How does school registration work?

[CindyLouWho1]

I’m posting here to get answers quickly, MN can move it if they want.

We recently decided to move back to England after many years away. My oldest child is 4 years old so I guess he would be starting school this September. I don’t yet know when we will arrive or where we will live so how do I register him for school?! Is there a way?! I know he can start in Year 1 if necessary but I literally have no idea how to go about it.

You can't register until you know where you'll be living. Then you do it via the relevant local authority as either a late, or an in-year, application. Just Google "[name of local authority] school admissions"

Once you know when and where you can start looking at schools in the area. If your arriving after September you will be able to apply direct to the school. If before you may need to go through the local authority. Once you know where you are moving check the local authority school applications criteria in that area.

Contact the local education authority once you are here, and do whatever they say the process is.
Your child can start as soon as you have found a place. You don't need to wait til Y1 if you don't want to.

If I have a vague idea of the area, can I register him there or do I have to have an address?

And if we arrive after September, I can apply directly to the local school? I’m just scared that he’ll end up past the legal school starting age without a school place!

Am in the same boat but mine will be 3 when we move. No idea when/how to get him into school. Some great advice so far.

You will need to contact the LA of where your address will be. When is your dc 5? You will be allocated a Reception place but it may be at a less popular school with space and not necessarily the nearest. Infant classes are restricted to 30 so unless a child leaves and you happen to be top of a waiting list there is no greater chance of a year 1 place.

You need an address, and to be living there.

We had to go through the LEA, not the local school. They coordinate all admissions in this area.

After September it would be an In Year application, you can look up the process online on the LA website.

If he is summer born he can start reception in 2023 but this may be problematic at secondary level depending on the school.

School places have already been allocated for this September so when you have a home and are living in it you contact your lea and ask which schools have spaces.

Is your DC 5 before August 31st? If not, then it’s next year for school.
Allocations for this September happened in the spring. Most good and outstanding schools (on paper) will be full and likely holding a waiting list which could be double figures. Unfortunately, your local authority will not let you register until you have an address which is frustrating for you but necessary for them to determine how far away you are from various schools. Good luck.

The answer to both your earlier questions is, no.
You need an exact address (some authorities will require you to actually be living there or at least registered for council tax there)
You also cannot apply to the school. Admissions for state schools are run by the local authorities.

You will need an address, either signed tenancy agreement or have exchanged contracts. Each area usually has an in year admissions process. You’d apply to the council for the school(s) you want. But be careful that you are moving to an area that isn’t oversubscribed. We did this move (from one part of the U.K. to another) last year and it was fine. We had a school place within a week. But in areas that are oversubscribed, it may be quite difficult.

Has he ever been to school? If not, I’d consider applying for a reception place even if he’s about to turn 5. That way he can start fresh with everyone else and not be dropped into an existing friend group who have been used to school for a year already.

@PeekabooAtTheZoo, you have time to choose a house close to the school you’d like. How close it needs to be will be determined by how popular the school is and how populous the area is. Some schools have a catchment of just half a mile. In many areas people have zero chance of getting into their preferred school even if it’s just up the road. The notion of choice is more rhetoric than actuality. Good luck.

Most good and outstanding schools (on paper) will be full and likely holding a waiting list which could be double figures
This is absolutely not the case across the country - 2018 was a low birth year and many schools have had low admission numbers. Where I am I only know one person who didn't get their first choice. The outstanding school I work in still has many vacant places, as do many of the good and outstanding schools nearby. One rural school I know of got no applications at all!

When will he be 5?

If it's before August 31st, then he should be starting Year 1 in September.

If it's 1st September or after, then he will start Reception in September.

It's possible to request a summer born child to start in Reception a year late, but this is at the discretion of the Headteacher.

You will definitely need an address, on paper at least. I'm currently living outside of the UK but moving back before September, I've got 1 child enrolled for September all done on my international address and going to appeal for my other DC. I have had to provide evidence of moving though. This has been done with copies of tenancy ending in our current house, notice given to tennants in the house we own in England, proof of international transfer from DHs employer.

Not all LAs work the sane so you may get contradicting advice here. Once you definitely know where, then you can check that LAs criteria.i wouldnt stress though. You may find it far easier once you arrive to deal direct with the schools in your area than the LA.

@underneathleaf , yes the bit of my post that said in urban areas seemed to disappear. This is especially true in urban affluent areas where parents are tracking 5 or 6 schools in their area since their babies are born and quite a few either move or rent out their homes and rent closer to the school they want in the preceding year.

Only my experience, and clearly all schools across the Uk are very very different, but we moved to a rural area of Scotland last summer from the USA. I was able to enrol my 2 DC into the local school and school nursery, purely by emailing the head teacher a few weeks before the start of term.

Fortunately we did have an address though, and the necessary paperwork. Our school (and lots nearby) are small rural schools

Im fully aware we were exceptionally lucky with this experience!

The Scottish school system and school admissions system is very different to England. Not really comparable at all. OP says they are moving to England.

Apologies. I didn’t realise the application process was that much different in Scotland in England. I just assumed it was straightforward as we are in an undersubscribed school.