Bearsden schools - advice

[shadowmoonrising]

Hi, does anyone have any insight to share on Colquhoun Park Primary School in Bearsden (East Dunbartonshire)? We are looking to move there and have found a house in the catchment area although our preferred first choice was Killermont Primary school when we began to look. Would Killermont accept a placing request if we lived in Bearsden but outside of catchment? I know both feed into the same secondary school. Any info would be hugely appreciated!

Unlikely. Killermont operates at capacity and spaces are only reserved for the odd couple who might move into catchment during the year.

You can ask of course but I wouldn’t make plans based on it.

Hello!

We live within the CPPS catchment but will be applying for a placing request… EDC publish their placing request success rates, have you seen that?

You have a good chance for Killermont, although it is all down to luck. How do you know that year there aren’t a few more babies born plus a few more with older siblings who then get priority over a first child outwith catchment?! It does feel a bit precarious but perhaps worth the risk if you love the house.

I contacted EDC to ask if you have a fairly good chance of accepted placing requests elsewhere if you live within EDC (I am assume a lot come from other authorities) but no response.

85% successful last year…

www.eastdunbarton.gov.uk/services/a-z-of-services/primary-secondary-and-early-years-education/school-placing-requests/

Thank you @YourLoudLilacGuide and @Intothemystic1 for your responses. I hadn’t seen the percentages of placing requests successful/cancelled/refused so this is very helpful.

I may be mistaken here but if you’re in the CP Catchment then the Secondary Catchment would be Bearsden Academy but for Killermont I believe it would be Boclair?

The High Schools are pretty much equal quality so shouldn’t be an issue.

However if you are successful in getting a placement request for primary then there’s no guarantee you would get the same for secondary.

So your child could end up being split from her peer group at P7 to go to her catchment high school while not having been to school with anyone in her local area.

CP and Killermont are Boclair so that wouldn’t be an issue.

My only thoughts are practical - it is quite a hike from the Colquhoun Park catchment up to Killermont, crossing two main roads. So if you do decide on a placing request you are faced with a good few years of drop offs and pickups as your child won't have local friends to walk with and it's a long way even for a P6 or P7.

Both feed into Boclair.

Oh well, I stand corrected.

I only know one family whose kids went to CP and they all went to Bearsden, must have been placing requests.

If they both feed into the same high school though OP, then why would you choose the further away school?

I’m not local but I thought all schools around Bearsden were of similar standards?

Killermont is a nice modern building, colquhoun park is older, 60s. Arguably more mixed demographic.

There is a local bus that goes from around the CPPS catchment to near Rannoch Drive (leaving the kids to walk the last few mins). Free for kids with their Young Scot cards.

Around half of CPPS end up going to Glasgow high schools as they are placing requests into CPPS and don’t end up going to Boclair (too far or placing request unsuccessful). So essentially your child could end up going to Boclair knowing around ten others (the classes at CPPS are quite small) which is unusual for living in the catchment.

To be fair there are ways around that though @Intothemystic1 - we are local (BA catchment not Boclair) and when my kids did drama, dance, brownies, scouts, gymnastics etc there were kids from all over Bearsden/Milngavie and they got to know lots of different kids, so when they started at secondary in their class they had Sophie from dance or Callum from Scouts as familiar faces. And secondary transitions are way better nowadays than they used to be - we were just dumped in on the first day of S1 and expected to get on with it.

Don’t discount the importance of having local friends as well.

Organised groups and sports are all well and good but kids also get so much from being able to get out and play in their local area.

Exploring, climbing trees, getting a kickabout in the park and just playing away from parents is important when they hit 7-8.

It’s a lot easier to do this when they know kids that live close by.

Personally I wouldn’t worry too much about them not knowing too many kids at high school, always nice to have a few familiar faces but it’s not a big a deal as many people make out.

Children rarely stay as close to their primary school peer group anyway, in a way it’s quite sad if they do, some friendships will last but the majority won’t.

High School gives them more of a chance to meet other kids who have different interests/backgrounds and lets them grow/develop.

If they don’t leave their childhood peer group then it’s harder for them to do this.

Absolutely! And we will do this for our child too. Just explaining one of the reasons why some may not be keen when there are other options available.