Moving in July- state school entries for Reception and Year 2

[Celesteville]

We need to move somewhere bigger but for mortgage reasons we can't complete on a new place until July 31st this year. We will be moving area entirely and looking for places in a local state school for our children who will be in Reception and Year 2 - I am panicking about how difficult it will be to find a good school with two places. We are prepared to move as close as possible to a good school so will definitely be in catchment but will obviously have missed the normal application process for Reception entry.

We are looking in Islington and Hackney - has anyone had any experience of this process? Or any tips on a certain school that is larger or is known to have a bigger turn over and therefore more chance of places? Do schools keep any places available for people moving into catchment at the last minute?

No places are not kept spare for people moving into an area. You would be applying as an 'in-year' applicant. Most schools in the SE are oversubscribed so the normal process is that you move, get proof of address then council will allocate you places at the nearest available school taking into account your preferences but if your preferences are full then they are just that - preferences. That then means you get places but they could be miles away or at a school you don't want or at two different schools. If you like one of the schools but not both children are there then you may have sibling rights to go to top of waiting list but that depends on their oversubscription criteria. If you don't get any choice you like but you like your nearest school you can go on the waiting list. You won't necessarily be in order of when you apply but in order of the oversubscription criteria such as special needs, faith, siblings, distance etc so unless you are on the doorstep of the school or fit the criteria you may find you move down the list rather than up.

That is of course all doom and gloom and stressful at first and I don't have firsthand knowledge of that part of London so hopefully someone else can comment more positively. I gather there are very few primary schools in London that are really dire so it shouldn't be too bad.

Good luck with the move.

Thank you for your reply. It does seem doom and gloom, I can't understand how anyone ever gets up the courage to move when they have school age children! I am definitely planning to move within a stone's throw of a good school to be close by distance… but it would be horrific to then be schlepping miles every day to possibly 2 different not good schools! Sigh!

Will you be working? If not, home education while you wait for suitable places might be an option: many people find that less daunting with very young DC than older ones.

I work part time… I really need the hours of school to be able to work ideally wouldn't do home schooling. Thanks for the suggestion it's a good idea though.