Comprehensive school options for my DC

OP you will be applying at a tricky time, but one for your list might be Marylebone Boys’ School. It is a good school which is undersubscribed (due to being in an non-residential area) and attracts boys from all over London.

Be aware that it does feel very urban - the site having more of an “office block” feel than a traditional school setting. Some sports take place onsite, indoors or on a rooftop pitch, but others are within a short minibus ride.

I am not a parent there (though we did view it) but you may find parents on here who can give you an insider’s view.

This all happens in March. By the time you move here in April (you cannot apply till you live here) I would think any spare places will have been filled and you will have to go on waiting lists.

The local authority will offer you a place but it will be in a school with spaces, in other words an unpopular one. You can then go on waiting lists for schools you prefer. So I think the advice from posters to move to an area with a number of decent schools and go on the list for all of them is good.

I don't have knowledge of where that would be but as I understand it there are many good schools in most areas of London and outer London. If I were you I would not focus on one or two schools and "are they excellent?" as you may be disappointed.

Sorry OP but none of the school's will have vacancies. They are in the process of allocating next year's places now.

You will have to move and apply to schools, and get on the waiting list. You will then be allocated a place on the list dependant on how you meet the criteria. These are normally:

Distance from school
Attendance at a'feeder' primary
Sibling at the school

There are others, but obviously you will only get in on distance grounds.

So you need to find a school, move literally next to it, apply and then hope there's not people who meet higher priority than you.

I really don't think you are listening to how this works, at many a good state secondary there are children who live in the same road who don't get in as there are others ahead of them in priority order, you will have to look at each school's admissions criteria and ensure you meet them.

Not being here is going to be a massive disadvantage as it is delaying applying.

Can you afford private fees? That may be a better bet as other than with the very selective ones you may have a better chance of a place and proximity to school is less of an issue. And you dict need to be physically here to apply

I cmt help on the London side of things, but we have moved internationally needing school places.
You can't apply until the child is in the country - we were asked for flight tickets to prove it. Then you will get offered a school with spaces.
Basing yourself right next to a fantastic school is likely to cause headache. Find an area with a number of good schools, and excellent transport links, and go from there.
Are you going to home school April - July? Or will you also want a primary place? We had 3 weeks from offer to being in school or place was withdrawn.

Ofsted is the English school inspecting body, but br careful. Some excellent schools haven't been inspected for 10 years, and so much may have changed. Also, poor schools aren't aways bad - it depends on why they are bad, and if that affects you.

Where does your DH need to travel to for work?

Sliw typing means I x posted with others, sorry

Op you may not be aware (some posters gave said thus tbf) but applications for places at state secondary schools in England for children currently in year 6 are now under consideration. The deadline was 31 Oct last year and offers will go out on 1 March. Your application will be classed as a late or in-year application. Once you gave a UK address, you can apply for a place, but you are unlikely to have any kind of choice. Basically unless a school is undersubscribed (and good ones are not as a rule) you are waiting for someone to leave or reject their place, which is less likely for yr6 to yr7 than other years. You can go on waiting lists for all the schools you like, but unless you are happy to home Ed, you most likely will have to take a place at an unpopular school. Sorry if this is not what you want to hear.

Places do come up, even at popular schools, as London does have a lot of churn. But you will have to wait.

Sorry if this isn't what you want to hear.

Glenthorne is a great school, however it is hard to get a place as it's so popular. Their admissions process is complicated, but everyone has to sit a banding test. They then give proportionately equal numbers of places in each band. I don't know if you can be added to the waiting list if you didn't sit the test. You would need to read the admissions details in depth or contact them. They also have other priorities, which means sometimes people living on the same road don't get a place.

As you are making a late application, your best bet is renting as close as possible to a good size comprehensive that admits primarily on distance, but with other reasonable schools nearby. You will then need to wait for a place on a waiting list. PPs have pointed you in the direction of some boroughs with good schools as a possible starting point.

Will you also be needing a yr6 school place?

Glenthorne is a very good school. Complicated entry though - they use a banding system so not as easy as just renting close to the school. You could look at Cheam High?

A thing worth nothing about Sutton is the number of SW London independent schools means plenty of people turn down their state school offer, which has a knock-on effect on grammar and comprehensive places as the waiting lists move.

What I don't know (maybe somebody else can confirm) is at what point your application gets treated the same as everyone else's. You may not be able to get on the waiting lists until August if it treated as an in-year application.

www.sutton.gov.uk/-/in-year-admissions

Where in London is your husband working? Is he's counting to an office somewhere, that will have an impact on where it's practical to live for his commute.

If you're not arriving til April (and presumably your son isn't arriving til then either), you can't apply yet.

As others have said, the process here is that applications were submitted in the autumn and the allocations are announced on 1st March. There is then a few weeks of people accepting (or not) the places and getting themselves onto waiting lists before the councils/schools can give a meaningful answer about their waiting lists. If a school has places on 1st March though, it's fairly likely to have them when you come over in April.

You'll either need to start somewhere so you'll need to decide whether you work through a list of secondary schools (though if you start with the "best" (very subjective of course....) ones, they will invariably have long waiting lists or whether you pick an area and contact all the schools in that area which you think you'd be happy with.

You have missed the deadline for year 6 applications, secondary school places will be notified to parents in a few weeks. It does make it a huge amount trickier moving here in April. You will be making a late application
so may not get the school you want. Options would be to find out which schools still have spaces, likely to be the less sought after schools or move very close to a good school and go on the waiting list and/or appeal.

Chose an area with good transport links and a variety of good schools. Secure accommodation ASAP as the allocation date is in a few weeks and you'll want to get on waiting lists quickly to maximise chances. Waiting lists go on distance.

If your husband is in London already I'd get him on the case of looking for convenient accommodation and then checking the schools nearby.

What is your plan for rest of Yr6?

You may well find that the cost of renting within the catchment of a desirable London state school is comparable to renting in a cheaper area and paying school fees, especially if you only have the one child.

I say this as someone who has 3 DC doing well in lovely state schools!

Your application for state schools will be address dependent so you need a house first then you apply for schools. If he is already in yr 6 you have missed the application dates for state schools so it will treated as a late application. First concentrate on your housing.

Are you currently in London or not yet on the country? If the former, you needed
to have done an application already!!

Each local council will have a list of their local schools.

The housing search website rightmove (rent or buy) also has a schools tab so you can see what schools are the nearest.

Once you have narrowed down areas that will work for the rest of your set up (budget, commute etc.) you could call the local councils and ask what schools are likely to have vacancies once they have allocated for the year. It is a bad time to enter, as in general London schools have a fair amount of churn, but that won’t have taken place yet for the next school year especially as people will be trying not to move when their children are at this point because of schools admittance.

You will not be awarded a place at a state school until you actually have an address that would make your son eligible to attend it. A private school should be happy to take you from anywhere in the world, then update.

Schools with spaces for year 7 entry may not be where you want your child to go. Councils only are obliged to offer you a school place where they have space. They do not have to offer you your local or preferred school. I would be mentally preparing to do home schooling for a term or so.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.standard.co.uk/homesandproperty/buying-mortgages/10-of-the-best-london-boroughs-to-move-to-for-good-state-schools-a125451.html%3Famp

The article above details the best boroughs to move to for schools. If I understand you correctly, you want to know where to move to in order to get into a good school. If your area is already decided, as PPs have said you will have to choose between your local schools.

I wouldn’t recommend that you move to an area known for being heavily into the grammar system eg Bexley as you’ve missed the deadline for the exams so you won’t get in, and grammar schools have a devastating impact on the comprehensives in the area.

I would go for more mixed areas because the schools are less likely to have the brightest kids creamed off for private. That said, the best state schools are typically oversubscribed so you are unlikely to get an in year place.