Edinburgh Private Schools acceptances

[Heatherbell1978]

In RL not something I can or want to candidly discuss among friends. Has anyone received acceptances (or declines/waitlist)? Aware secondary results are yet to come. We are deliberating on which school but 2 acceptances for P6.

Not waiting but good luck op. Have you got a favoured school in mind or waiting all results first?

Two P6 offers for DS. I think we're going to go with GWC. Huge decision though (going from state to private as opposed to which school). Feels right for him though.

The state school wont be able to compete with GWC facilities. What ia holding you back about moving to private?

Just money! It would suit our DS down to the ground but it's a big financial commitment. To be fair I've crunched the numbers until I'm cross-eyed and it's doable for him (and DD when time comes) but it will involve compromises. I think we'll do it for his sake though. We can make a call on DD at a later point. She's thriving in a way he isn't sadly.

We had a horrific experience with Watson’s and had to remove our daughter over a complete breakdown of safeguarding. I would not wish our experience on any parent. If you are at all concerned about gender ideology (and you may well not be concerned) I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole. In hindsight I wish we’d gone with Heriot’s

We've done a lot of research and know many parents who are very happy with GWC. I think it would suit my DS for a variety of reasons. Sorry your experience wasn't good.

My son had an excellent experience at Watson’s. It was a fine school until it wasn’t. My advice to parents these days is to find out how complaints are handled and how parents are treated when things go wrong.

I dont no what your catchment school is currently but even if you take a well performing child attending Boroughmuir or Gillespies I would still sacrifice for private because in my view they will be stretched a little more and be offered more than any state offering here can provide. If sport is your DS thing then he will be very well catered for at watsons. Obviously there is a balance when sacrificing but if its doable id go for it.

@rogdmum sorry to hear about your experiences, what makes you confident things would have been different at heriots?

Edinburgal I can’t say with certainty that Heriot’s would have handled things differently, but feedback I’ve had from parents is that they will work closely with parents of gender distressed pupils and none have been aware of a child’s social transition being kept secret from their parents. In contrast, Watson’s policy is to support it at school and keep it secret if the child wishes (from age 12+). The feedback I’ve had may or may not reflect the full picture,

It went well beyond that with Watson’s though. We were lied to and lied about right through the full complaints process, all the way up to their submission to the Registar of Independent Schools. It was reminiscent of how they treated the 2017 parents (google if interested) during their complaint about bullying, but disappointing nonetheless that their attitude towards parents who complain hasn’t changed one bit.

Does Heriot’s treat parents that way? I have no idea and is why I now tell parents to find out how a school responds when things go wrong.

@rogdmum wow. Thanks. I do remember reading about an incident with bullying.

Not in the catchment of a state school of that level. Ours is in the middle of the league tables. We have considered moving to a 'better' catchment but as you point out, that may not solve some of the issues we are facing with DS. We're not against DD going to the local school - think we just need to cross that bridge when we come to it. I'm in decision overload at the moment!

Good luck with whatever you decide. Sounds like a good move for DS anyway