School Admissions advice

[Hammer2002]

Hello,
I am a first time poster on mumsnet and in need of some advice on the best way forward.
My wife and my stepdaughter are currently living outside the UK, but we aim to apply for visas to bring them here so that we can all live as a family.
I am currently living in shared accommodation in London, but intend to buy a house in the New Year. Unfortunately my local area is completely out of my price band, so will be buying in a new area, so have no real knowledge of the schools.
If all goes to plan we would hopefully have the visas approved and them both living here in the UK by the summer of 2014.

My stepdaughter is 10 years old and will be 11 next May, so is at the stage of transferring to secondary school.
I need advice on how best to proceed on getting her a school place in readiness for when she comes to the UK.
I've looked up the admissions procedures , and it would seem that usually all applications dates for secondary school have now passed.

What would be the procedure for a late application?

The main issue for me is, at this stage, we don't know exactly where we will be living! So although we have a few options for towns in mind we don't know for sure which catchment areas we will be in, which makes it very difficult to contact any particular schools.
I would hope to have the house by Easter, but would it then be far to late to get her into any school?

Any advice or experience on this would be most welcome.

Not an expert, I'm sure they'll be along soon.

I don't think you can apply until your step daughter is resident. (Though of course it may be different if you are already here.)

Once you know here you are living you can put in a late application via the local authority (probably via a website).

You will be allocated an under subscribed school (as the fully subscribed ones will be full). I think that if they allocate a school over a certain distance away (that wasn't your option) they may have to pay transport costs. But you can ask to go on the waiting lists for as many others as you like.

Depending on where you live, there may be movement on waiting lists, eg people who have applied for state and private definitely decide to go private. There may well be movement right up the start of term (if some people don't want their state place but don't bother to say).

Your best chance on a waiting list is to live near your preferred school.

You can read school Ofsted reports to get a feel for them, but they may not focus on your needs. e.g. If your step daughter does not have English as a first language, you may prefer a school that is good at helping this over an above one with high results.

hope this helps

I don't think you can have an offer of a place for a child living outside the UK. I'd contact the schools you are thinking of applying to to see what their admission arrangements are. You need to do a lot more research I'm afraid. As and when the Visa is approved and you have a firm address, that is the time to start applying, until then it is research / window shopping. Unfortunately living in catchment does not give you surety of a place at that school. You have to be offered a school place and you may give a preference as to which schools you might prefer but if they are full your child will be offered elsewhere and be willing to travel some distance to take if up if necessary.

You can't do much until you know where you will be living. Once you have figured out which area you will live in you can contact the LA (local authority) and find out how to apply and when you can apply. You can also start visiting schools in the area to see which ones you would prefer. One of the things you could be doing now is arranging to visit schools in the areas you may choose to live as this may help you decide where to look for housing.

Most LAs won't accept an actual application until you have either exchanged contracts to buy a property or signed a lease if you are renting. They may also want confirmation that your daughter is in the country before accepting an application.

As TeenAndTween says you are very unlikely to get a place at a popular school but you may still get into one via the waiting list, especially if your new home is close to the school.

You will be allowed to name a number of preferred schools when you apply. As long as you include the local school (i.e. the one nearest your new home) as one of your preferences your daughter will be entitled to free transport if the allocated school is more than 3 miles away by the shortest safe walking route.