Can someone explain the state school catchment system to me?

There isn't a tube stop called Holdon...

You could consider the Croydon/Surrey border. Very easy transport into central London (15-30 mins depending on where you start from, into Victoria/London Bridge/Waterloo). Plenty of good primaries in the south Croydon area and then at secondary you've got a couple of good comps (Riddlesdown/Warlingham). Croydon itself isn't the prettiest of towns but it's fantastic for commuting and surrounded by all the green-and-leafy you'll ever need...

Sorry scuba I haven't answered your question, but just off out for the day.(am late ) I will answer this evening.

Sorry if you 10 year old is 11 on/before 31st August 2013 they will start in year 6 when you arrive, and go into year 7 in September.

Okay - sorry but there was one big mistake in what Bestof7 said.
You only fill in one form even if you apply to schools in other boroughs/LEAs. You apply to the LA where you live, regardless of which schools you apply to.

Forget about the main application dates, you will not be here in time for those.

Your children will go to school in the school year with their age cohort. So if your 10 year old is 11 before/ or on 31st of August; they will go into year 6. The confusion is that you will be applying for two schools pretty much at the same time. One to go to immediately, and a secondary school for September. You will be too late to be considered in the "normal" application round.

However once the offers of school places are made in March you can join the waiting lists for school places at the schools you want. You will jump to the place on those lists you would be at if you had applied at the normal time. So if you live next door to a school you will be "probably" very close to the top; children who are fostered or siblings may be above you. As a lot of schools have movement on their lists you will have a good chance of getting a place.

When you get here the LA can advise you further.

Other things to know are, Catholic and C of E (and Jewish and Hindu) schools are part of the State system, but may use attendance at a particular church or other faith grounds as part of their selection criteria. So if you live next door you may be lower than someone who lives further away. There are some Grammar schools, selective secondary schools, in the London area, who select by ability. There are also schools which test all applicants, place them into broad ability bands, and the recruit a percentage of applicants from each band.

The LA is obliged to find you a school place within a reasonable time. If the place they find you is too far away, they have to provide transport, however in London this is usually in the form of the free travel pass. You children will be expected to get themselves to school by public buses (there are no yellow school buses). It is different somewhere like Guildford.

Your children are likely to have a gap between arriving and getting a school place. You can home school or give them a holiday.

BTW I don't know of a tubes stop or place called Holdon? Do you mean Holdon Road in Twickenham? You might want to start on the TFL website.

Hi, also American so understand your confusion. Maybe some background info would be helpful - apologies if you know all this.

1. London is divided into multiple boroughs governed by councils. All councils have an LEA (local education authority) that deals with state school admissions.

2. There are two official intakes of students where parents apply en masse for a school place - one happens just before kindergarten, for a primary school place, and one during Year 6, for a secondary school place. This is what mushroom is telling you - the LEA deadline will be sometime in Nov/Dec (LEAs will differ), so if your Year 6 child is in London at that point, you could apply for a school place in the, ahem, 'normal' way. You fill out the LEA application form and list your schools in order of preference. You can fill out a form for a neighbouring LEA, too, if you live near secondaries in a neighbouring borough.

3. If you rent right next to a good secondary that awards places on distance, you're very likely to get during the official application process. Outside this 'official' intake, it's a matter of working with the LEA to find an open spot at a school you like.

4. Not all secondaries award on distance. For some it's an entrance exam, or even musical ability, or religious affiliation. Anyway, you need to check out each school's admission policy before moving near it. (Seriously, who came up with this 'system'??)

5. All state schools are rated by a government agency called Ofsted. It ain't a perfect way to choose a school, but with limited time and not much inside knowledge, I'd pay attention to what they say. Look for a school rated 'outstanding' or 'good'.

6. Have you looked at Bromley? Not too dear for rent, not overly far to Waterloo. Some good secondaries.

7. You'll be looking for a comprehensive school, by the way. There are secondaries called grammar schools, and they are more academically prestigious. But that's a whole 'nother can of worms in terms of admission, and your head might explode.

Where will your husband be working? You mention Waterloo - but there are other nearby mainline stations that he could use.

I notice that you state that your middle child is 10, they would therefore be going into year 6, final year in in primary (unless birthday since Sept 1). Most LAs have a cut off date around December for late applications for secondary to be considered with the man crop, so you'll need to move earlier rather than later to sort out your second child's secondary. The area around Telegraph Hill/Nunhead/New Cross is good for both primary and secondary. Haberdasher's Aske, Addey and Stanhope and Deptford Green for Secondary and John Stanier, Edmund Waller, Hollydale, Ivydale, Haberdasher's Temple Grove for primary. The advantage of Haberdasher's primary is that it's linked with the secondary. Kingsdale another secondary allocates places by lottery, so you may have a chance there. If you get a year 6 place there, they automatically would get a place for secondary in the secondary phase, this would help your 13 year old (if not 13 since 1st Sept, than year 9). Your youngest child if they have not had their birthday since 1st Sept, they would be in year 3. There is more pressure on places in current year 3 in London than year 6. You are therefore more likely to get a place first your 10 year old than a sibling place for the 7 year old than the other way round. Also, be aware that they are both in juniors so in theory schools could go over standard admission no.

Most schools in Surrey don't have named feeders (exceptions include Howard of Effingham). You are certainly never guaranteed a place, although siblings usually get in, then it is usually on distance, with some exceptions.

For George Abbot the intake is 300, ideally you live in Merrow or Burpham, or at present Send(one of those exceptions, as Send Children get in before central Guildford children). However last year pupils got in from as far away as opposite Guildford County.

scuba I've read various reports that you need to live pretty close to George Abbot to be guaranteed a place. It's not nearly as distance-sensitive as London schools tend to be, but it's something to bear in mind.

In Surrey (an Hampshire) the secondary schools generally have five or six named primary schools that act as feeder schools, and you are guaranteed a place if you attend one of the feeder primaries. The Surrey schools website has a load of info: www.surreycc.gov.uk/learning/schools

Schools in Surrey and Hampshire are administered by the county, as opposed to in London, where each borough (like a subdivision) administers its own schools.

Guildford (39 minutes to Waterloo) - excellent primaries and secondaries (George Abbot and Guildford County). Need to be careful where you live for George Abbot in particular though.

Godalming (47 mins to Waterloo so possibly too long) - again, excellent primaries and a great secondary (Rodborough), no real worries about catchments.

Neither in London but might be a lot more like what you are used to in the US.

We moved from overseas with three teens and found that some of the School admission Officers were really helpful whilst others were spectacularly unhelpful. We moved into an area with a helpful admissions officer
What about Walton, East Molesey, Esher, Waybridge ?
I agree with the move onto the schools doorstep suggestion. That is what we did and we got places for all three DC's in a popular school. It was a little fraught and our youngest only got a pace at the last minute but it all worked out.
I actually think it can be an advantage moving mid-year especially in areas with ex-pats who may be moving at Xmas time to start new school years in Southern hemisphere schools (eg South Africa).
One thing I did when we moved was to phone, phone and phone some more. I was literally phoning the admissions officer of the school where we wanted to go every day. I was extremely polite and 'pleasant' but it was nessecery for us.

When you have worked out where you want to go you should try and get a contract for your rental as soon as possible so that the school admissions department can officially offer you a place.
Our estate agnt gave us a letter saying we had paid a deposit on a house before we had 'officially' signed the contract and this helped sway the school admissions officer to hold a place for us for a week or so until the contracts were signed. I dont think she was meant to do that but she could see we were genuine and wanted to help.
The less helpful school,admission officers would barely even speak to me. Basically, unless we already had a house in the area they we're not interested.

I don't suppose you have any family here who's house you could use as an address?

OP, I think that the one to focus on is your 10 year old. He/she will be in Yr5 or 6 ie at the top end of primary. Quite a few families in London (but maybe not so much in the suburbs) move out of the city all together when their dcs approach secondary age.

My dd started at one of the most oversubscribed state primaries in the country - she was 10 when we applied for transfer. I was very surprised when she got a place but she was not the only one. You do have to live reasonably near to the school, but not right next door as you would have to get in at the start of school.

Then once the 10 year old is 'in' the younger one can go to the top of the waiting list as a sibling. :)

Your oldest is trickier though but they can travel further for schooling. Also a lot of state schools use banding so the wait is different depending on which band your child is in. You will be surprise how many schools will be in within say 3 mile radius of your home in London as it is densely populated. The link below is really useful for looking up schools.

dept of education

Good luck!

There are plenty of state schools even in the leafy suburbs. You've discussed Richmond, the council website has the schools marked out on a map. In most of England children change schools in September at the age of 11.

Some schools have funny names, and "public" schools are the poshest of private schools (just to confuse matters).

I agree with Blu too. Not many schools offer sub standard schooling. Some very good schools have some bad teachers in them, some bad schools have brilliant teachers in them.

Focus more on the secondary schools being good I would say.

Yes Blu - it does make me laugh at the occasional threads I read about a primary in Richmond where people are verging on hysterical because they've been allocated it. I had a friend with 3 children at the school and they were perfectly happy with it - they all left primary happy and being able to read and write and on a par with their secondary classmates from other schools!

People (in this area certainly) seem to have wild expectations about primary schools. Our very lovely small local school gets it in the neck sometimes from parents complaining about such things as - headmaster not good enough at public speaking; not enough homework; too much homework etc.

I don't know the areas but admissions are handled by the local authority. You apply to them for a place, not directly to a school, but you can state your preferred schools. They then decide where to send your kids and let you know.

You won't be applying to the schools yourself, but if you find a school you like live as close to it as you can.

In your position I'd start with a decent secondary school, and then take my chances with a primary. Your 10 y.o. will only have two terms in primary (and half of the last term won't have very much academically going on), and your eldest is coming up to GCSE choices, so I'd focus on secondary first, and then see what decent primaries there are in that area.

The vast majority of schools do not deliver a 'sub standard' education. People get very competitive and frenzied about getting into one or two particular schools, which does not mean that less sought after schools are sub standard. A bigger risk is that your children will need to travel quite a distacne to the nearest available place.

You can out yourself on the waiting list of as many schools as you like - and places do come up. I know 3 families who were offered thier 3rd choice schools, but now that thier children are settled they have turned down offers within the last few weeks of thier original first choice frenzy-worthy schools! That means that more of those places will be available for in-year applicants like you.

Some tactics you could adopt:
-move on to the doorstep of a school you like, so that you are top of the waiting list on distacne criteria. once you have one child in the school you will then be even higher up the list due to sibling priority.

• look at areas of London where there is higher mobility. Some of the more settled suburban areas experience less mobility and fewer places come up - I have no evidence of this, but in my DS's inner-city primary - outstanding ofsted, lovely school - over a third of his class left and was replaced durng his primary years.

several good state secondary schools in richmond - Christs, Greycourt, waldegrave (off the top of my head) and RPA seems to have caught up with grades as good as Christs this year. Not so sure on the hounslow side of the borough.

Oh you also have secondary age children? I think that is what you will really need to look at. Secondary schools are far more mixed (and I think lacking in Richmond???). The LA will have to offer you a place somewhere and for the age of your children you can appeal for a school you like. However in London I believe if you are offered a school too far away the free transport required by law is considered to be covered by the free travel pass.