Relocation to Scotland (East Lothian)

[Cjt1417]

We are looking to relocate as a primary teacher and a (very nearly qualified) midwife from England to Scotland, specifically somewhere within East Lothian.

We would like a coastal area - a nice walking distance to the beach kind of home.

We have 2 children of primary age. One infant and one junior.

We have family in Edinburgh but are potentially looking to be somewhere in or around.

We love North Berwick but are concerned with whether it is suitable for children as they grow into their teen years?

What are the schools like?

We know there are good transport links to Edinburgh itself which is a winner for us!

Are there any other areas of East Lothian that would be considered nice to live?

We are happy to potentially live in a large flat / maisonette. A house would be preferable but we would prefer to prioritise area over space as such. It just still needs to be suitable for a growing family before we can potentially upsize in the future.

We are a young family but are looking to slow the pace of life slightly, whilst still providing opportunities for our children!

Our daughter in particular does lots of sports/extra curricular activities and we would like these sorts of opportunities easy to come by.

Any help/advice/relocation guidance much appreciated! And whether it is easy to integrate? Is there a sense of community anywhere over another area?

Apprehensive but eager!

Thanks if you got this far :)

C x

Budget? That will make a big difference in that area.

Did you qualify as a teacher in Scotland, OP? It's not a simple move if you qualified in England. You need to get started with registration to teach here. Details here:

https://www.gtcs.org.uk/pre-application-faqs-for-teachers-qualified-outside-scotland/

Ironically... i live just on the border of east and Midlothian and work in obstetrics, our community East Lothian team just put an advert out for midwives on Friday.. its a sign! Hospital and bank are always crying out for staff too.

Primary jobs are few and far between. I would not rely on any income from that until you secure a permanent contract. Supply is dry and many councils are not taking on any new permanent staff due to budgets.

The main towns with plenty going on for families are N Berwick, Haddington and Dunbar.
But as PP has mentioned budget will be crucial here.
In N Berwick you should expect to have to offer 20% over the o/o price and probably at least 10% over for other areas

Hi :) Thanks for your response!

We are aware of the process of teaching when having trained in England, and have spoken to our family who teach in Scotland and also someone who works with my OH at present taught in Edinburgh before relocating to England (she prefers teaching up there). Both have given us some ideas of what getting a job may look like and my OH will be registering for the licence required in Scotland.

We are aware it may well be a lengthy process/a difficult one and therefore know we need to secure a job before starting to relocate, and include the term time differences in our search.

We may have to rent before we buy too, I suppose we just wanted to gauge an idea of areas.

Thank you! :)

Sorry I think this was supposed to be to @stargirl1701!
I haven’t used this forum before - haha!

@Seryse thank you!

I’ll take a look. I have applied for a preceptorship post within East Lothian, which seems to be mainly hospital based.

I love community but I am aware there is a preceptorship sort of programme in place for NQs so may need to consider only applying for those posts for now?

I will see what the person spec is etc!

thanks again!

@TheTrees1 thank you for that, that’s not promising is it haha…

It is similar here with permanent contracts being few and far between but it’s not been an issue to eventually secure them/move on over the last 6 years here.

We wouldn’t relocate unless we secured something we were happy would carry us through, though I understand what you’re saying if that is difficult to come by.

@thedevilinablackdress

This will be our downfall I believe, in the areas we like. As we are looking at up to 350k being our max, this is obviously dependent on selling our property here and for how much, of course.

We are aware there will be things we cannot have and are not expecting a 3 bed semi detached house with drive and garden like we have here, in the areas we are considering.

We have looked at property here and have seen there is very little to choose from within our budget, though not impossible.

We are not in search for our “forever home”, area is most definitely an important part, but if it means being slightly out of it for a while before we can afford different that is ok.

We like Dunbar and NB, Haddington seems to be bringing up more property in our budget for sure, but aren’t aware of what the area is like entirely.

Thanks so much!

Do you have a budget? Would areas like Linlithgow suit, it's West Lothian? lovely town with good transport to the city.
Also near to Bo'ness which has a lot of new builds going up
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/134367125

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/135056798

Always loads of band 5 jobs going on the obs wards, and there's always bank shifts too if you want to dip your toes first and see which area feels better if you didn't want to go rotational (start in antenatal then after a year or so you rotate to triage/labour ward/postnatal etc) which is always good to keep your skills fresh.

All the very best of luck with the move OP. Give me a poke if you need anything!

Dunbar, Haddington and North Berwick are are lovely places to live, but your budget will play a big part. North Berwick is ludicrously expensive. Haddington’s property market is unpredictable - in the past year property has gone from between 2% and 35% over HV.

£350k won’t stretch far in East Lothian by the coast. Further inland maybe.

There are buses and trains to Edinburgh for older teens. Edinburgh is less than 20mins by train so really close.

North Berwick high school is a good high school. We’ve chosen to live in catchment for this school.

Personally, I prefer Gullane and Aberlady. Villages that have a nicer community feel and lovely primaries.

Lots of stuff for kids to do. After school/weekend activities.

NB is sought-after, ridiculously expensive and just a smidge too chi-chi for my personal taste. I genuinely think you'll struggle to get a three bed for your budget. Schools are great, there's lots to do, yeah the teenage years can be a bit challenging as kids grow out of things and want to come into the city, but I think that's true of any small town?

Dunbar is more up and coming but just that bit further away from Edinburgh, if you were working at the ERI you'd have to drive (but then you'd have to drive from NB too, it's the most inconvenient location for a hospital!). Haddington I don't actually know as well, it's a bustling market town, no train so again getting into Edinburgh that bit more challenging. And not coastal.

Have you looked at Musselburgh?

Also permanent teaching posts are like hen's teeth in EL, I know two newly qualifieds who are very much struggling and regretting retraining. Somewhere like Musselburgh puts you in easier reach of Edinburgh schools which means that essentially two local authorities are commutable.