Anyone managed to move to a new area and arrange new schools without agravation?

[Funkmeister]

Im looking to move to a different area next year so that my 3 children start new schools straight off from the september (ie, moving in the summer holidays).....it'll be rented accommodation so shouldnt have a problem arranging the housing side of it. Guess i should ring the LEA and get their advice really but just wondered if anyone else had done it and when I should start pulling my finger out....it seems ages away but in terms of academic years, I guess its not :-O!!

Hi-just done it - it was only one child through- look on relevant LEA website -they will tell what you need to do - you probably won't be able to apply until you have a signed tenancy agreement - we got that about 4 weeks before we moved -in my LEA you could apply 6 teaching week before you need the place so if you had somewhere to live you could apply now
then you need to ring the LEA and find out what schools have places - if you have younger children - ie reception, yr1 and y2 this a big issue as there is a very strict limit on places and in many areas there are lots of children in those years and the schools are full.
I choose where I rented a house partly basis what school had places -it is a good school too of course.

I phoned the schools first to check they had places, then took the kids to have a look around before phoning the LEA to announce that my child would be attending X who had places.

I always dealt directly with the schools as I got my answers much quicker than going through the LEA who can take weeks to reply.

Oh and I didn't need to show any tenancy agreement, I just provided the address and I have even changed that before now when the agreement fell through. They were pretty lax and this was in Cumbria and Wiltshire.

4 years ago we relocated with 4 school age kids. Rang around lots of schools (I believe now, you have to go through the LEA) and thank god, got in at a really good one. Managed to find a house around the corner and had to show the school our contracts once they had been exchanged. It went spookily straight forward (until we couldn't afford the mortgage and had to move again.....long story )

Rhubarb - was this a couple of years ago as I think most LEA now deal with all directly - and the schools wouldn't talk to me at all - worth a try of course -
and I had to make sure I got someone on the phone to ask about places - they didn't reply to emails but the actuall application came back in 2 weeks which was fine

well I think I just have, although it's not totally without aggravation.

I have been offered 3 primary school places (in the same school) and one senior school place. I did it just before the summer holidays because I thought there would be fewer people to compete with for places. I have been lucky - it's only this week that the third place came up, until then I had 2 different schools. And like others said, we had to get a tenancy agreement and utility bill first, which meant (in our case) that we were paying for 2 places for a while. This is my second choice school - we haven't got into our first choice school, and I don't know what I'll do if we get offered 1 or 2 places in the first choice school (which is far away from the other school).

I phoned every school on a regular basis, am on first name terms with the LEA man and have also been lucky enough to have the option of a church school.

although the LA manages the waiting lists etc, the schools have the most up to date information about spaces - both that are already available and which are coming up - this allows you to play a tactical game when you apply to the LA for places.

Really? Well just a few months ago I phoned the local village school to ask if they had places and ds and I went for a look around.

I haven't even spoken to the LEA about it yet. Perhaps it depends on the area you are in? If a school wouldn't speak to me then I would seriously re-consider sending my child there.

It completely depends on the area but definatly more LEAs are doing it
They would talk to me of course just not about whether they had places - I got the impression they would get in trouble with the LEA if they did

We done it, I never called the Lea i went stright to the school, it was infants, we then went for a visit.

depends on the LEA I think - in our one the schools used to handle the applications/waiting lists, but now the LEA does. Church schools handle their own applications I think.

It might depend on how many places are available. If it's a year group with quite a few spare places, we would be quite open with a parent. If it's a year group with only one or two places we have to be much more careful about what we say, as the lea may already have offered the places to other people.

Yes - no problems at all - it obviously depends on the area you are moving to - we went for a look around the school; there were places available & we were offered one, the LEA confirmed it - all very straightforward - appreciate we were very lucky .

I think it depends on where you're moving to. We're in the process of moving to Se London and the scramble is unbelievable to try and find a place in a decent school for DD in Y8. She was in a grammar school so we're trying Bexley but not sure there are places. Our address in Lewisham which for some reason only allows 3 choices on it's in year admisssions form so I'm stuck for a backup school should Bexley grammars be full. Going a bit demented!

I did it last year with no problems - looked at Ofsted reports, got in touch with lots of schools to find out if they were likely to have space for DS and DD, then came up and visited lots of schools, found out where we could rent and managed to put it all together to find a house that is very good.

I only dealt with LEA once I knew what I wanted, but I think now you are more likely to go through the LEA. The school DC go to was actually full for DS's year but they had already planned to split the classes and so he was able to be in an oversized class for a half term. Not sure the LEA would have given me that information.

lilalien I am moving to London too - it's an absolute stressful nightmare isn't it?