three network for 4G seems doable so hopefully that and a satellite will be enough.

@readsalotgirl63 thank you!! How much more south are you ?

I'm nearer Stonehaven but my DC are all grown up now so have no clue about activities - sorry

I live near Insch and there are lots of clubs and groups in the village, it’s a nice place to live. Baby groups, toddler groups, dance lessons, gymnastics, music lessons, Beavers/scouts and rainbows/brownies etc all accessible within the village. We are lacking a forest school though, despite lots of lovely forests around. Having said that, two of the nurseries in the village have weekly forest school sessions and the primary has started rolling out forest sessions for all year groups I think. There is a forest school at Haddo, about half an hour away, which I believe offers full time places up to six years old, I have heard there are some children from the village that attend.

There are a couple of good shops and cafes, gp, library, post office.

If you live in Insch, currently you get the choice between Inverurie academy and the Gordon schools in Huntly for secondary, which is quite unusual.