Choosing a secondary school in Edinburgh

[Marmaladegin]

Considering relocating to Scotland with 3dc. DH is Scottish, I am not and so am unfamiliar with the Scottish school system.

DH and I both have jobs that mean we can choose where to live based on school catchment. Secondary is the main concern. Where would you start for picking a good school? Personal recommendations welcome but I also need to know where to go for information to compare. Would consider private, though state probably more realistic. We're technically Catholic so could go that direction too.

Tia!

They aren’t the best schools - they’re schools with cohorts of wealthier/more engaged students and families.

in Edinburgh many of those types of students go private

In Scotland children go to nursery for two years at age 3 and 4 (optional) then start school in P1, there is no Reception year. P1 = Reception in England. P6 would be the 6th year at school.

@Shelefttheweb re Jordanhill - obviously putting a baby’s name down at birth was tongue in cheek. This isn’t the process at all. It is decided on catchment first, and don’t believe there is such a thing as a waiting list (for non catchment kids) until the application window opens when your child would be 11/12 and in P7.

However, interested to know what happens if they are oversubscribed with catchment kids starting in S1?

when my DC primary school was oversubscribed by catchment kids, they made an extra P1 class. No out of catchment children got in that year.

Not so - their application is based clearly on official date of receipt.

Oh that’s interesting. I hadn’t realised it wasn’t classed as a local authority school. Whenever I see it on TV (normally on results day) I thought it was a high performing state secondary, but see it does primary schooling too. So a bit of an anomaly if it’s not classed as private either. No wonder it’s so hard to get into!

I think it was originally attached to a teacher training college as a sort of example school. Not sure why it has been allowed to keep its status and not picked up by the local authority. But competition is fierce to get in and houses in catchment normally go to young couples who have yet to have a baby but are pregnant or very forward planning.

Yes this was exactly what a relative of mine did. Paid a LOT of money for a small terraced house a few streets away from the school when pregnant with 1st child. They thought neighbours were joking when they said to put name on list at birth. They called the school when baby arrived and were told to come along with all their documents asap to get his name down for P1 five years later!

It’s a real shame there aren’t options like Jordanhill over in Edinburgh (and other parts of Scotland too, obvs). OP and others thinking of a move to Edinburgh, unless your plan is private or you can afford to pay way over what your home will ever be worth for resale in Scotland, you’ll be struggling to send your child to a decent secondary school. Primary schools there are bursting over numbers and the two, maybe three at a push state secondary that people want are also at capacity so you’d have to live in catchment- for Boroughmuir you need deep, deep pockets. If so re £££ then go private, rather than join a bun fight for a decent family house in catchment, going round and round in the offer process, you can live anywhere in Edinburgh instead.

I’ve also sold a family home in the St Ninians catchment for Glasgow, made an eye-watering profit by offers over process from a family moving into Glasgow who wanted a place in that Catholic secondary. It’s a really nice part of Glasgow, but it’s no Edinburgh if that’s what you desire.