Schooling suggestions

[LaurenGroenewald]

Hi Ladies,

Im new here and also potentially new to the UK. DH and I are moving to the UK from SA at the end of the year. We have a 5 year old DS who will be coming along with us.

The problem that I am having is that I want to find a really good school to put him into and have no idea as to where to look.

I would prefer a state school but which would be the best to look at?

Thanks in advance,
Lauren

Where will you/your DH be working? There's no point in us saying "schools in Edinburgh are great" if you are going to work in Cornwall!

DH will be working in London and I am more than likely going to be working from home. Area wise we are looking at either Reading or Surrey.

London schools are massively oversubscribed and there are not enough school places.

Parts of Surrey will be the same.

In UK children begin reception (first school class) the sept before they turn 5. So is your ds is 5 now, he would either be in reception or year 1 depending on when his birthday is.
(so reception - begin on 1st sept aged 4 and have 5th birthday at some point during the year. Year 1, begin 1st sept aged 5 and have 6th birthday during the year)

You will be looking for a school place into a class which is already full. In some areas this is easier than others. The schools are not allowed to have more than 30 in a class at this age. It may be you find a school with 29 and therefore a space. it maybe that you can go on a waiting list and withing a few weeks a place comes up.

God state primaries are great and often much better than privata. Unfortunately good state primaries are also usually full, especially i crowded areas like Surrey.

You cannot usually apply to a school until you have an address and are living in it. Which makes it very hard.

whoops, good state primaries, not God state primaries!!

It may be worth posting a thread with title like 'can anyone recommend a school in reading' then you will get local information.

Reading is a huge city, not very attractive. Surrey tends to be pretty and nice. There is a massive difference in house prices to reflect that too.

(but Reading may be a better bet for a good school with spaces)

Thanks so much steppemum :)

Everything is still in the process with trying to make sure the move will definitely happen, closing up the house etc.

Jensen (my DS) turned 5 in April so he would be turning 6 next year so would need to go into Year 1 I believe?

We arent set on area's just yet I would rather try to find a decent school and try to get him into it before settling.

DH doesnt mind travelling to work in the mornings either so my key function (at least to him) would be to find a school and work around that.

yes, he would start year 1 in sept 21014.

The problem is, you can look at schools on-line and visit them too, and even ask if they have places, but until you have an address you can't apply, so they can't keep the place for you.

This does lead to a ridiculous catch 22 of house first or school first.

You apply for places through the local authority (LEA) and the LEA will hold the waiting list, but the school will usually give you an idea if they have places, and if there is enough of a turn over to make it worth going on the waiting list.

If you google a place, you should get a list of schools. Every school has a website you can look at. (bad website doesn't mean bad school though) School are inspected and have a rating from OFSTED - outstanding, good, needs improvement and so on. That will be either on the schools website, or on the OFSTED website, under the school name.

You can't beat visiting the school though. Will you have time to do that when you get here? Outstanding schools are not necessarily the best (they can be brilliant - ours is but they may be pushy and not nuturing too)