To move my DD to another school for last year of primary?

[Schoolchanger]

DD is in year 5.

DH has been offered a secondment abroad for one year.

we’d be back in time for starting sevcondary.

DD would spend year 6 in international school.

AIBU to move her at this stage?

I think it would be an amazing opportunity for all of us to stay in a gorgeous city.

How does she feel about it?

GO!

What a fabulous opportunity.

Year 6 is mainly pissing about with a test that doesn’t matter at all.

Wow. Do it and enjoy it - an amazing opportunity for anyone, especially a child. Think of all the amazing life skills to be developed including maybe a good go at a second language.

Sounds amazing.

Did I mention I think you should definitely go 😁

Double check what it would mean for Secondary applications... could you still apply from your address as normal if you are actually living abroad at the time?

Otherwise it could be a great opportunity if she's happy about it.

My concern would also be getting a place at secondary school as you have to apply from your resident address.

Yes it is very much the secondary school application that would concern me rather than changing primary school.

A good friend moved away to sort out stuff back in her home country and came back in the July before starting High School in the September - she didnt get the school she would have done had she stayed and got her second choice. They kept the house and still paid council tax (rented it out)

Yeah main concern would be could she still get into the preferred secondary school if (temporarily) resident abroad.

if not then I would send dh abroad for a year and join him in the holidays

Oh my goodness, don’t worry about secondary school.

If there’s one you really like pre contact them now and explain the situation. Ask for their advice.

Do all the visiting now in Y5 to choose if you need to.

There must be plans in place for E.g. military kids overseas so the system can work. If you’re keeping your house and coming back to the same address then just use that address. If not just use that address and get a redirect 🤣 assuming it’s same area.

Absolute Worst case scenario she doesn’t start Secondary straight away or starts a different one. (Although I wouldn’t say not starting is terrible).

It’s a whole family decision so good to check she is up for it too, but I’d def say go for it. We are moving overseas for a 2 year secondment in January and I appreciate the dilemma well. However there may not be a better age to take her, international schools are excellent quality so this might advance her, and finally you may regret not doing this. I doubt you’ll regret her changing school for one year. Covid times has provided everyone with the skills to stay in touch and perhaps one or two of her friends could visit? Good luck!

Not all international schools are equal and academics can be out of sync with UK. However I would have thought year 6 is a good time to move. Do check out the secondary application issue though, as you would apply this time next year and have to use a non UK address, or consider private.

It would be fantastic, but as pp say there's a big risk that it could negatively affect what senior school place she gets. If you own a house and would be returning to the same house after the secondment then you can probably use that address for the application and there's no detriment. If you are renting and have no official local address during the allocation process then she could end up in the worst local school as she will be at the bottom of all priority lists and will only get a place that no one else wants.

Thanks for your responses- very reassuring! Was worried I was only looking at this through rose tinted specs. So glad others think it’s a good idea.

I haven’t asked her yet, but I think she’d love it!

the school thing not a big issue where we live- everyone goes to local school which is good but not oversubscribed. Lots of other good schools nearby. We’ll be keeping on our house, so will be our address ( I will check this though!)

@Youthinkyoureuniqueyourejustastatistic Thanks for putting my mind at rest! I think you’re right. 😀

Not all LA will accept an address if you are not physically living there.

Really depends on the LA - as I said for my friend ours refused until she was actually resident in the country - it would be worth checking it all out

@Youthinkyoureuniqueyourejustastatistic the LA does have to give them a space that is correct - in that sense the system works. But it may not necessarily be the place they would get if they stay. In an ideal world all High Schools would be equal but they arent so it is imperative that if they are going to do this that side of it is properly thought through and looked at.

And contact the LA as well and check it all out. Presumably given she is in year 5 at the moment you have an idea of the schools?

My nephew did this, but BIL snd SIL had already decided on going private for secondary so address for applications wasn’t an issue, and they chose a British not International school that was used to the process so there were 11+ study groups he could join. It worked out great, he got a place at his first choice school and they moved back right on time for him to start. And he still has friends from his old primary since he kept in touch whilst abroad!

If your daughter is a British National it is much easier than if as pp above friend wasn’t a British National.

www.gov.uk/guidance/schools-admissions-applications-from-overseas-children#establishing-home-address

You’ll be fine and anyway, so what if you don’t get first choice school. It’s not worth missing such an amazing opportunity just because of some arbitrary box in an arbitrary system.
(Secondary School Teacher).

You can't apply from your current address if you are not resident there. It's fraud and you run the risk of your application being rejected. There are special considerations for forces-based dailies but not for others whi temporarily move overseas.

If you have a lot of local schools I would find out from your local authority which ones still had spaces at the start of the current year so you can get an idea of what might be available.

Where are you going?

Meh….the govt website says it shouldn’t be an issue.

www.gov.uk/guidance/schools-admissions-applications-from-overseas-children#establishing-home-address

Easier if keeping current home address.

@Youthinkyoureuniqueyourejustastatistic the reality of the system is that my Forces child returning from abroad was out of school for two months. Its a gamble.

Our daughter had been to 4 schools by year 6 and by 18 had been to 7 schools.
We moved an awful lot through my husbands work.
She never had a problem with it, as an adult she says it gave her a confidence to be able to meet people and make friends quickly.
Her education never suffered, she got a degree and has had a fabulous career.

One I would wholeheartedly take.

Its a bugger if you need the childcare but honestly hand on heart think it wouldn’t be detrimental to education.

Really helpful info - thanks

Thankfully there are no schools nearby that would be awful ( perhaps inconvenient though).

I’ll definitely look at the address issue more closely- thanks for all the links and advice.

I was more worried about the upheaval and messing up her education.

We did this (although for longer - three years) when DC were in primary school.

There is no issue with applying for a place from overseas. You could be living on the moon and still apply for a secondary school place. The issue is that you must use your current (e.g overseas) address and so if the school is oversubscribed you will not get a place.

I spoke directly to the LEA to ensure I understood the rules exactly. It turned out that in our area, if you apply as normal in October you can update your address until around mid-January and the new address will be used in the first round of offers. So we applied from the US in October, returned on 1st Jan, updated our address and successfully got our first choice.

Any later and we would have gone into the second round of offers, and because the local schools were oversubscribed I've no idea where we would have been placed. I have a friend whose DD was offered a school 40 miles away after they missed the application deadline. The PP saying not to worry about it is frankly appalling advice if you live in an area with oversubscribed schools.

However, if you are (very) confident the school will not be oversubscribed then you shouldn't have a problem.

Yes the admission authority do have a legal requirement to find a school for in year application - there is no guarantee that will be the school you want and/or would have gotten if you have stayed.

I live on the border of two LEAs and each has there own undersubscribed school you are farmed off to. In the case of my friend there are 3 schools she could have applied to she got her second choice. Most of his friends went to the first choice school he would have gone too - so being aware of all of the implications is necessary

@Schoolchanger if your local school is undersubscribed then it should be fine. But you should contact the LEA and be aware what the process is for you (and it is not a set process) for applying from abroad and make sure that you know what it is before you go.

As with everything preparation is key - this if managed and thought through correctly would be a great opportunity