moving house and moving school - getting head round admissions system??

[runningLou]

We're in the process of selling our house in Coventry (sold STC) and are looking to rent locally then move up to Manchester at the end of the school year. Moving mid-year not on the cards as DH is a teacher and wants to change jobs in Sept.
My absolute priority with moving is getting DD - currently in Y1 - into a decent school close to our new house, but the school admissions system seems to be a nightmare!!
You can't apply more than 2 months in advance of moving (so apply July for Sept), and you have to have a contract of sale / tenancy agreement as proof of address.
Also, as schools close during the summer hols, if the application in July isn't processed quickly nothing will be done until September (this from the secretary in the council admissions office). Aaaargh!!
Can't decide whether to rent somewhere in Manchester from May, and apply then, or wait, as places are probably more likely to come free at the end of the school year ...
Also, really hard to know where to rent / buy as the council has no data on which schools have vacancies, so it sounds like I'd have to ring round all the schools in a 2-3 mile radius of possible address, then pick 3 choices, knowing full well we might be allocated a random school miles away if these are full ...
The move has been planned for a while, and we are re-locating to be closer to family which will be fab for DC, but oh my goodness this school thing is really getting to me :( Totally losing sleep over it.
We have to move now before DS starts school as my mind boggles at the thought of finding school places for 2 of them!!!

[ArbitraryUsername]

You will probably have to resign yourself to an early September panic. That's what it was like for us. And lots of phoning schools. But it was still a bit of a panic (and we ended up living quite a long way from the school Ds1 got).

If you arrange to rent somewhere starting end august/early September but have the contract done by early July, you might be able to secure a place before the summer holidays start. But I've always found that you don't get that kind of luxurious planning with rental properties. Or you could move just before the start of the summer holidays and have a week or two overlap in rental properties, to give you a chance to secure a school while your DH finishes the school year where he is now. You'd have to be super pushy with them though.

With in-year admissions there isn't so much a system as a 'where are there spaces in the relevant year groups?' question, and then choosing the best of the available options. The schools will be able to tell you if they have a place or not, so it isn't really like normal admissions. I'm not sure the timing makes all that much difference, as you can't really second guess what other people will do.

[admission]

Despite what the Council officer says I would definitely not leave applying for a place till July for a September start, especially if you think you will need to go to appeal. If you leave it till July there is every chance that you will get nothing organised for September. I would start at the beginning of June. If that means that DS does a couple of weeks at the new school at the end of term then so be it. He has a chance of finding some new friends and a school place!

[sharesinNivea]

Isn't your husband making it all a bit awkward by wanting to move in September? He's a teacher so should know better how fraught an In Year Admission process is. Can you not just buy a place up there now and move in, then he commutes until he secures work up there?

I waited a year for an in year place in Year 1 in a totally nondescript midlands town,but what the head did explain to me when we sat down for a chat, was that in year placements are encouraged at the start of a new term, in fact the LEA pushes for them. They didn't even have a space for my child so she's 31 out of the legally designated class maximum of 30, but she still got it. I don't know if this is hopeful/helpful.

I really recommend talking to school heads in person if you can, they can tell you more in 10 minutes than a year of phone calls to the LEA in year admissions team can, in my experience.

[Mosman]

I rented a room in my chosen schools catchment area to give me an address £50 a week, job done.

[runningLou]

Mosman, I hadn't thought about renting a room - I'd been thinking we would rent a house from late May / early July so that we could get everything under-way. That might be a cheaper option though!
Just to be clear, DD is in Y1 now, so looking for a place in Y2 in September. I really want to minimise disruption for her, so would hate to have her in a school we didn't choose for a year ... but, I know this may be what happens. Also I don't drive, so the thought of a long school run with a 6 year-old on the bus is scaring me somewhat!
Interesting what you say about in-year places being at the start of a new term, shares ... I need to check if that is the case in Manchester / Stockport. I had been thinking of applying end of May for a July place but this may not be possible if they work by that rule ...

[sharesinNivea]

tiggytape

I've name changed and would be grateful not to be outed, but it definatately wasn't down to lack of space elsewhere, I'd already declined one school and knew from ringing around there were spaces at other schools.

The head sat me down and told me they do make exceptions,regardless of the law. Possibly my situation warranted this, but to be honest, I have seen identical situations across forums.

I strongly believe going on what the head said, that it was ultimately her choice to take my child or not, once School Admissions has suggested she should.

But I will never know the background machinations behind my child's in year admission placement. I have never come across such rigid red tape in my whole life as I have with this process, yet ultimately, it was perseverance, meticulously clearly defined reasoning and getting as many personal face to face discussions with various people from this process as I could - including the heads at both outgoing and potential incoming schools - that may have paid off in the end,I believe.

[movingaway]

Can the admissions dept really not give you a list of the schools with vacancies? We moved recently and this was exactly what we were given- there were 5 schools in the whole city we were moving to with a place so we made our choice from them. We were also allowed to apply before we moved to the area.

Do you work? Would you be able to move with the kids earlier and stay with relatives maybe? From my experience, having just moved, once you've made the decision to move it's best to do it sooner rather than later- DD was very unsettled once she knew we were moving (told her 6 weeks before we left).

[runningLou]

Admissions dept have said they don't hold the data, only the schools do, so it really is a case of ringing round and finding out which schools might have places :(
Thanks tiggytape, you've helped clarify things in my head. I think I was desperately hoping there was a good strategy that I could come up with to somehow get the best outcome for DD, but in reality luck and the postcode lottery have a lot to do with it and I have to live with that.
Shades you were obviously super lucky with your situation but I do take your point about meeting the head and talking face to face, definitely. I plan to do that at the start of the summer term next year, when we have a moving date, so I can sound organised and confident of my plans.