Moving to Stirling area - advice on secondary schools?

[greensea]

We are moving to Stirling area this summer, although not decided on where. My son is starting secondary school and I want to move to catchment area of the school we decide on.

I'm finding it difficult as I currently live in North of Scotland and have no inside info of the area. I think Bridge of Allan and Dunblane are out of our price range (we will buy eventually but renting to begin with).

My son is into sport and arts, so a thriving schools with passionate teachers would be great. I'd also rather a village rather than somewhere built up as we do a lot of cycling.

I've heard mixed reviews on most schools I've looked into so hoping someone in the area could offer their opinion.

(I should also maybe say, my partner will be working in Falkirk and I'm still waiting for new job to be confirmed so not focusing on that too much just now. If we get his school settled I can work from there).

Massive thanks in advance!

Hi @greensea

My DD is only 1 so have no direct experience of schools, but lived in Stirling for many years and when I was at work, was often involved in their activities. Stirling High School is lovely and have done several projects with them. Teachers seemed very proactive and friendly. In my experience, Bannockburn High seems to get a bad rep, but I have always found them great too.

Have you considered Clackmannanshire at all? That is where we are now, and Alva Academy is really great - the catchment area covers many of the 'hill foots' villages, lots of brilliant cycling and walking routes, and the benefit of the Ochil Hills

@MrsMyreton

Thanks for your reply!

I was thinking Stirling High School, it seems to have a buzz without being too grade driven/the complete opposite. Do you have any experience of Wallace High School?

And with regards to Clackamannanshire, I have considered it, but my partner is wanting to be more West. I may end up working near Dunfermline, which would make Clackman better for me. What villages would you recommend checking out? Is Alva the school to aim for?

Cheers :-)

Hi @greensea

No direct experience of Wallace but my parents work in a falkirk school and I know a colleague of theirs recently moved to Wallace and loves it.

If you're thinking more west, then Balfron High has a superb reputation. And there are plenty of surrounding villages (including Balfron itself) to choose from. We looked at a house in Balfron before moving to Clackmannanshire but just missed out!

I'm lead to believe that Alva is a great school, in fact the family we bought our current house from had two sons and they both went to Alva Academy, seemed to participate in loads of extra curricular activities (think they went on to St Andrews for uni). Top villages (in my humble opinion!) would be Dollar or Menstrie.

I have a friend who moved her eldest dd from Dunblane (placing request) to Wallace (which was actually her catchment) and her dd was much happier and thrived there. Iirc, the depute head from Dunblane moved to Wallace and really improved the school (but I might be mis-remembering that).

School seems to be into sports, but not sure about art. (Her 3 kids are all sporty).

You might try posting in Scotsnet to get more responses.

Larbert High definitely punches above it's weight in results and had a brilliant inspection report recently.

Wallace has a really impressive sports facility. Might be worth following a few of the schools on twitter or other social media, sometimes gives a good idea of what's going on.

If you’re after sports and art then I don’t think Dunblane would suit. As a pp said Wallace has a good sports facility, I know people with DC at Stirling & Wallace and they are happy.

As evidence of its porting achievements, Wallace are in the Scottish Power Series (Rugby) Final against Shawlands Academy: the winner will be who wins 2/3 or 3/3 of the U13 and U14 (boys) and U15 (girls) games on the night.

Shawlands win 3/3 last year against Balmore High School but I believe that the U13 boys and U15 girls have lost (or drawn?) to Wallace in the preliminary rounds this year (the Shawlands U14 team is undefeated), so it will be a close run thing this year.