Moving in June/July - Already accepted place for Sept but we'll be miles away?

[AmyandIsabelle]

Hi, I am really confused now as to what I can do to be a good mum to my DD (age 4.5 now and due to start reception in September) while also meeting the needs of the rest of the family.

Background is:

We're living in a v.v.v nice area. School is round the corner (nothing wrong with it, it's an excellent school, I'm happy for DD to have been offered a place and have accepted).

House we have here is a pit. No joke. It's falling down literally. We rented without seeing it and made a huge mistake really, it was previously let to students and is only really 'fit' for students. Landlord says he won't do anything 'unnecessary' like replace the bathroom!

There is NO chance we can afford another place around here, average rents would be £900-1200+ in the area for 3 bedroom (Somerset, not London!)

We can however afford a v.v.v nice house about ten miles away (large area with lots of suitable houses, several suitable schools, no real problems etc.

Have I screwed up by accepting the place at our local school? Am I now commited? Can we move in June or July (when we'd have cash, have given notice etc) and get my daughter into one of the local schools near to where we are going? There would be at least 2-3 schools to choose from and all would be acceptable to us. At least one is quite new/large so may well have places?

What happens to my DD basically? Is she guaranteed a place at 'a' school local to our new address? I am disabled so there's no chance I could get her back here to the old local school sadly.

If all else fails we'll stay here and make do but we also have a 7m old and would love to make a new family life in the new area. I'm just panicking about schools!

[UC]

Ok.... I also live in Somerset, and have some experience in swapping schools in Somerset - my DS has swapped also due to moving house.

No, your DD isn't guaranteed a place at a local school near your new address. The council will only give you a place if there is one available. They will offer you a place at the nearest school which has a place available. Where I live, all the reception places have been offered, and sadly there are still some families who will have to go to school outside the town. They aren't allowed more than 30 in a reception class by law (unless there are really exceptional circumstances).

Re. the place you have accepted - you can tell the council you no longer need your place for September - people move all the time and do this. HOWEVER, I wouldn't do this until you have an offer of a place in the school you want to move to. I would phone the council and find out whether there are likely to be places at the schools near where you want to go.

You will also need an address before you can get a place at the new school (I think!).