WTF do you do when you are moving?

[whomovedmychocolate]

I am moving house - 30 odd miles down the road so too far too keep our current school place. LEA will not offer me a place nearer new house till after we exchange, which will happen in July.

Meanwhile, DD has no school place and DS has no preschool place. By the time we move all the school places will be gone (she's due to start reception in Sept).

Should we just keep her home till January and if we do so will we be likely to get a place at a school nearby? There are three schools within walking distance but only two are acceptable (one is RC and we are atheists).

Do we just have to gamble that there is a similarly placed family who are moving OUT of the area?

[vickibee]

are some schools under subscribed? there may be spare places anyway. Smaller village type schools like ours have 22 children and 30 places so plenty of room for newcomers.

[LawrieMarlow]

Do you know that the schools are full? When we moved last year (in June) I got in touch with a lot of schools to find out whether they would have space for DS (then year 1) and DD (about to start reception in September). I think that has to go through LEAs now but I was able to get in touch with lots of schools, then visit the ones that were possible, then work out where we could live.

Schools have to allow you to go on the waiting list though, no matter where you live. When you do move house, that would move you up the list.

[Chestnutx3]

Really depends where you are moving to and whether there are waiting lists or spare places and how close to the schools you are. The LEA need to provide your DD with a reception school place but not necessarily at a school nearby. Many areas have very little state school nursery provision and often they are filled with just siblings, I would concentrate on getting your DD a reception place.

[whomovedmychocolate]

All schools are full to bursting apparently.

[whomovedmychocolate]

The problem is you see we can't even look for a preschool for DS till we know where DD is going. Also we are moving partly because there are no schools here unless I drive several miles so I'm keen to get a school we can walk to.

I'm happy to home-ed till January frankly, but if I will still not get a place it's not a solution (not happy to home-ed indefinitely - want to go back to work).

[notnowbernard]

Think I'd focus on getting dd on the waiting list for a Reception place

If you're happy with both local schools, get her on the waiting list for both

[megapixels]

If all the closest schools are oversubscribed I think the only option is to take a place in the closest school you can get a place at and get on the waiting list to the schools you want :(. We were in a similar position some years ago and though we have a very good school two minutes from the house we had to send DD to the we-take-everyone-who-doesn't-have-a-place school far away.

[Chestnutx3]

You may not get a place in January - why do you think you will get a place then as all places allocated in September. best bet is to send them to whatever school is allocated and wait it out - have had friends who only waiting 3 months, others that 2 years on are still top of the waiting list but nobody has moved.

[whomovedmychocolate]

Chestnutx3 - that's what I'm worried about. I was told that had I exchanged by last Friday I would have been considered as if I was living in the area and would have got a reallocated place but since I haven't (not my fault stupid flipping solicitors for our purchasers dragging feet ) they will not consider us yet. :(

[teacherwith2kids]

Depends an awful lot where you are moving to. My daughter's class has just accepted its first new pupil since reception...and she's in year 3. Anyone waiting for a place would have had to wait almost 4 years..

I'd say find a school that has got a place for her, get yourself on lots of waiting lists, check that these carry on after September (some LEAs and schools wipe the list clean once everyone has started Reception) and wait.

If your older child hasn't got a place close to you once your younger one applies for schools, you can sometimes do a 'reverse sibling' thing to move your older child up the waiting list - so younger child starts reception, older child becomes a sibling and top of the waiting list. Admission in Year 3 gets a bit easier too as the class size regulations no longer apply and it becomes somewhat easier to appeal for places.

[prh47bridge]

It is normal for LAs to say they won't offer a place based on your new address until you've exchanged contracts. However, when that happens they must come up with a place within a reasonable distance of your new home.

The school places for September have gone already but that doesn't really matter. You don't have to gamble. They will find a place for you.

The LA will have a Fair Access Protocol which, amongst other things, defines how they will find a place for a child who moves into the area when all the schools are already full. That probably means you will be allocated a place at the nearest school best able to handle an additional pupil. That may not be one of the schools within walking distance, of course.

[whomovedmychocolate]

Thanks all. I will give them a call in the morning and ask them what their policy is then. At this rate I'm going to end up with two kids at home by default or with a 78 mile roundtrip to school.

[whomovedmychocolate]

I can't quite believe this - today we received a letter saying we have a place at our first choice school! The letter says we have received a place as part of second round offers. My only thought is that the place we had accepted - near to our current house - is massively oversubscribed (20+ children on the continued interest list plus 15 appeals according to the head) so they've decided to help with the problem by shunting us over to the less oversubscribed, oversubscribed school?

In any case, I'm bloody delighted obviously. And have sent back the confirmation form (within five minutes of stopping the insane jumping on opening it!)

[notnowbernard]

Glad it's worked out for you all

[whomovedmychocolate]

Thanks - I'm frankly stunned. I've been grinning all day and DH is saying 'ah I knew it would work out' which he so didn't the cocky bastard

[notnowbernard]

[Concordia]

hope the pre school goes as smoohtly and your DC enjoys new school in sept

[whomovedmychocolate]

Thanks Concordia - we're going to have a look round tomorrow. It's made the whole moving process a lot less stressful now I know the kids are sorted.