moving with school age kids, just how do people do it

[hfyu79698]

Am at my whits end. We need to move house i.e. sell and buy a new one. In the current location the primary school is rubbish and my commute is too long but it all just feels impossible. We've had a buyer since the autumn but havent been able to buy because we're in a chain and apparently that doesnt make us attractive. So despite trying have failed to buy and move. The school we were trying to move for has now given up our place. I just don get it how do people sell and buy and also manage to get their kids into new schools? Am really afraid that by the time we do manage to sell and buy - there wont be any school places. Obviously, I wouldnt want my kids to go to a rubbish new school or one too far away. I feel like in London people constantly move around but how on earth do they manage it? Am totally mystified. How do people do it - it seems like a totally impossible system

Bump

You’d get more replies @hfyu79698 if you actually posted in the right forum where people want to give advice - there’s a Property and DIY Forum, so why are you posting in “AIBU”

In Year admissions is basically a lottery. Nothing is certain until you actually move. The situation could be different if you move a few days earlier or later. On one of our moves our elder DD hD no school place for half a term (it went to appeal). On another move, a place came available at a school 100m away the day after we moved... if we had moved a few days later the alternative place would have been several miles away.

Best advice is to chose an area with generally good schools.

How far are you looking to move?

@SavoirFlair I think my AIBU is that it's a crazy system and seems impossible to move once kids are in school. We are thinking of moving from one side of London to the other so not possible to commute.

People move house gloriously ignorant of the idea that the local school won’t just accommodate them at the drop of a hat when they rock up. They then panic and kick off at the Headteacher, the governors, their MP, at the appeal panel etc and blame them for ‘disrupting’ their child’s education.

Sell and rent in your new area? Then you can move with a school place, and be in a better position for buying.

Yes, i think it's feeling extra daunting because i dont drive so having a school allocated two miles away will be really really hard work. it just seems like the two systems dont in any way relate to one another - in one you get ten days to make a decision while in the other it can easily take nine months. Am just amazed that people move as often as they do with little kids

We moved to schedule completion in the summer holidays at the end of Y2. We researched schools well in advance, got vacancy and waiting lists from our new local authority, but until we had evidence of our new address, there was nothing we could actually do. Then when we had moved, DS couldn't get into a school straight away, as some wouldn't allow us to apply without having had a tour, and those wouldn't start up for a couple of weeks etc etc.

DS ended up having an extended holiday with most of September off. I worked part time and from home, so we could do that and he loved the long holiday, but I was surprised it was such a palaver - people do, after all, move all the time.

We just moved and it was horrible finding a school place. Complete lottery and I had to keep calling for months for info. Luckily those I spoke to were super helpful but it was so stressful.

By not driving you're making the situation more difficult for yourself than it might be otherwise, and reducing your wiggle room when it comes to schools.

You should make it a priority to learn.

Be less precious about the school?
Your children's success at school will be in large part down to how much effort you make in helping them with homework, etc.

You hope and prey and pull in favours at work and from family.

We moved across the city. We had a lovely overlap of two houses though so that was easier but I had one child get a place within a week and the other didn’t get a place till the end of term. Dh changed his work hours so be able to do both ways for a week then it was he dropped off but mil picked up as she lived that side of the city.