Moving to Birmingham but schools won't say if they have places

[Ceci03]

So.. finally got a job in the uk yay! Moving to Birmingham, but I am trying to find a school for ds who I should 11 but none of the schools will tell me if they have places until I have an address but I don't want to rent a place til I find a school. Does anyone have any advice how to go about it. He will be just starting secondary

You need to ask the council admissions not the schools.

You could ask the LA what schools if any currently have spaces in y7.
But you can't apply until you have an address so spaces could go between now and then.
Plus of course you need to be aware that better schools will be more likely to be full, so you will need to accept a less good school at least initially.
You could consider renting as close as you can to your desired school which, though it wouldn't help with initial placement, would bump him up the waiting list positions.
Does Birmingham still have Grammar Schools? That would be an added complication.

Yes, Birmingham does still have some grammar schools. State and independent and very good ones actually.
What area are you moving too, OP? Think that makes a fair difference.

I don't know an area yet. Will be working city centre near thinktank science place. Friend suggested Sutton Coldfield... basically I can go anywhere handy for work. Def want a sporty school ds mad about football.

I think as pp said choose a nice place to rent, near a good school and you are more likely to get somewhere you are happy with. Knowing Birmingham you won’t get a nice school in a dreadful area so if you pick a somewhat nice area to rent in you should be ok. Sutton Coldfield is nice, as is Harborne, Moseley, Kings Heath and further out towards Bournville/Kings Norton. I am not sure of the schools in all those areas though as I know Birmingham state schools can be hit and miss. If you’re working at the Thinktank you could consider further out places that are on the Moor Street train line - Solihull, Shirley, Whitlocks End etc. Depends how close you want to be to work.

Was just going to say, be careful of Sutton Coldfield. Schools in this areas are notoriously oversubscribed and catchment areas are becoming increasingly tiny.
I'd really recommend another area suggested above, more south of the city.