Moving Y3 child to join Reception child, or 2 schools?

[myworkingtitle]

We’ve moved house and would love our kids to go to the village school 300m away from our house instead of the school they are currently at, about a 10 minute drive.

There is space for our DC2 to enter Reception there in Sept, but there is no space for our Y3 DC1 to join in Sept.

I can’t decide whether to move DC2 to start there & be prepared to have the kids in two different schools for the next 3 years, or keep DC2’s reception place at our existing school, and hope to move him after DC1 has left school for secondary... Any advice?

[RedskyAtnight]

Let DC2 start in Reception in local school. Appeal for Y3 place for DC1 (no infants class size rule in Y3, so you have a better chance of winning).
If you don't win appeal keep DC1 on waiting list (does school give priority for those with younger siblings at school, so they will be top of the list?)

[myworkingtitle]

Yes, they give priority so she would be top of the list for DC2 school. They are already over numbers in the year so I don’t think an appeal would have any chance of success, but they will admit up to the number they currently have on an one in-one out approach.

[RedskyAtnight]

Numbers don't matter in Year 3 (well, not to the extent that they do in YR-Y2). You just need to argue that the disadvantage to the school in admitting another child is less than the disadvantage to your child in not getting a place.

You can argue that it's important for your child to be part of the local community as you've just moved house. Does the school offer anything that the other school doesn't that will benefit your child? E.g. your child is a keen musician and the local school has a good number of music groups.

[GreenTulips]

I had 3 kids in three different schools
I dropped them all in the morning

As long as they’re happy

[myworkingtitle]

How did you get them there, greentulips? I can just about figure out how to do a drop off if the school day stays the same as last year as I can leave a child in the playground ahead of time (possibly not though, because of staggered starts) but both schools end exactly the same time, & it’s a 10 min drive between the two.

redskyatnight I know that ICS doesn’t apply but I know they are already at 33 in the year, & struggle for space because they have 7 years of 30 in a class but only 6 classrooms. I can’t put my hopes in winning an appeal I don’t think.

[admission]

You need to be clear about what the situation is for both of your children.
Whilst there might be a place at present for DS2 in new school, that does not mean that there will always be one available. With the infant class size regs it could easily turn into a situation that you suddenly find that the new school reception class place is taken. The ability to win an infant class regs appeal is extremely limited.
However the ICS Regs do not apply to year 3 so any appeal is solely on the strength of your case to admit. You say that with DS2 in reception that you would be top of the waiting list but you need to understand that it is not one out, one in. The school cannot admit more to the year group from the waiting list until it drops below the published admission number of the school.
Clearly there is sense in being at the local school, so for me the way forward would be to accept the place for DS2 and then appeal for a place for DS1, accepting that you might fail at appeal and have to find ways and means of getting kids to two different schools until a place at the local school does become available.

[SunbathingDragon]

As long as you can manage the drop offs and pick ups then I would put one in the local school and keep the other one on the waiting list (the sibling rule will help to prioritise the chance) and then when/if offered the place, you can decide for certain.

[FourPlasticRings]

Move DC2 and wait for a place to free up, though it could take a while- how much movement is there on your school population? My class lost 7 kids this year (and gained 7), but in some schools, classes don't change much at all year to year.

Where I teach it's not uncommon to have kids in the same family spread across three or four primary schools when a family moves.