Glasgow Academy

[OneJoyousFish]

Does anyone have any experience of Glasgow Academy? Considering it (from 3-18). Neither DH nor I were privately educated so no experience of this.

We sent our first child there for p1. Their admissions team is very good at selling the school and the school itself looks very nice. However, TGA took no care of our child at all. He was so unhappy and so bored. I don’t think he learned a thing. We transferred him to Hutchie after 4 months and we have never regretted it.

Thanks for replying, sorry you didn’t have a good experience. Hutchie doesn’t work for us logistically. Would need to be Glasgow Academy, Kelvinside or state. Glad it worked out for you in the end!

I've just sent my child there midway through primary (wasn't doing well where he was) and after the first term I couldn't be happier with it. I had no experience of private schools before and while I knew they must obviously be "better" in some way to be worth people paying for, I honestly had no idea just how much better. The learning support available, the level of teaching, the activities, the lunches, sport etc. It actually makes me furious that these things aren't available to all. I feel like we were forced into this by the failure in funding local schools as I'd never have considered private otherwise. Some of my friends are judging me for this decision and honestly I get their feelings completely - it IS unfair, this stuff should be basic.
He has come on leaps and bounds in just a couple of months so although it's a major stretch financially it's been 100% the right decision for us. A big thing is variety, there's always something different happening at GA. The teachers have been great, really helpful and the level of communication with parents is totally different to what we had before (because they've got more time and are less under-staffed, obviously). I can't say anything about the younger years mind you. It's quite large and busy and I could see that maybe it might be a lot for little ones.
We looked at Kelvinside as well because everything they say about a low-pressure, supportive environment sounded good, but his taster day was a bit of a disaster, they basically left him to fend for himself. GA was cheaper and nearer for us anyway with better exam results.
All this with the caveat that we've not been there very long and I'm sure there are things that might come up later. But so far I would recommend.