Relocation South or North for Edinburgh Schools

[Polarbear72]

Can anyone please recommend best locations to look at for relocating with access to George Heriot School or George Watson’s? Would be S2/S3 entry level so access via train or school bus. I was looking south but the borders seem too far and just read that Eskdale might not be what we’re looking for. Haven’t thought about looking north of Edinburgh until now. Good transport links, semi rural. Used to work in Stirling but think that’s too far as well. Thank you for your time.

morningside likely to be quite handy?

Newington Is handy for Heriot's. And Liberton and the south. Loads of buses go into Edinburgh that way and only a short walk from Nicholson square through to the school or the 47 goes right to the school door.

Eskdale is ok but a long journey in on the bus. My neighbour who also sent her son to heriots moved in from eskdale.

Watson's is harder from Newington but easier from Morningside.

I'd not cross princes street. Traffic awful in mornings.

My kids passed for both heriots and Watsons and we went with Heriots as we lived in Newington and half the street went!! They left in 2011/13 so some time ago now.

North of Edinburgh I'd be looking at Stewart Melville/Mary Erskine

Lots of useful suggestions here thanks will take a look.

North of Edinburgh e.g. Fife or North Edinburgh?
Have a look at the bus routes www.lothianbuses.com and the schools might also have their own bus. . Kids on the north side mostly seem to go to ESMS, St Georges or Edinburgh Academy. I don't see any going to Watsons but quite a lot use the no. 23 and 27 buses to Heriots. If you lived outside the city then Heriots is also walking distance from Waverley station and St Georges run a shuttle bus to/from the station. The school might also have buses if you live further afield - ESMS has a line of coaches outside every evening that seem to cover half of Scotland but the kids must do a very long day.

I think you'd want to know which of those and go from there - heriots is right near the train station but watsons isn't.

Just re-read that you want semi-rural so you're really going to be looking outside the city bypass. In which case, I would be looking along train lines because commuting by road is very busy coming into the city in a morning and I wouldn't want to cross the city from one side to another. How rural do you want?
Also bear in mind that your kids will end of up friends from a large area so be prepared to be a taxi service across Edinburgh, the Lothians and beyond!

Watsons run a fleet of buses for those that live out of town. I imagine most of the private schools do similar.

Are you meaning south or north of Edinburgh itself or outside of the city?

I would stick to trainlines if outside the city. So North look around dunfermline if you can get to Inverkeithing or Rosyth or even Dalgety Bay station.

South then there's the borders railway line stations.

East you can look as far out as Dunbar.

All.of those would be fine for Heriot's.

In terms of inside the city itself, I would stick to south of the city for both, although north of the city is also easy for Heriot's.