How can I ensure smooth move for DD to new school

[freshstart]

DD (6) and in year 1 is very happy in her current school, has lots of friends and is doing really well. I want her in another school though as it is a better school but most importantly is in the "system" that I need her to be in for her middle and high school education. If she stayed at her current school the choices beyond that are terrible.

So.... a move at some point is inevitable so I have decided sooner rather than later to just get it out of the way.

I feel very apprehensive about DD settling, especailly as she is happy at current school.

Any advice?

we moved my yr 1 and reception dds to a new school in March, as we moved areas. They have been surprisingly OK about it, I think it's a good sign if your dd is happy at school. both mine were happy at their old school, and are now fitting ok into their new school.

but I'd do it at the beginning of a new school year if I possibly could. Socially my dds have been fine but academically they both seemed to slip back about 6 months, maybe because of confidence, or maybe the new school is not expecting much of new children.

Can you wait a year so that she moves between year 2 and 3 (end of KS1) as this seems to be a common time to change and she may therefore not be the only one new to her class/school. ds enetred year 3 new to the schools with 4 others in his class. We'd moved from a distance and ds was fine by half term with new friends and happy , but those who had moved from local schools and were still in contact with groups of friends who had stayed together, even if they had also moved school, seem to have found it harder to rationalise the move and settle in.

Hi freshstart - I'm not really answering your question, but have another question for you!

When you say that the new school is in the right "system" for her middle and high school, do you mean that the new school is a feeder school for the middle and high school? Are you in the right catchment for the middle and high school? There is not an automatic place at middle and high schools for children from the feeder schools, it all depends on whether they have spaces, and what their admissions policy is.

Forgive me if you know all this already - I just wanted to make sure.