Forced to move

[Rich4236]

We live just north of Cambridge, in a rented house in a small village. We've discovered this morning that owner of the house is starting to sell up his properties, and there's a good chance we'll be forced to move when this happens. The village is small, and property very rarely comes up for rent or purchase, which makes it likely we'll have to move elsewhere.
The biggest issue we have is with the schools. All the ones round here are full. We have a son in PS, starting school in 2014, and a daughter just about to complete reception class. Ideally, we don't want to move them. The school's excellent and the kids (and us) have made friends here, but if we do relocate then we'd like them to attend the school in the village where we live.
Does anyone know how the admissions process works in the this regard? We'd be moving a few miles, but probably still within a 3-5 miles radius of where we live now. Would we have any hope of getting the kids in to the local school, or would they simply expect us to keep sending them to the same school, even though we've moved?
Would it actually make sense for us to move further away, to the other side of the city, to ensure the kids can move schools?
Thanks for any thoughts.

There are national guidelines & legal regulations even, others can advise on their specifics. My view is that national rules don't much matter if your LEA chooses to implement their own rules, however illegally, unless you are willing to fight tooth & nail.

That said, there are usually ways to ensure you can stay or go depending on your preference, probably you have to wait until you know where you are moving to before you can properly explore the procedure forward. If you want to move there is probably a waiting list at the new local school if already over-subscribed, and you would have to commute for a while until a space came up where you wanted your children to go instead.

I would look around a bit there are good village schools around Cambridge that are not full. You might find something you like better.

They can't make you move from a school once you are in.

You can choose to move your child whether or not you move house.

Your position on any waiting list (or the initial list for yrR) will depend on admission priorities. These are usually something like

• statment where school is named
• LAC / Child adopted from care
• in cathcment with sibling
• in catchment
• out of catchment with sibling
• out of catchment

CoE schools have faith criteria where church attendance etc gets you higher on list.

Sometimes out of catchment with sibling is higher than in catchment without sibling.

So,

• you can move to wherever you want to.
• DD can stay at current school, she can go on wait list for new village school. If you live near school she will be near top of list (but there may not be much movement)
• when you apply for DS you can put DDs current school on list and your local village school. You decide which you put first.
• If DS gets to local school, DD may move up list when DS starts as she will now have a sibling there
• DS even if out of catchment is likely to be higher up prioity list to get place at DD's current school due to sibling link.

Look at admission criteria to see the priorities.

hth

To add to the information above, you apply to the LA for a place and name your preferred schools. If there is a place at any of them it will be offered to you. If not they will come up with an alternative offer. This will be at the nearest school with places available. If there are no places within a reasonable area they will offer your daughter a place at a school that is already full but it may not be one of your preferred schools. If the allocated school is more than 2 miles away (or they can't come up with anything other than the current school) they will have to provide free transport for your daughter.

You will apply for a place for your son later this year as part of the normal admissions round for reception. Most schools give sibling priority so you have a decent chance of getting him a place at the same school as your daughter but it is not guaranteed.