Edin schools Heriots, Watsons, Academy

[enya39]

Hi! New to Edinburgh and considering Heriot’s , George Watsons and Edinburgh Academy for our children’s school. I’m sure they are all brilliant. I think we find out next week if our child has a place. Anyone know how competitive it is at P1?
i felt like the head teachers were really selling to us but then also heard that the schools are so over subscribed you might not get a place at any!! I don’t have a back up because I missed the deadline for primary (we only just moved down - wasn’t planned at this time). I’m sure the council will be able to help place us somewhere in worst case and we’ll have to deal with come what may.

They’re all good schools. Watsons is huge, I can’t imagine they’re that oversubscribed? My DC went to Cargilfield in Barnton, Edinburgh up to 13 (form 8), and if I would make that decision again a hundred fold. Best decision we ever made. If you are open to a prep school, go and visit them. The Head, Rob Taylor is excellent. You absolutely won’t regret checking it out.

Sorry to jump in op. @Innisfree did your dc go onto a day school? - and if so, how did they find the transition into S2?

Op - re the schools you mention. I don't no anything about how competitive spaces at Watsons are. I am sure that last year EA was advertising places on social media for this years P1 a few months ago on social media saying that there was still room? Heriots i think tends to fill out. It is hard to say how high the demand is as most parents apply for more than one school. For p1, I think you would need to be pretty unlucky not to get a single offer across 3 schools.

@Edinburgal the good thing about Cargi is they carefully help you select the senior school and are very good at knowing what will be the best destination and work with the children to achieve scholarships to get there. Both of mine went on to Strathallan with the top art scholarships. They’ve been happy there and are nearing the end of their time and heading to Uni this year and in the next two years. In my opinion Cargilfield are very good at identifying talent, whether that’s musical, academic, arts, sports, and really honing on that and supporting it.

@Innisfree thanks. Unfortunately the boarding schools are out of reach for my dc even with a 10% scholarship. Dh and i earn around £160k so i doubt we would get bursery help. I hear nothing but good things about Cargilfield but i dont understand the transition to day school without leaving early.

Watsons always have spaces. Last year they had a board up outside advertising spaces a week before the start of term.

Also whenever someone asks about day schools, someone mentions cargilfield.

Cargilfield is a very different offering. It’s a prep school, with boarding. Intended to send kids to boarding school.

Most people looking at day schools are not interested in prep schools

It's been interesting to compare my DD in Watsons to her pal in Heriots. I think we've each made a the right choice for our children. My DD is a bit wild in nature and also has some sensory issues. They have been great with her at Watsons and the aren't being strict about things like uniform. Her pal meanwhile is enjoying the structure at Heriots which seems stricter about things like uniform and with various rules like not talking in corridors which my DD would not cope with but I can see how Heriots get top academic results.

At the risk of getting my wrist slapped again for posting about out experience, I would strongly advise that if you have any concerns about gender ideology in schools (you may well not have any concerns) don’t touch Watson’s with a barge pole. Their policy is to support a child’s social transition with or without parental knowledge or agreement once the child is aged 12 or older.

The school supports parents who wish to medicalise their child, but if you wish to follow the more cautious approach recommended by the Cass Review, or indeed have clinical advice against supporting a social transition, speaking from experience, you run the very real risk of being reported to social services by the school.

Even if you have no concerns about gender ideology in schools, I would strongly recommended trying to find parents who unfortunately found themselves needing to file a formal complaint. Find out how they were treated - was it a fair process with proper scrutiny? Or, as we found with our experience at Watson’s, were they repeatedly lied to and lied about?

Look for a broad range of perspectives for any school you are considering.

Thank you for your thoughts everyone! @Innisfree I looked around Cargilfield and we loved it, we really did. Head teacher and wife were brill. Wonderful school. We have four kids and so it would break the bank. But if money wasn’t an object I know what I’d choose. I went to strath and loved it. Glad your kids had a good experience.

@enya39 which is your favourite school out of the 3 you are waiting for? Good luck

Probably Heriots if I am honest but genuinely that’s based more on reputation than anything else. I really hate that they don’t give sibling preference. I understand why they don’t of course.

We are kind of being led by our four year old - he goes into P1 next year. The eldest (twins) will stay in the state system until p4 (which will be 2025) and the baby will start pre school in 2025.

Very complicate I want them to all be together.

i have no doubt all the schools have their pros and cons

You can add your baby to the pre school list now if you havent already and I guess its only your twins you need to hope for the best for. Really hope you get good news next week. Heriots is a fantastic school.

I didn’t know I was interested in a prep school until someone mentioned Cargilfield to me and I went to visit. I’m very glad they did.

Heriots is a great school too, and I hope you get good news there. They’re all fantastic schools and your DC will thrive whichever one they attend.

Well it was bad news from Heriot’s for us sadly. Was a tad surprised! I didn’t realise how competitive the schools in Edinburgh are at primary one

Sorry to hear that op. Have you heard from the others? They are both still fantastic schools. I think heriots only has around 25 places after the nursery cohort is counted. They might have a waitlist or did they give any more info? You could try again later in school but im sure you will do absolutely fine in ea or watsons.

@Edinburgal yes on a waiting list but think it will be Watsons as it makes more sense work wise for us. 😄

Out of interest, did you get offered a space at EA too? Thats great news you got Watson's. All the best, hope your dc thrive there

We did @Edinburgal lovely school! A little bit harder for us location wise as we are in greenbank