Moving house when due to start school , help!

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DD due to start reception in September, we are due to complete on new house end august/beginning September.

Option 1- send her to local lovely school ( 5 min drive/20 min walk) and move her when place becomes available at school local to new house ( also lovely - 4min walk) but this could be anywhere from weeks to months or more I suppose - upheaval to her and she is already very apprehensive about new school/friends and changing uniform etc.

Option 2- 'home school' I am at home so could keep her with me until the new school has a place available but obviously run the risk of losing her current place and not getting the local new school and ending up somewhere we don't like and isn't close.

Option 3- send her to our local school and keep her there even after house move - it's a 15/20 minute drive depending on traffic and hope we get a sibling place for her younger sibling in a couple of years - downside would be classmates go to local secondary at the end of school and they would go to the secondary very close to new house -maybe a trickier age to move school from friends?

Any advice ? Thanks!

Go with 3 and see how it goes. Are there even spaces at other school? If there are already you could apply now to start there and just do the walk if the date slips.

I Home Ed my 2 Dds and wish I had done Dd1 from the beginning, however it is definitely a big commitment. It's also absolutely the best thing I have ever done for them, and genuinely believe they are learning all the time. Dd1 is 13 and has become so confident and enjoys learning again she actually doesn't want to take a full summer break but continue doing some learning just not full days. Dd2 is 8 and quite possibly set for world domination, for my sanity she will be taking more time off apart from reading (she's severely dyslexic so needs to keep momentum). We love the flexibility and freedom, if they are tired they lie in, if we are busy in the morning we can work in the evening etc, we take our holidays in weekday term times.

If you are only going to Home Ed until a place becomes available you might find that your Dd won't want to stop and struggle to aclimatise to mainstream school so be consistent with the expectations that it's shorter term and how school will be different. You can also follow a more curriculum based approach so you will be in line with her peers if she does take up a place in the new school.

Also there are lots of Home Ed Facebook groups and some are area based so organise meet ups, educational trips and activities etc and so many are free or low cost it can be as expensive or inexpensive as required.

Are you 100% confident in how to teach phonics, how to ensure maths concepts are fully understood and embedded, would you know the correct sequence to each things in and when to move on or not move on to a new objective? Would you know all the correct vocabulary to use in maths etc? If not to any of these, do not home educate. I'd get her into local school and then move her when a spot opens up. I wouldn't keep her at the local school as not moving to secondary with her friends will be tougher than moving when young.

Option 1. You'll get fed up of the drive very quickly (and DC's friends not being local) so aiming for the local school asap is a good move.
Hopefully you'll get a place very quickly - in which case moving a Reception/Year 1 (or if you're lucky you'll get a place over the summer) really isn't that disruptive. but if you're not lucky at least she'll have a place!

We moved our daughter half way through reception and she was absolutely fine. She was very scared and nervous on her first day but came out very happy.

Option 1. I'm assuming you haven't exchanged yet, so there is a chance your move could be delayed. Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly, though.

I did this and did option 1. I had an older DD at that school so kept them there admittedly only for 6 weeks.

Both settled really well at the new school.

Buy very basic uniform and things you can move over to the new school.

Do you know if they have a place?

When is her birthday? Does she actually have to start reception this September?

Option 1. Unless you intend to home school indefinitely and I didn’t get the sense that that’s what you meant.

Option 4. Keep her home and defer her start until later in the year as a way of keeping current local school in reserve. The place must be kept waiting for her provided she starts by the time she reaches "Compulsory School Age" in the term after her fifth birthday, OR the start of the summer term, whichever is earlier.

You can apply for a place at the new school now (from your currentaddress) .. you might be lucky and there will be space before September. Plus any other local schools.

Option one. Or try to get her into new school now if it's not oversubscribed. Better to move her in R-2 when they are always changing friends anyway and better to have local friends she can play out with or walk/ride to in year 5/6.

Option 2

Have you accepted a place yet?

If the home move is definite then I would try and get her into the preferred school close to the new house so that she doesn’t have to move schools. Second to that I would start her in the school close to your current house.