Changing primary schools for a house move

[PirateWeasel]

How easy is it to move a child to a new primary school when you move house to a different catchment area? Is it as complicated as applying for their very first Reception place?

We're just moving this to chat for the OP.

No you ring the school and see if they have places. If so you fill in forms and move school.

If they haven’t got a fee place you then ring the next one.

I found the paperwork very easy to be honest.
I rang my local council and asked if the school I wanted had space, they said yes. Can’t remember the finer details but you basically just contact the new school and tell them, then inform the current school and they set up the paperwork.

The hard part was helping my child transition to his new school. He found it really tough to make new friends all over again.

It is an In Year application, which should be available on LA website. If below y3 there are statutory limits on class size (in England) which means schools are not flexible on numbers. If a school has a place available and no waiting list they have to offer it to you. Alternatively you can join waiting lists which are ordered according to the original admissions criteria, not first come first served.

Depends where there are spaces (and if you have more than one child). After our move DD2 had a space within 10 days. DD1 took half a term with a false start at one school which we didn't want (but was forced into accepting or choosing homeschooling) and a successful appeal for her sisters school

Dead easy. I went for a look around and asked if they had space. 2 schools did, one didn't. I asked the one I liked to keep us a space until the sale went through. Let the school we were at know we were leaving. Turned up.

We did this just recently. Approached schools to see if there was a place. There was so filled out paperwork and off he went.

In what way was primary application complicated?
I didnt find transfer difficult - but then I dont remember the initial applications being complicated.

We contacted the council. They told us where there were spaces in the relevent years, and sent a form to fill in. We sent it back with some paperwork to prove we were moving (for us, flight tickets as we were moving to the UK, plus proof we were going to live at the address we were claiming).
We went into the school with a passport or birth certificate to prove the kids ages, filled in a loads more paperwork about emergency contact details photo consent etc etc etc and the kids started the following week.

I had to provide some sort of signed slip from the old school to the new (along with proof of new address) and was then put on a waiting list as new school was very popular. I don't recall the council being involved.

I was told schools here will only take over 30 children per class in exceptional circumstances. So do make sure the new school has space!

In what way were reception applications complicated? Ours are all done online, the hardest thing was remembering the login details for the next child!

Thank you so much for all your responses, it's really helpful to hear other people's experiences. When I say reception applications are complicated, I haven't actually got to that stage with DS yet but I'm dreading the anxiety of getting refused a place at our preferred school. They're isn't much choice where we live at the moment. Another reason for us thinking about moving! I just wish we could afford to move BEFORE he starts school, but until we've got no nursery fees we can't manage a bigger mortgage 🙁

Our council has details of the distance the last child got into for each school for the last 3years on the website somewhere. You could always rings admissions or the school to ask.

No point in wasting a place if you have absolutely no hope in getting in.