Edinburgh · name the paper
Edinburgh is not a footnote to an English independent-school list. It is a full-boarding campus that still takes day pupils, and a large day house that prints Highers. Ask which paper, and whether this child sleeps at home.
Edinburgh is not “the international school.” It is a Scottish city whose state comprehensives and Gaelic mornings are allowed to be first, plus two official doors posting families name in the first week: Fettes on East Fettes Avenue, and George Watson’s on Colinton Road.
The portraits we have are Fettes College and George Watson’s College. Use them for what the pages print. Watson’s 2026/27 table prints annual, termly and monthly pounds, VAT inside from P1. Fettes points at a 2026/27 fee page we could not extract as a table — confirm the live pounds, including VAT. This note is the city between them. The United Kingdom country page is the wider map — London, Gordonstoun, the English boarding houses.
Fettes is a co-ed day-and-boarding campus. Prep from 5, Senior from 13. GCSE then A Level or IB. Senior boarders stay the weekend. The school says there is no weekly boarding in the Senior School. Ten minutes from the New Town if the lights are kind.
Watson’s is a large day campus on 52 acres. Preschool to S6. Scottish Nationals, Highers, Advanced Highers. It is not Fettes with the boarding weekend taken off. Ask whether this child wants Highers, not A-Levels.
They share a city and almost no Monday. Walk both, then a neighbourhood state school, so you can hear which accent the child relaxes in.
If you might stay, an IB or a set of Highers from an independent house is not automatically the kindest paper. A state comprehensive, a Roman Catholic day school — those are official mornings. London is another country of traffic. Gordonstoun is Moray, not a New Town commute.
The language of the yard is still the test, even when everyone is speaking English. A child can thrive in a boarding corridor at 9 p.m. and still be lonely at 11 if the park is speaking a different Edinburgh.
Ask which paper this child will hold — Highers, A-Levels, or IB. Ask Fettes whether you are buying day or a weekend bed. Confirm the 2026/27 pounds on the live page before you budget.
Time East Fettes Avenue and Colinton Road on the same Tuesday.
The city hub is the short map. The two portraits are the long ones.
Friendly orientation, not formal admissions advice. Always confirm dates with the school.
Scotland is not a footnote to an English independent-school list. Fettes is a co-ed day-and-boarding campus on East Fettes Avenue, ten minutes from the New Town if the lights are kind. Senior boarders stay the weekend. Confirm the 2026/27 fee page before you budget, including VAT.
EdinburghA co-ed day school on 52 acres in Edinburgh, not a Home Counties boarding novel. The 2026/27 table prints annual, termly and monthly pounds, VAT inside from P1. Ask whether this child wants Highers, not A-Levels.
LondonA co-educational day school on Townley Road, four to eighteen. Same Dulwich neighbourhood as the College, not the same gate. Registration for 2027 opens 1 September 2026 and closes at midday on 13 November for 11+.
LondonA large boys’ campus on Dulwich Common, with a co-ed early-years house and boarding from Year 9. The 2026–27 fee table lives on the college’s own page. We will not guess the numbers the site keeps behind a script.
The letters on the leaver’s certificate matter. They are not the whole child. Here is how to tell them apart without a headache, and without pretending every door stays open.
16 minYou do not need a perfect algorithm. You need a few true things about your child, a boring list on the fridge, and the courage to ignore a beautiful campus that does not fit.
15 minTuition is the number on the homepage. The PDF is the number that arrives in March. Here is how to read the second one, without inventing a euro, a krona, or a deadline.
12 minSkip the question about last year’s average. Ask the ones that make a teacher’s face change. Then look at the corridor while they answer.