Need advice on choosing/applying for primary school when relocating

[adelesan]

Any advice on how to organise a relocation to a new area that will take place over the summer holidays? I have to apply for a primary school place for my 7 year old but don't know where in the town we will be living so am not at the moment in the catchment area for any of the schools that seem quite good. We also need to organise a nursery for my 2 year old and need timings of school days, breakfast clubs, etc to fit in with us both working full time as teachers. I know there's no answer to the problem as such but if anyone has had a similar experience and has some good ideas I'd be grateful to know. Also, my oldest doesn't like change very much. We haven't told him yet but think it's going to be quite trauatic when we do, especially because we can't yet tell him where we'll be living or what school he's going to. We're moving to be closer to family so the overall result will hopefully be happy, it's just the getting there that's scary!

For a 7 year old, who will presumably be going into Yr3? - you need to ring the local LEA who will be able to tell you which schools in the area have places in that year. If they have a place, you can accept it, regardless of the fact you don't live there yet. It's likely that you won't have much choice in terms of schools, as many will be full, though that will depend on where you are moving to. School websites will often have details of times, before/after clubs etc, though not all schools will offer these.

The LEA may have a list of local nurseries too.

As your son will be going into Y3 or thereabouts, the catchment area is irrelevant. You don't have to live in the catchment area to get a place. If you apply for a place at a school and there is a place available they have to give it to you, even if you live at the other end of the country.

You apply for a place through the local authority. They should be able to tell you which schools have places available. However, don't start too soon. It is unlikely they would be willing to hold a place open for you until September if you applied now. So you can find out now which schools have places available but I wouldn't apply for any until nearer the time.

I am in the same position as you. My son is currently in reception, so we are looking for a place in year1. I think that in year transfers are just down to luck,as good to average schools will be full, with waiting lists. I rang the LEA, but they will not provide a list of schools with current vacancies - so we are unable to base our house search on which school has a vacancy. The snotty woman I spoke to said that until we were actually in the process of exchanging contracts/in a rental contract the LEA can not do anything, basically tell us where you are gonna be living then we will allocate your child to the closest school that has a place even if it means travelling a few miles. So we are concentrating on finding a house in an area that suits our needs and not worrying too much about school catchment areas, but i am still looking at our odds on getting ds into a school close by. I am finding that village locations seem to have less demand on school places than town. Your younger child will be in the catchment area of the closest school you move to so bear that in mind. School secretaries can be helpful on letting you know if there is a place, but this is all unofficial. The LEA website can be useful most of them have booklets which show the stats for the previous years applications to reception. This can provide you with an indication of which schools get loads of applications and those schools that have fewer and therefore may have places. The other option is to look at areas that still have infant& junior schools, so that you can apply on a level playing field for the juniors. I hope that I can get my ds into a good school, but I am a realist and would prefer him to get in somewhere that is ok, and have good facilities than be stuck with the LEAs allocation. I do not base too much on offstead or dept of ed stats, the impression that you get from walking around a school is much more important to me. If you are going to be in your next house long term think about secondary catchment areas too.

The woman you spoke to is wrong. You are entitled to apply for admission to any school at any time. If there is a place available they have to give it to you, regardless of whether or not you currently live in the LA. You could therefore legitimately apply for every school in the area and see what offers you get back. That would tell you which schools have places! Of course, the fact a school has a place now does not mean it will still have a place when you move into the area but the LA has to know where there are places and it doesn't do them any harm to tell you.

Thanks. Didn't expect to get replies so soon! We are moving to an area that has infant/junior split so I am able to apply in the same way as others so that does help, particularly with it being a new school for all children there even if they know each other. I will probably focus on an area that is pretty central for a few schools to hedge my bets. As a teacher I know only too well that Ofsted grades don't always show the reality of a school so I'm trying to delve a bit deeper. Thanks for advice.

Adelesan,
You do need to check the admission criteria for the junior school. Quite often they will give priority to those that have been in a partner infant school, which of course mean that you could not meet that criteria. Also admissions to junior schools will be via the same mechanism as for reception children and there will be a cut-off date for on-time applications. If it has not already passed then it will be very shortly but you will need a new permanent address before the LA can allocate a place.
I suspect that you will be in a position where you will have to go to appeal for a place in a full junior school sometime in the summer term.