Moving from Australia to London with kids

[karpouzi]

Hi mums,

We are looking to move from Australia to London when my eldest finishes primary school? Has anyone done it? Will he be able to apply for grammar schools in the UK? Also, starting in September secondary school in the UK means that he won’t finish primary school on Aus. Is that possible? He is a September kid so he is already the oldest in class so I don’t want him to repeat a year again!

If he is due to start secondary school in September 2025 you’ve missed the window for the various grammar school exams (they took place in the autumn of 2024 for 2025 entry) so may want to be specific about your timings to get good advice

Also grammars differ in tests and also selectivity - some are super selective, others much less so - so the area you are thinking about will help people be precise in what they suggest

Nothing stopping you for entry into 2026 but may need to think about your timing to move / may need to do mid year entry

You have to have a UK address for a UK school place can’t be done in advance

Where's the dad in all this?

Aussie kids are not allowed to be taken out of the country without both parent's say so.

She said -we-, so figure part of that is the dad.

Oh sorry I forgot to mention that he is due to start is 2026 so we are doing some early planning. We were thinking to move in June/July 2026 depending on jobs etc so the academic year most likely will be almost over in London. I don’t think it makes sense to settle the kids in a new school for a month or so in the UK so I was hoping they will start straight in September. We don’t have a UK address yet so we might need to use a friend or relative’s address I guess?! In terms of area in London, we are not sure yet but I guess it will be based on the address we will provide to the schools.

The dad is moving too. All the kids are born in the UK and we all of us have british passports too so no issues going back to the UK.

Imagine friend or relative address is not going to work - else people would use it all the time to be closer to the school they want based on distance

Worth looking at the admissions guidance for the schools you have in mind to get a sense of timing and process

Also each council will tend to have a bunch of guidance on their websites around how to apply for schools

If you arrive in June/July for Sept entry you’ll essentially have to find out which schools will have places as all offers go out much earlier in the year - for state schools there is no concept of applying from abroad like you would get for private schools

Well, it works the same whether you are moving within the UK or from outside - either way you get a place when you move not before

OP London does not have grammar schools (unless in name only). Bucks and Kent have grammar and they use 11+ or 13+ entrance exams where you have to achieve a minimum grade for entry. Entrance at 13+ can be difficult as there are usually limited places available.

State schools have to be applied for around UK spring time with some requiring proof that you have lived at the address for a period of time.

You can apply from O/S for independent schools and usually sit an entrance exam online or at their existing school. Each has their own timeline and also have their own version of 11+.

proof of address is a council tax bill with your name on it.

people frequently request there council tax bill to use as proof for schooling

Remember that England is a lot less flexible than Aus with regards school years. You will be offered school places based on the kids’ birthdays - I have had friends move from Sydney to London and been offered a Y8 place rather than the Y7 place they wanted. The choice was to let the child effectively miss the first year of secondary or go private. You say your son is already one of the eldest in the year so I would check his UK school year.

The deadline for secondary applications would normally be end of October. So you would need to be in your house by October this year. If you don't apply this way with everyone else you will be allocated the schools that have places available. These are normally the schools nobody wants to go to due to poor behaviour etc, bad reputation etc.

There are 19 grammar schools in London. The grammars are highly highly competitive and most kids have had tutoring for months if not years before sitting the entry tests.

Application deadline was 31st Oct this year - not spring. You have to have proof of living in your address (council tax records) - plus your DC would need to be in the country to sit the entrance exams, which can be over multiple weekends in the autumn. Rather than move at the end of y6, could you move at the end of y5 so you are settled with an address in London ready for the 2026 entry exams in Autumn of this year? Then at least your DC do a year in primary.

I'd start researching the schools + areas to narrow your options if grammar is important to you. There's a list here of "proper" grammar schools - https://www.11plusguide.com/grammar-school-test-areas/list-of-london-grammar-schools/ Then you might also want to research schools with selective streams. So for example, in Wandsworth there are several schools that have a selective stream and then a non selective stream (such as Graveney, Burntwood, Chestnut Grove). The selective stream is decided by the Wandsworth test. Non selective stream is on the council's usual admission criteria (for most people that ends up being distance and some have very small distances offered - for Graveney non selective, last year the furthest distance offered was 0.6km). Other boroughs might have similar but I don't know other areas very well. https://wandsworth.gov.uk/media/9381/choose_a_wandsworth_secondary_school.pdf

But as pp have said, if you arrive in Jul 26 for Sept 26 entry, you'll just be given a place wherever there is availability after everyone else has made their application earlier in the year, which will almost certainly not be a school you would have chosen as your first choice.

Ignore everything I said as it seems I was wrong!!

I know families that have done the same move and have had quite a shock at how difficult the admissions system is in England.

You can't use a relative's address in advance. If you do and get found out, your place will be withdrawn. lLocal authorities are very adept at rooting out fraudulent applications especially for the most over subscribed schools.

You will have to apply once you are physically in the country living in the address you are applying from. For Sept 2026 entry for secondary schools, you have to apply by Oct 31st 2025.

The only way that you can access the level of flexibility that you seem to be looking for is to go down the fee paying route.

If you return in the summer of 2026, you can then apply for as many schools as possible close to where you are living and it will be pot luck which school has places (if any). Good luck.

Don’t do it (my honest opinion). Life is so expensive here, healthcare collapsing, and I hear Australia is much more safe too. If you have kids, not as much playground as in Australia and it’s mostly wet and grey anyway. Why would you want to change a lovely quality of life to UK?

Most London boroughs don’t have grammar schools. Only a few outer boroughs do - Sutton, Bexley, Barnet. Competition is very fierce.

I’d stay down under, to be honest. Why are you moving back?

To be honest for completely selfish reasons as non of us is from the UK 😂 My partner is from Aus and we agreed to retire in Europe so my hope is that if the kids finish school in the UK, they will more likely study, settle and have their own family in Europe. They do have British & an EU passport. So it will be somehow close to where we ll be in the future. I know nothing is for certain but it’s just likely. Plus I would love at some point to be a short flight away from my country rather than 24h!

I know it’s very competitive to get into a grammar school so we are trying to find a suburb that has both. I heard that Harrow has great state schools as well as grammar in case any of our kids get in. Most likely we will move to outer suburbs as it’s not in our budget to buy a 4 bed house anywhere zone 1 & 2 unfortunately.

Only reason we are looking to move is that I want to be closer to my home country & friends as well as get the kids finish school in Europe where we are looking to retire eventually, maximising the chances of them being close to us rather than been spread across the globe!

Thank you! Yes we are considering independent school for the eldest. We will need I guess to come slightly earlier than I expected to find a place and start the process if we end up going to a state school.

I don’t think Harrow has any grammar schools.

Islington doesn’t have grammars but St Mary Magdalen is highly thought of as a state school and there’s also entry to Dame Alice Owen’s in Potters Bar (an easy train ride) - but house prices are high. I’ve lived in London for 20 years, have had excellent NHS care and know a generation of kids grow up safely, happily and successfully here. There are amazing facilities in London, both cultural and sporting.

True! Sorry we have considered to move to Harrow but I meant Watford for grammar schools which I think they do have. Barnet is also an option I guess.

Watford boys and girls grammar schools (two separate schools) are not grammar schools in the traditional sense. Don’t know if this is still the case but children took a single exam for a group of sought after schools (the ‘grammars’, Parmiters, Clement Danes and a couple of others) not the 11+, and I think the pass mark varied from school to school according to the places available. Most of the secondaries round this area are pretty good with a few exceptions, mainly due to taking the pupils who don’t get the elite schools. My children did very well out of it as they went before this cartel system, I think it is very wrong in what is supposed to be a ‘comprehensive’ system but that’s my opinion.

Oh right. I don’t know about Watford - though it’s a bit of a trek from Harrow so I would base yourself closer if you chose that school.