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Moving house and moving schools

9 replies

pongopossum · 17/04/2018 10:06

We're currently considering moving to a new area, which would mean moving our daughter to a new school. She's actually only due to start school this September, but for a number of reasons the move wouldn't be until next year at the earliest, so she would of course have started school by then.

When I look at the area we're considering moving to, there are 20 primary schools within a 2 mile radius, and they're all rated by Ofsted as good or outstanding.

There are also 6 secondary schools within a 2 mile radius (which, presumably, the primary schools feed into), all also with a rating of good or outstanding.

So, this seems good.

I'm just wondering if anyone has been in this position before and, specifically:

  • Does the local authority have a legal obligation to find your child a space in a school within a reasonable time frame?
  • Does the local authority have to find a space in a school within a reasonable travel distance (and, if so, what tends to be classed as 'reasonable')? She'll be 4 years old, so she can't really be expected to travel on a school bus, but because both me and my spouse work, if they placed her in a school 10 miles away it could cause us a real problem.


It looks to me as though the schools I've identified within the 2 mile radius generally look good (although obviously I'll need to do a lot more research), but I'm wondering if I also need to consider that she might be placed in a school further away than this.....

Thanks!
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pongopossum · 19/04/2018 09:49

Bumping this thread, hope that's OK!

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Hersetta427 · 19/04/2018 09:58

Yes the local authority has an obligation to find your daughter a place however if your local schools are oversubscribed then they will give you a place at the nearest school with a vacancy. If this is over 2 miles from your house they will provide free transport for your child. You should accept the offered school and ask to be added to the waiting lists for all your local schools.

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Hersetta427 · 19/04/2018 10:00

You could ring the local authority and ask them if any of your local schools stuff have spaces for reception 2018- that might give you an indication of how near or far you might get allocated.

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pongopossum · 19/04/2018 10:35

Thanks! Do you know how the free transport tends to work for a 4-5 year old? She can't really be expected to travel on her own, or can she?

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Hersetta427 · 19/04/2018 10:54

Not sure depends on where you are- in a city it may be a free bus pass (but obviously you would need to accompany her and you would need to pay for yourself. If you are more rural like us then children are collected by minibus taxi.

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NoSquirrels · 19/04/2018 11:00

If you call the council team they can let you know which schools are likely to have places are which are currently over subscribed. I’d visit the primary schools too if you can.

It is very difficult as obviously they won’t allocate a place until after you have bought a house, and so it depends what spaces are available at that point, but they can tell you which schools are more likely to be offered.

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NoSquirrels · 19/04/2018 11:02

Do you know how the free transport tends to work for a 4-5 year old? She can't really be expected to travel on her own, or can she?

It’s usually a council-run minibus/bus, or possibly a paid-fir taxi with a chaperone. But only if the school they allocate is far away - if it’s just not that close, you’re on your own transport-wise!

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pongopossum · 19/04/2018 11:56

Thanks all! There are actually about 20 primary schools within 2.0 miles of where we'd potentially be moving to, and all of them have Good or Outstanding Ofsted ratings. However, it's a popular area with families, so there are no guarantees.

The idea of a school being much further afield than this is a bit worrying. Both my spouse and I would need to be leaving for work quite early, probably by public transport, and if the school was in the 'wrong' direction, it could make things difficult.

It all puts me off the move a little, but people move areas with school age kids all the time, surely?!

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NoTNoShade · 19/04/2018 12:12

After the admissions has settled down, it’s going to be so much easier to find out where there are school places and where there aren't and if there aren’t any school places at all in the place where you are living then you can presumably live somewhere else.

It sounds like you are going to need a childminder anyway if you both have to leave for work early.

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