Change of School-Primary

[arti999]

Hello Mums,
We live in Portsmouth, and my LO starts school this September.
Our plans have changed and we have to move to some other place near to London because of our Jobs.
Is it easy to get school admission where ever we plan to move. Is there a way to check online if school has places?
I heard primary has only 30 places, if all those places in the school are filled how do we get an admission if we change the school after admission are closed?

Thanks in Advance.

[CherryLeaf]

Hi op, my DC have been in several schools and the pattern seems to be: for reception and year 7 starters (plus year 4 if separate infant/juniors) (I.e. everyone will be new that year) then admissions are handled by the council. For all other classes it seems to be the schools themselves which handle admissions. Class sizes are set to 30 so if they already are full in that class you’ll need to look at a different school, or go on the waiting list but these can be long and unlikely.
Ime you’re moving in the trickiest year as all the places would have been announced already. No time to wait. Have you got your new address? You’ll need this to apply for places. Call the council where you’re going to and see where there is space. Some councils have lists online but mostly these aren’t as up to date all calling/contacting them. Good luck and hope you get some resolutions soon, it can be a stressful time.

[CherryLeaf]

Sorry typo, it’s year 3 they move up to juniors if separate infant/junior.

[Volcanoexplorer]

Class sizes are only limited to 30 in the infants. Junior classes can be bigger at the schools discretion.

[Charmatt]

Your Local Authority admissions page might be a good place to start. Where we are, the LA handle all admissions for maintained schools but Trusts can subscribe to the co-ordinated scheme or handle their own admissions. I work for a Trust tgat subscribes to the co-ordinated scheme so all our applications come from the LA and parents apply through them.

We receive speculative emails asking if we have spaces and answer them but we don't accept admissions that way.

The schools should publish their admissions information on their websites so they should give you information whether you apply direct or through the LA.

[LIZS]

Infants classes (ie up to year 2 )are limited to a maximum of 30. There may be more than one class in a year group but the most popular schools will be fully allocated with a waiting list by this stage. LA has to find a place but it may not be at a school of your choosing. When you have an address contact the LA and ask where has a vacancy and/or you could go on waiting lists for "full" schools which are ordered according to Admissions criteria not first come, first served. If your dc is not 5 until later on the academic year could they be at home for first term or so on the hope a local place comes up if not immediately available or will you both be working?

[Apandemicyousay]

The good thing about schools around london is that there’s also a lot of movement, so even the most popular schools will have kids leaving during their first term due to families moving, jobs etc, so places come up a lot

[mogtheexcellent]

32 in my daughters infant class. 33 in the other. Losing a couple of them as they move up to junior school in Sept but will be more than 30 there.

Mind you it's church voluntary aided and they have own admission rules.

[prh47bridge]

@mogtheexcellent

32 in my daughters infant class. 33 in the other. Losing a couple of them as they move up to junior school in Sept but will be more than 30 there.

Mind you it's church voluntary aided and they have own admission rules.

They are still subject to the infant class size rules. They can only go over 30 in a class if some of the pupils are excepted or if the classes have more than one teacher. If they admit beyond 30 per class and the additional pupils are not excepted, they are breaking the law.

@arti999 - the local authority should be able to tell you which schools have places, although most don't put this information online. Once you move, the local authority must find a place for you somewhere. If there are no schools within a reasonable distance of home (for a primary school child this is defined as 45 minutes journey each way) your child can be admitted to a school that is already full, even if it takes the class size over 30. In this situation your child would be classed as an excepted child, which means they would not count towards the class size limit.

[pjani]

Birth rates have been decreasing since a peak around 10 years ago I think? So slightly less pressure on places. Fingers crossed for you.