Getting school placement during a summer relocation from US

28 replies

spy8s · 12/05/2013 21:50

Hello,

We are new here but have been reading many threads over the past week which have been extremely helpful. My DH's company has just told us they would like him to relocate from the Boston office to the London office over the summer. We have 3 children DD 11.5, DS 10, DD 2.5. It seems to me our eldest will go into secondary school while the middle will need a place for 1 year at a primary. Private schools will not be a viable option financially. I am hearing how over subscribed the state schools are and am wondering if a summer move will make it virtually impossible to get my kids into a school. My husband's office is close to the District, Central, and Piccadilly lines so we have been looking at Richmond, Kew, and Ealing. But have recently found Teddington and while it may not be as convenient for commuting it seems to have a great looking secondary school. I found an old thread talking about Teddington School and it seems as though it has moved away from using feeder schools for placement and is now using catchment area criteria. Wondering if anyone has any advice on how to get the kids into a school at this time of year. Thank you, {Very nervous mom}

OP posts:

scaevola · 12/05/2013 22:27

Catchment area criteria do not mean that you have to right to a place in the school. It is a way of prioritising applicants. And if the school is oversubscribed within an admissions category then there will be a tiebreak criterion - usually distance from the school. And if the school is full (which it will be for year 7 admissions this September) then there will be a waiting list, ranked by how well applicants fit the criteria. So if you move right next to the cp school, you might go to the top of the waiting list, but will only be offered a place if another pupil leaves, creating a vacancy.

The Local Education Authority must however find you a school place in a timely fashion. This will be the nearest school with a vacancy (but it might not be a school you would otherwise have chosen or find logistically easy) or if all schools in a reasonable radius are full (as they might be in London), then they can activate powers to force a school to admit a pupil over numbers. But that will be thhe school which LEA thinks will suffer least prejudice from having an additional pupil, and again it might not be a school you would have chosen (though you might strike it lucky).

basildonbond · 12/05/2013 22:19

Teddington is very oversubscribed and will not have any spaces in year 7 for September, plus houses in its catchment area are exorbitantly expensive

How long is the proposed move for? If your husband's company really want him to go, is there any way they will pay for your children to stay in the American system, especially if it's only going to be for a couple of years

Starbuck100 · 12/05/2013 22:12

We are in a similar situation as we will be locating to UK from U.S. this summer as well. We are heading for Cheltenham, not London, but I too find the school placement situation quite daunting. (We have 2 boys, ages ~10 and 7). I have sent some emails to a few schools and I did hear back from some. They all admit to being oversubscribed, but I was told that once we are there and have an address that we should file an appeal. According to one school, appeals are often successful ... especially if you locate as close as possible to the school you are looking at. Not entirely reassuring, but gave me a little hope. Good luck to you! (Another very nervous mom ;)

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