Families of George Heriot’s & ESMS (Erskine Stewart Melville School)

[MrsAmelia]

We are going to be moving to Edinburgh shortly and we are considering both George Heriot’s and ESMS for our three children.

Which neighborhoods do many families who have children attending these schools live? We’ve been looking all over to try to get some sense but there are many lovely neighbourhoods to choose from.

Our most important considerations are making it easier for socialising for our three children (vicinity of potential friends), walkable services and nearby big green spaces for daily long walks with our three dogs.

Thank you

I live in Newington and my kids went to George Heriots. (Now aged 32 and 30 )
The Grange, Bruntsfield Marchmont all nice areas but expensive. Great bus routes in Newington down the main road into town. Under 22s get free travel.
I had a neighbour who sent her kids to Mary Erskine's. The commute across town was awful and it's worse now.

Craigleith, Murrayfield and Ravelston are probably the closest areas to ESMS. They are beautiful areas but there’s not much there beyond housing and a retail park. Comely Bank and Stockbridge are lovely, bustling but pricy.

They are quite different schools. If proximity to school is a deciding factor, you may want to decide based on the school first. Both schools take in from a wide area so there is no specific concentration. ESMS is obviously more accessible from the northern side of town and Heriot’s is pretty central, though if you live south you crucially wouldn’t have to cross town. ESMS run coaches out of town and to less well connected suburbs. Heriot’s is convenient for the railway station.

With the wide intakes being near-ish the school will always make your house popular!

Please could you go into more detail on differences between the schools? Thank you

ESMS is changing from being the diamond structure to co-ed. This has brought a lot of staff change, building work and will bring a change in culture. Didn’t like the diamond structure but not sure I’d want to join at a time of quite significant change.

GH has a great reputation especially for more academic kids. Don't think I’ve ever heard anyone whose had a bad experience there.

Would you consider EA or GW?

EA is a fantastic school, smaller and very family feel. New parents are brought into the community (which depending on the age of your kids might be nice). Kids know other kids across year groups which doesn’t happen so much at the bigger schools. Head is a brilliant leader, unpompous and pragmatic. There are loads of fantastic opportunities for extra curricula activities and the teaching staff are largely very good. Have had 3 very different kids go through and they have all thrived.

I agree with select the school first and then the area as they are very different in terms of what they're like. My son is in his final year at GH and has been there since nursery. It's a great school, it's not too big and from nursery through to S6 they are on the same campus so they mix and I love that the S6's spend time in the primary school and nursery reading with the children etc. I remember my son looking up in awe at the older ones and wanting to be like them.

They have a wide range of extra activities and have a very good pastoral care set up. It's not as sporty as GW but they do have a wide range of sports available.
My son has loved it there and will be quite sad to leave in June.

You will likely not find whatever neighbourhood you choose to be filled with kids going to the same private school. That's the one downside versus state school, IMO.

The green space on the south side is the Meadows which is near Heriots. On the north side, ESMS area, it's Inverleith park. Both schools have their sports grounds near inverleith. Living near there gives you the advantage re picking kids up after games days.

if money was no object I would live in Stockbridge/Inverleith.

A lot of kids from Craigleith, Inverleith, Stockbridge, Ravelston sort of areas seem to go to ESMS but with any of these schools you will find kids from all over Edinburgh, the lothians, Fife and the borders.

How old are your children?

We're at Heriots.

In the primary school (particularly the younger years) the children are predominantly from the south side (Liberton, Newington, Grange, Marchmont etc). There are some that live further afield.

By the time you get to the senior school, children are coming from much further afield (eg North Berwick, the Borders, Midlothian etc as well as from all over the city).

Heriots have a reputation for rejecting neurodivergent children. One thing to bear in mind.

I have two neurodivergent kids at Heriots’s and the school has been excellent. There are a lot of GH kids in the Grange, Morningside, Newington and Colinton. Because of its city centre location it does attract kids from a wide spread of Neighbourhoods though.

Thank you all for your very insightful comments. We are continuing to complete our visits over the next few months as with three children I want to get the fit correct. We are moving from abroad so it’s tricky trying to see all and complete all the visits for all three. Our children will be entering into S1, P6, P3. And it’s worth mentioning that getting three children all into the same school is also a mammoth feat too.

We’ve narrowed it down to GH and ESMS due to what they offer (primarily languages, sports & arts) and their approaches in those areas. Change in any school takes time and the merge at ESMS doesn’t worry me as much as other elements in a school experiencing change. It could be something really positive for staff, student body and families/community alike. I try to look at change as positive and have faith that they as professionals know what to do and how to do it. Let’s see … still in consideration mode.

All of your perspectives and experiences are incredibly helpful, so thank you 🙏🏻

P3 I would be less worried about "getting right" as they can always move schools when they change to secondary level and they could change strengths/character etc a lot between now and then. I'd focus on the S1 and P6 as you don't really want to move them again once they're at that level. Do they all have to go to the same school? If you've got girls I wouldn't rule out St George's.

@MiddleAgedDread - Thank you for your response. We have moved around a lot due to careers and our two eldest have changed schools a fair amount (3 times already). We did look into St George’s and considered it, particularly given evidence shows girls perform much better at same sex schools. In the end, our daughters decided they preferred co-Ed and wanted more sports on offer and the language choices of GH that St George’s doesn’t quite offer. And it seems the kids want to stick together 😊😍

Both great schools with strong pastoral support, a few differences:

1. Size. Heriot’s is much smaller and ESMS larger (though possibly shrinking in the current climate, but a long way to go to get to Heriot’s size.)
2. Being smaller has allowed Heriot’s to remain academically selective for longer, so could be a trickier environment for less academic children (though the support for learning is strong in the smaller setting)
3. Facilities - both good, but quite different! I’m sure you will have got a sense when touring the schools.
4. Settings - ESMS feels suburban and Heriot’s is in the city.

To add to the green space conversation, on the southside by Heriot’s you’ve immediately got the meadows, but then only slightly further you’ve got the hermitage, blackford hill and the braids for a more “natural” experience. Taking that further, the 101 bus runs through Bruntsfield and Morningside for excursions to the Pentlands.

Stockbridge and Inverleith are lovely too but less diversity / wildness in the green spaces. It is city living. (I’m thinking of Inverleith park, the botanics and the wardie path).

If you did settle on ESMS, Cramond might also be worth a look. You’ve got the Lauriston Castle grounds, Cramond beach and island.

Not sure that’s true as there have been quite a few there since my son has been attending and they provide significant support as well.

@FunnyOrca
Thank you for this invaluable feedback regarding not only the schools but the outdoor spaces in and around the city.

We love the outdoors so this makes a clearer picture regarding the geography and neighbourhood elements. Information addressing either isn’t easy to find for someone not currently local to visualise and imagine. Our visits have been more focused on schools first and foremost. This will help as we turn our attention to where to live.

We have three German shepherds who adore long walks and playing in water so we are regularly visiting lakes, rivers or beaches, and in the mountains on long walks. They are well socialised and highly trained, but not city dogs as they love wilder terrain. City parks do not tire them out enough.

This is really helpful info, thank you 🙏🏻

Edinburgh seems at such a genuine advantage with relatively quick access to varying topical geographical locations nearby. 🌿

You’ve also got Holyrood park about 10 minutes from Heriot’s which is great for walks too.

@MrsAmeliaget a good car...the potholes are horrendous throughout the city..

@Musicaltheatremum - Thanks! I live in Rome and the potholes are every 2 metres here too! 😂

I think where you live with really come down to budget / house size requirements but with your dog gang I'd have a look around Balerno, Currie, Bonaly and Colinton which would give you easy access to the water of leith footpath and also the Pentland hills and reservoirs for dog walks.

Any reason why you discounted Watsons? They can offer a good range of languages and are v sports wise, as well as being on a single campus.

@Robinredbeast - It didn’t really stand out to us in our search. It offers the basics in languages but not what we are looking for. Our current school didn’t recommend it, like some others, and neither did our daughters Scottish teachers. We have a list we’ve worked from based on our needs and wants and Watson’s just wasn’t on it. It is obviously a good school but not in line with what we want.

Herriot and Watson’s seem to offer the same language subjects to S6? Also, why so much focus on languages, your kids are fairly young and might turn out to be stronger in other subjects.

@MiddleAgedDread - I think it’s all personal in the end, isn’t it? Personal for the children involved and families as a whole. No school is perfect but some offers stronger elements than others and one needs to find the balance for wants/needs, right?
My children are fluent in italian and George Heriot’s has a strong MFL Dept with Italian. No other school does. My kids are all studying Latin now too.
All three of my children play for a Series A level italian football club, so sports are key.
My girls are also studying opera music and music and arts are key.
We’re like all other families - we are searching for the best fit. For us, Watson’s isn’t it.