Moving from Australia to Aberdeen in June.

[Minerbird]

Hi everyone,
I have three children, DD (12), DD (11) and DS (9) and we live in Australia. We are moving to Aberdeen in June with hubby's job; he has actually been there 2 weeks already.

Schools we are looking at are:

1. Cults
2. Banchory
3. Inverurie
4. Aboyne

Also Milltimber, Peterculter, Cults Primaries.

Does anyone have any recommendations regarding these schools?

DD1 will be entering S2 in August, DD2 entering S1 and DS entering P6. We got our application to Cults Academy & Milltimber Primary in by 15th March but are anticipating rejections as we are not yet in-zone. Have been informed we are unlikely to get a place even when we move in-zone as they are oversubscribed. This is very frustrating, as in Australia if you live in the zone, they HAVE to accept you no matter what. Trying to sort this out from the other side of the world is very worrying, as we will only be arriving at the end of the present school year. Only 6 weeks to find a school!

My question is, do the Scottish LEAs have Fair Access Protocols like the English LEAs do? We will definitely appeal as we feel we will have a good case, but want to have back-up options, hence the questions regarding the other schools.

Any help most gratefully received!!
Cheers :)

According to what I have read (I have a child at an out of catchment high school in Perth and Kinross) schools have to keep several places free for children moving in to the area, they are not allowed to fill all their places in advance even if oversubscribed so you might get lucky if not too many others move in. I have not heard of Fair Access protocols and we don't call LEA's LEA's IYKWIM, it is the education and chlidren's services dept of the local council that deal with schools. Going out to parent's night

Cults Academy has a really good reputation as does Banchory Academy and you might also want to think about Westhill- less likely to be oversubscribed than Cults but still as an area an easy commute into Aberdeen depending on where your DH is working. For primary, Cults and Milltimber are good- Banchory now has two primary schools, Banchory primary and Hill of Banchory- depends where in Banchory you live as to which you are assigned to. I live in the area, so if you want to PM me would be happy to give you any other info on moving into this area etc. We love it here, have been here for 9 years from England (having lived here also in the 90s) My DCs (16 and 14) are away at boarding school, but happy to give you any info you want and maybe even meet up for a coffee when you arrive!

The school will keep one or maybe two places for each year group for pupils moving into catchment area. If they know you'll be one catchment area in June, I'd very very surprised if you don't get a place for your DC by the start of the new term in aug.

Aberdeen has quite a fluid population - many people on two-year contracts with oil companies etc. it's a lovely city when the sun shines.

WB and AP - that's what I thought re: keeping places at each year level, but when I asked the Aberdeen placements officer she said no. Apparently Cults Academy had 6 new places each term in S1 this year for people moving into the area. These places follow the year group up the school levels, but apparently all of Cults spare places have gone already, so there will be none for S2 next year. She did say that they will have 10 spare places for S1 next year though, so that's DD2 sorted, but not DD1 :(

However, the same lady gave a different story to my husband's secretary who also made an enquiry on our behalf.... she said DD1 should be ok but DD2 might struggle to get a place - complete opposite to what she told me! I really get the feeling now that the lady didn't take my enquiry seriously really, as she gave the secretary more info than she gave me :(

I did read on the Scottish Government website that all education departments were supposed to have a Fair Access Protocol in place by 2007???

Chauffeur - thanks for the info. Might have to take you up on that coffee (or tea :)) So Peterculter Primary not so great then?

We love the look of Aboyne, but it took DH 46 minutes to drive from the office (Dyce) to Aboyne, and presuming it would be worse in snow. He's not sure if he could do that every day.

Hmmm, decisions, decisions!!

We moved from England to Scotland, so very very different, but my understanding was that if you live in-catchment, you have a right if access to the school, unless it means that the school has to take on an extra teacher/accommodate a who extra class because of you.

I totally see why this might happen in Primary, but surely a Secondary should be able to accommodate more easily?

Good luck Minerbird! It really doesn't snow that much up here in fact this year NOTHING!

My husband has recently moved to Aberdeen with work and we are preparing to move in the near future (currently in Glasgow). I have found phoning schools directly to be a much better approach and have always been called back by the head teachers who have been very welcoming and accommodating.

I think as has been said the population of Aberdeen is so fluid they are used to making places open. We are looking at same areas as you and also Alford which is around 30 mins from Dyce.

Good luck

Thanks TWB and Bree!
Bree, I did phone Cults Academy directly, but it took me forever to finally catch the depute I needed to speak to. Not so keen to phone you back when you live in Australia! He tried to be helpful, but basically just kept saying "we're full, we're full" and that there was probably no point in appealing if they are full! I found the conversation frustrating.

Bree, what ages are your kids and which schools do you like the sound of the most?

You could always look to the south of the city - there is Portlethen (more a commuter town), Stonehaven (lovely coastal town) or Laurencekirk (mixed bag of commuter and long term residents).

All have academies with reasonable reputations and are on a train and bus service to enable commuting to Aberdeen.

My DS isn't old enough to attend one of these (randomly non specific here!) but other friends are happy with these schools. Smaller villages also have a bus service that takes the kids to school.

It depends how far out you want to live and commuter traffic into dyce can be hell.
I personally, if I didn't want to live in the city itself look at places north of Aberdeen for getting into Dyce.
I don't know how you feel about private but there are 1 coed and 1 girls private schools in Aberdeen itself all have junior and senior schools.

Hubby did like Inverurie & Meldrum, but not as much as Banchory & Aboyne. Aboyne is really stretching it a bit though.

Kids are at private school here in Australia, but would prefer not to in Aberdeen.

Have namechanged for this as seems very geographically specific to 'out' myself!

We moved here a few years ago and I was told then that they keep spaces for incomers - there are so many people coming and going that it makes sense. My kids go to bog standard schools where there are no problems getting them in but have friends who live in some of the areas mentioned here and they've been fine - agree that calling and speaking to them personally or going in is for the best.

Hope you're prepared for a huge shock when you arrive though!

Huge shock in what way SomeoneElse??

miner DS1 is 4 and will go to school in August, DS2 only 18 months. Have you been on the Schools Inspector website? I am on phone so cannot link but it is the Scottish equivalent to Ofstead. I printed off the reports for the areas I like and have spent many a day driving around it is not easy so can't imagine how difficult it must be from Australia!

Will pm you later when I get the chance to look at reports again

Have messaged you Minerbird - my views might not be too popular!

Would you mind messaging me please someone? I am very anxious about the move and would appreciate any opinions good or bad!

Will do - feel like a right old harbinger of doom though . . .

Someone - thanks for the pm!

Bree, yes I've been to the website you mentioned and had a look at the reports for every single school we are considering. Have to say that at face value I think I would be ok with any of them.

DH is spending his weekends doing exactly what you are - driving around! He takes photos then emails them to me, and I jump on Google Earth and have a good look around. Quite effective really! Which areas do you get the best feel for Bree?

The driving around is so tedious! It feels like we are achieving nothing! I've not found anywhere south of Aberdeen to have a good vibe and no for sure we don't want to live in city centre.

So far we have short listed Tarves, Alford, Aboyne and Inverurie is a possibility due to having more in it. You do not get much for your money with property and we will be renting initially to make sure we have the right place for us. Will you be renting also?

We have our house to sell as well but don't imagine that will happen soon, house sales have come to a standstill everywhere in Scotland except for Aberdeen.

We are in the same boat - tending more towards smaller towns or villages to the west or north. We are also going to be renting. I am keen to get that one secured as we can't really get a school allocation without an address (sucks!), but DH considers it a waste of money until we are all there.

I am back in Aus trying to sell the house - only just gone on the market but it's not looking promising :( Property market is at a standstill here also. We think we are going to struggle to shift our two cars for a decent price too. If we can't sell the house we will have to rent it out......

I have been searching for a decent affordable rent for the past 6 months and can't find a nice 3/4 bed for less than £1000 PCM before the hefty council tax is added . Our house will be staying empty until it is sold as we rented before to the tenants from hell and couldn't cope with the stress again.

I hope things go smoothly for you and you manage to sell soon

Has anyone directed you to www.aspc.co.uk?

It has the vast majority of properties for sale/rent and is very helpful.

You can also save searches so it will email you with new properties.

CJ, yes we've been put on to that one. Seems to be the local favourite. Thanks!

I used to live in Aberdeen. Cults is a good school which many of my friends went to. Just wanted to add that Westhill and Kingswells are lovely and friendly places to live and have great schools.

Thanks CC!

DH drove from the office to Cults last night and it took him longer than office -> Banchory! So he's liking the thought of Banchory atm.

On another note, does anyone know what type/brand of school bag is 'in' for girls (secondary) & boys (primary 6 aged boy) in Aberdeen schools atm? Also which clothing brands are the 'go' for teenage girls? Coming from Australia I have absolutely no idea!!

My kids currently have to carry school logo backpacks, so this is all new to me lol

All the in bags I see on girls at secondary ate hideous Pauls Boutique ones. Boys at primary generally just carry a backpack thing nothing fancy.
I second Weshill and Kingswells being well worth a look. And there is also a back road from Dyce so don't have to trail through the city in rush hour.