St Mary’s or Douglas

[MyBlueSloth]

DS wanting to go to a music school. If he were to successfully audition, which would be better?

@MyBlueSloth

I can only speak to St Mary's, albeit a very long time ago. So my thoughts are highly likely to be irrelevant

Dennis Townsend was the choirmaster then (so about 50 years ago)

The music aspect was very well regarded.

The academic side was poor though (they were at least 1-2 years behind) compared to other Edinburgh schools.

That should have changed, I would think.

Edinburgh is a beautiful, exciting and vibrant city.

I think it depends on the instrument/voice and the teachers available to a large extent.

There is a big financial difference. There are no costs at all to attend the Music School at Douglas Academy (including the residential element if relevant). I understand that fees at St Mary's are highly subsidised but it would definitely be more expensive.

St Mary's is a much smaller school than Douglas.

Both have very good academic results.

I can give you more specific information about Douglas if you want - feel free to pm me.

St Mary’s has even better academic results than Douglas. When we were considering it 10ish years ago they did A levels. It used to have the reputation as being musically the best. You might want to look into the HT’s background. The head of Douglas has an academic rather than a conservatoire background. He’s a singer with a special interest in Baltic music.

I’d be confident that both are good. St Mary’s I think is moving so that might be another consideration. Douglas is in a nice location on the very edge of Milngavie overlooking fields on one side. However it’s a good half hour walk from Milngavie railway station.

Music school pupils at Douglas do most classes with the main school - 20% of the timetable is music school classes.