To be freaking out about no school place for next week?

[schoolless]

We moved house a few weeks ago and applied for a school place for DS2 at the local (new) primary school when we exchanged contracts on July 19. Had hoped it would be earlier but our buyers had difficulty getting a mortgage, then wanted to do extra surveys, etc.

Have been chasing up the school and council all week but both now say that they won't be able to get back to us until the middle of September at the earliest.

Is this normal? Originally we were told the application would be processed within 6 weeks max, and that the admissions officers worked throughout the summer.

Feel complete despair after struggling to cover the last six weeks with paid and unpaid leave about childcare. DS1 will be starting his new school on Tuesday. Any advice? The school says that they won't know if there are places available for at least a week after term starts. Should we just be looking for a different (emptier) school further away? I don't really understand why it takes so long to establish the enrolment.

What a stressful nightmare!

How old is your DS?

I think the LA have to give you a place but not necessarily at your preferred school. Are you specifically just waiting for that school and not willing to entertain others?

There is usually a fair bit of movement in the months between term starting and the initial allocations in (?) March. We'd not know our exact numbers until a week or so into term usually, also because some kids just never turned up (place at another school came up, LA didn't tell us etc, went private after all, moved out of area and never told anyone, lots of reasons).

Then there is the waiting list. Contact the school directly and see what's going on from their perspective and whether there is any hope of a place coming up in a decent timescale.

Does the school have INSET day on Monday? I would go into the office and talk to them face to face.

Be super friendly and explain your work situation.

Is DS2 starting reception? Can he not go to his old school or childcare setting? I am not sure how you didn’t foresee an issue when you only exchanged contracts and applied for a place couple of days before the end of the school year to be honest! You also could have used holiday clubs during the summer surely, you don’t have to be enrolled at the school in order to do so? I feel sorry for your little one

What year is he in? I think I’d be hassling the council as they should at least be able to tell you whether the school you want has places for that year. But in reality most schools are back next week so it’s likely you’ll know much more by next week and it won’t be the end of the world if he starts mid September. I’d wait until you have heard about your preferred option before you start researching others.

However if you know already that your preferred school is still full in your DS’s year then yes I think it would be wise to find a few alternatives.

Your best bet is to wait until the schools are back - if your local primary has places, the head will almost certainly let your child start whilst the LA plays catch up later.

@berksandbeyond
I don't see how that tone is helpful. We have moved about 60 miles, so DS2 can't go to his old school. He is starting year 2 this year.

We were gazumped on the house we originally wanted to buy and then lost our buyers. We found another buyer but they couldn't get a mortgage. Etc etc. After putting our house on the market in December, we were obviously not hoping to move in August. But this was how it turned out and not moving wasn't an option due to work / job changes.

We are very willing to consider other schools and I have spoken to one this afternoon. We put two others down on the application form. But the school we applied to originally is considered the best on the area, has an outstanding Ofsted report and historically good results. It is also by far the closest school to our house (under 5 mins). As I understand it, the other schools can't receive our application until we've been rejected by school 1. And we obviously don't want to pull / cancel the application while there's still a reasonable chance of a place.

What I'm struggling to understand is why School 1 isn't clearer about the numbers enrolling, the places already offered etc. In July they told me that there were two places available in his class, which I assume have now been taken by other applicants. But, in that case, why wouldn't they just reject us, automatically triggering the next school to review the application? My nightmare is that they leave it so long that the other reasonably good and reasonably close schools also fill up.

I will add that the LA hasn't been helpful at all. When I went into the school yesterday they hadn't forwarded our application, despite it being submitted in mid-July. The school only has the paper application we submitted directly to them, but were able to phone up and ask for it to be forwarded.

They also say that they are unable to tell us whether any other schools in the area have places, and that we have to contact them individually.

I also asked if they had any advice or available resources about home-schooling if he needs to miss many weeks of school, but they said I needed to 'do my own research'.

Some schools have INSET days tomorrow, it might be worth phoning up to see if anyone is there.

Oh sorry I see you've already been in.

Schools often have "potential" places but these places don't become available until a child who has left is officially enrolled elsewhere which happens once term starts.

E.g. your DS2 will still have a place at his old school, and they cannot remove him from the register until another school have "claimed" him (or you register him for home learning). So there will potentially be people waiting for a place where you used to live in the same situation.

They do this so children don't just disappear. You can't just take a parents word that the child will be going to another school. It's a safeguarding thing.

Once term starts next week, then school will then potentially be able to find spaces if children have left and their places confirmed elsewhere.

I think the issue might be that over the summer in most schools there is a skeleton staff, so they might not have had admissions people monitoring emails to check whether people have pulled their children out (because they’ve moved etc) and also that many parents would have assumed there was no one at school, so even if they had moved in early August they might not tell the school until the start of the school year. They might also have been waiting for confirmation on a new place themselves. So I’d say wait until Mon/ Tues next week when a lot of schools are properly back or have inset days- I bet they will come back to you- or as others have suggested try to have a word with the office or the head/ admissions contact then, even to get an informal idea of whether they have spaces/ a waiting list.

I feel your pain. Slightly different process due to SEN but told we had a place by council July. Nothing confirmed from school even though admissions team were checking. In the end took more emails and chasing, finally turned up on system end of last week. Missed lots of transition days in holiday . Apparently it is a slow moving process so even if confirmed one end, takes weeks to go through checks.
I expect you will hear early next week, but definitely go in and pursue. It's been especially stressful not knowing what's going on and has been hanging over us all holiday.
Good luck!

@towriteyoumustlive

Thanks, that's very useful. I didn't know that school places had to be released.

Still don't know how it is meant to work though. If we had swapped houses with a family with a DC of the same age, then they presumably wouldn't be able to get a spot at our previous (oversubscribed) primary until my DC's place had been released, but that would depend on the school here accepting him, which they couldn't do until the house-swapping DC had been accepted by his old school... so a kind of stalemate...

This.

They likely know there will be a place, but can't confirm until they know the child they believe is leaving has actually left.

I feel your pain. Our house didn't complete until the beginning of July and we couldn't get a place confirmed until we were in either........ nor the people we were buying off....... nor the people buying off us. It is extremely stressful.

When we moved in similar circs, dd started school (Y5) a week before half term!
We had submitted what we were told before the hols which was a solicitors letter confirming exchange of contracts, moved 17th August.
It took a lot of chasing and she was eventually placed at our preferred school under the Fair Access protocol.

Forget about the local authority- they'll catch up.
It's the school you want to keep asking.
Be nice and polite and send a good email introducing your child and your family,
Go to the school in person as soon as it's open even if it is an inset day and have a chat.
I suspect the school knows better than LA what is available.

Also, consider other backup options: if first choice school doesn't have a place, ask to remain on waiting list and send your child to the next available school on your list. Chances are, a place will become available in spring or for next school year.

Accept that first week of school may well be up in the air and take time off work and attempt some semblance of home schooling.

It's not their fault you've been unfortunate with the delay in house move and I'm pretty sure schools wouldn't have full admin staff working during the holiday.
Local Authorities are what they are, I really wouldn't look to them for real help at this stage.
The schools have the uptodate waiting lists and you need to go and see them. Phone doesn't really do much.

Same happened to me, once schools go back they can confirm that a child has left the area, often a child leaves without the parents confirming it.
My son did get a last minute place in the school that we wanted but we also rang around and got him on the waiting lists for a couple of other schools.
By the end of the first term hey had all called and offered him a place.
-You’re better off calling the school secretaries than going through the LEA.