Taking a child out of school for a year

[N8mum]

Has anyone ever taken a child out of a Harringey (or other borough's) school for a year? We're working abroad for an academic year, naturally the kids are coming with but school won't keep the ds's place. What is daunting is that we are also told we can't apply for dd's reception place as we will be abroad August-August and application time is November thus 'current address' would not be Harringey. Instead, we are told to ring the LEA when we return home in August and hope that a local school (which may or may not be our current school) has a place. Has anyone else ever taken a child on sabbatical? Any advice on how to handle the LEA situation? Has anyone ever put down a different address to their current address when completing the reception application? All information gratefully received.

I'm watching this with interest as we would like to spend August 2008-2009 in Australia. My husband's job limits the dates we can go.

Our daughter is due to start reception September 2008. We would like her to go to our local church school. We were married in the church and she will be christened there. We will also be attending church for the next four years to make sure she has every chance of getting a place. And then, bang, going to Australia.

Any advice? Same query as above.

sorry, should have read 2009-2010

Blimey that date looks funny when you write it down

Do you own your home? If so, will you keep it and rent it out while away? If you do, then could you give that address when you apply? Get someone to post it for you in UK, and make sure to pay for the Post Office forwarding service so that all correspondence comes to you via that same very kind person.

As for keeping the place...no ideas, sorry.

Sort of kind of. DS1 got offered a reception place at the school both boys are now at, but we had to turn it down as we moved abroad. They wouldn't hold a place.

When we returned 2 years later we just reapplied. Actually it was much easier that time - they didn't need proof of residence at all and we just e-mailed them that we were returning. We could have got a place at another local primary too, but stuck with our first choice.

There is quite a lot of movement in our borough (Richmond upon Thames) to the private sector, and although Reception is always full, from Y1 onwards there are a couple of places in most classes.

We were able to apply for state school places for ds (Yr 3) and dd (Reception) despite then being resident in Switzerland as we still owned a house locally (leased out). Surrey LEA even sent us the paperwork to our address abroad. Previously we had also accpeted a Reception place for ds when we had thought we were coming back to UK after just a year away, applying in the same way, but had to cancel when our plans changed. The school couldn't officially hold the space open but did say it would be unlikely to be a problem getting a Year 1 space as most children are settled by then and parents wouldn't move them, even if the school they were attending hadn't been their first choice.

hth

sorry, confused. We own our own home in the same village as the school and wouldn't be letting it out. So if we applied from Australia for a Y1 place, does that look like it might be easier? I'm assuming it depends on whether a child leaves after starting reception.

Would it be sneaky to actually start reception and go to Australia at christmas for 12 months? Our daughter would be four and a half, would she need to enrol in an australian school? What age do they legally start school in Australia?

I think it depends on the LEA. Lambeth told us that we couldn't apply for a place until we were actually living in our house again, and if we arrived back over the summer, might not get allocated places until the day after term started.

So we are moving (if we come back).

Hi
We did the same last year (but Kent CC). School didn't take them off the register but they were put down as distance learning. I kept in touch via email with school and we kept our home address as our regular one - dd was in Y6 therefore flew home for 11plus. I did get on very well with the Head which probably helped the case!

mogwai I'm sure you'd get priority consideration if you were deemed to reside locally and it sounds as if you meet other potential criteria, even if you are temporarily absent abroad. tbh I'd apply as usual for Sept 2008 entry adn then discuss it with the school direct. As you'd have left before/during Reception they probably won't guarantee a place in year 1 especially if they are a popular school and may lose out on Early Years funding fro her place but she may at elast be top of the waiting list, unless they would do as Swedishmum's school did.

"Headcount day" here (East Sussex) is 16th January, so once a child is in school on that day the school gets the funding for the year. A friend of mine left for Australia on the 17th January and the headteacher agreed to keep the places for her two children as long as they werre back by 16th January next year. Don't know how above board this is but it's win-win all round. School gets funding, one less in two classes for a year which benefits everyone in those classes, and two kids spend a year abroad then come back to their friends. I guess if you were refused a place at the school in those years on the basis that they were full you might be a bit hacked off, but otherwise it seems like a pragmatic solution all round. You might be able to negotiate something like this for your DS, but it may not help you for DD, except that she would then go to the top of the waiting list when you return as she would have a sibling at the school.