Moved area; 2 children given places in 2 different primary schools

[Stumpfest]

Has anyone been in this situation before and what did you do?

I have dd6 in y1 and dd4 in R, we've just moved areas and been given a school 1.8 miles away from our house for dd4 and dd6 has been given a place at a different school 1.9 miles in the complete opposite direction. I cant drive and have an 18 month old to also lug around on the school run.

I could just about hack doing the school run with them if we were going back and forth to 1 school but I have no idea how on earth we can make this arrangement work until a place becomes free for either sibling at either school. Can't afford to do before/after school club to stagger pick up/drop off and even if we could that would still mean one child is walking a ridiculous amount of miles per day.

We had to move and I just have no idea what to do. Dd 4 is a June baby and is really struggling with getting to grips with school as it is.

Yes I had this so had to appeal

Go and talk to your local councillor.

I didn’t send them until I had a place for both. Your youngest doesn’t need to be in school yet so I would just send the oldest for now

Well if there's no place, there's no place. What did you expect would happen?

What a difficult situation. Can you call admissions at the council and find out if there’s 2 places available at any other schools in the area?

@underneaththeash

Well if there's no place, there's no place. What did you expect would happen?

Did you mean to be so rude?

I’d keep the youngest at home until a place becomes available. She’s not even at legal school age as yet. If you can appeal then that’s the obvious first step

Could your June daughter start school next year in reception at compulsory school age if she is struggling with school. She is summer born but it could be too late to sort now I don't know. There could be a place next year? Or is there a school further away that you could take a bus too that would have space for both?

Put each on the waiting list for the other and both for any less subscribed schools you could get to. Infant class sizes limit flexibility and scope for appeal. Is there any wraparound cate at either or can you afford a childminder to do one drop off/pick up

Ask the council if you qualify for transport. We had similar and my eldest child was given a taxi to school.

Well it might be rude but it’s true.
Some schools are very oversubscribed and there just isn’t room for another child.
Of course OP can appeal but there aren’t really any grounds for it

@underneaththeash

Well I wasn't expecting to have to move schools so I wasn't expecting anything. But cheers.

My eldest's primary became oversubscribed a couple of years after he joined and my second didn't get in. I did appeal but unsuccessfully, I was one of six in this position so it just wouldn't have been viable for them to accommodate. I got her in to a primary one mile up the road.
I could drive and it whilst it was a pain in the backside it was manageable. I could have moved my eldest to her school but he was settled and I was managing so persevered. A couple of years later again and her school is now oversubscribed and some parents with kids in her class found themselves in the same position where their youngest kids didn't get in, they had to pull their eldest out and take them to the school the youngest got in.
Probably doesn't help you in your situation, but I think it's more common than you think. Doesn't stop it being a pain though.

Stating the bloody obvious isn’t rude.

@MidSummersNightmare

Going to do this next week and see if there's anywhere else we can get both into. I spent a good 45 mins on the phone on hold trying to get through to someone at the council before the line cut me off and tried all day pretty much without being able to get through.

Call the schools yourself.

I had a similar issue.

Turned out, 2 of the 7 schools within a mile of me had space for both, I still don’t know why the council placed them at different schools 2 miles apart!

@underneaththeash stating the obvious is bloody pointless though. I wasn't moaning, I was asking for advice or what other people have done in this situation. I wasn't moaning about schools being over subscribed.

Appeal and keep them both off until they sort it t. The council's aren't keen on homeschool for some reason so if you tell them they are the reason they may bend.

Have you moved too far to continue at existing schools?

Thank you to everyone who has had something constructive to say. I'm going to see if we can apply for deferred entry with my June born if there are no other spaces for both or if no other places come up.

I would agree that keeping the younger one out of school makes sense, and have her on the waiting list for the older child's school. Try emailing admissions and asking for a list of local schools with vacancies and see what comes back.

Do you have a partner?

Appeal. A friend of mine had this. Apparently most schools have a maximum set by total number of pupils at the school, not by class. So if there is a place in any class in any of the years you can argue your case based on that.

I'd speak with the council. I've heard of someone moving to an area with twins getting allocated different schools. A meeting with the council meant they ended up putting an extra teacher into one school to accommodate them.

But transport would be another solution but check what happens of one of the kids are ill, and how is it going to be timed so you are able to be home before the other child gets back in the taxi.
The other issue would be if you were to attend any events at school, parents night, etc how you mange that and what happens if you need wraparound care would you be able to collect from different places, or would you be able to get a childminder who'd cover both schools.

Lots off issues especially as they are so young, I'd have a go with the council.

@LIZS

It's about 30 miles so we could potentially do this short term but not for more than a month as Id need to ask for help to do this.

Have you contacted the schools yourself directly?
Are these schools the closest to you?
I would definitely phone the schools myself to find out what places are available, they will know best.