Moving school- address or school first?

[Perkyduck131]

We have wanted to move out of London for years but have been restricted by both mine and OH’s jobs. Now it looks like it may be feasible over the next year so we are looking to move somewhere on the commuter belt (have a rough area in mind)

DD is due to start reception in Sept and DS in Sept 2021. More than likely, we will have to move her at some point next year.

When it comes to schools, do we have to have an address secured before we contact local schools re waiting lists and transfers? I only ask as we are planning on renting for the first three years at least so have a degree of flexibility, I’d hate to end up renting somewhere and then discovering there wasn’t space at school so would rather choose where we rent around school availability (and transport links obviously!)

Any advice greatly appreciated, I know it seems a very naive question but we’ve don’t know anyone else in this position to ask! Thanks.

Technically, you can apply for a school from any address, and if there is space they can give it to you. But you then have a limited time to actually start them at the school.
A school could have space, and they be filled in the time you take to move if you can't move straight away.

If you are applying for an in-year position you can contact the LEA to see which schools have places and base your move location around that. You can't apply until you have an address though and they won't hold a place for you.

Fora Reception starter, the application needs to be done by January. If you haven't got an address by then and your elder DC isn't in the school you want, then you likely won't meet the admissions criteria unless a school is undersubscribed. So I would look to have completed the move by the end of this year if possible. Some LAs have an extended window if you are moving house, but you still have to get the application in from your existing address by mid-January. I moved during the application process and the move wasn't finalised before the deadline so I applied from my old address then they had a window up to the 1st March to provide proof of the new address. That varies by LA though.

Hi both, that’s really helpful, thank you. Agree re trying to push the move before the end of this year. Good to know about not holding places- makes complete sense. Just think it will only get harder if we leave it longer as then we will also be looking for somewhere for my son mid year!
Will get in contact with the LEAs ASAP.

Thanks again

I would contact the school and ask about their policies. In my case, I emailed the main office email address from their websites.

In my experience (we are in the middle of doing this now), the schools wanted evidence you had exchanged contracts or a copy of a signed tenancy agreement to accept the application. So you'll need to choose the house first and then the school.

Having just been through the process of a house search though, I would think about finding a permanent base (buying) or moving soon to rent and then buying shortly after. I live in the Southwest and even though houses look like they are all in a certain area, it can actually be quite a long drive from one place to the other, especially on country lanes. In both cases, we have lived no more than a 10 minute drive from our closest school and I wouldn't want it to be longer than that. But if you look for houses for sale in that catchment, there's like literally 1 or 2. And they may not be suitable or in your price range.

Finding a house is certainly more of a challenge than getting a school place around here, so I would definitely make that a priority. Most country schools are pretty good though, so you will find something within about a 15 minute drive or so that will work.

Thank you @mindutopia, I’ll email a few of the schools as well- good luck with your move, so stressful when schools are added into the equation.

@DippyAvocado - thank you, just re read your post while I wasn’t at the sand pit getting distracted. Interesting re the LA moving windows, even an extension to March would be really helpful so will check that out.

More questions that have come to mind now I've started looking into it more if anyone has any wisdom:

If we apply for an mid year reception place for DD at the start of the next academic year, do we have to be in catchment or would they consider offering a space slightly out of catchment if they have availability?
Is this just a non starter? Where we live, lots of people tend to move out by year 2 and don’t appear to have problems, but the more I look into it the more impossible it seems. Not sure if I’m just being pessimistic and over complicating it though. I love London but desperate to set up some roots somewhere.