Help - relocating back

[great2018]

Ladies please can you help me with some advice. Im looking i to this way ahead of time but it looks very complicated. Relocating back from abroad into secondary schools with no property at the moment. Has anyone done it? I mean how can the child be resisent in the UK if he is still in his school year. Im confused about how to go about it. Would really apreciate any shared experiences. Thanks

Your first port of call should be the LEA of the area/s you're considering moving to. Unfortunately, most will likely advise that you need to have a UK address in which you reside before you can apply for a school place. Some grammars may let your child sit the entrance tests, but others have catchment areas, and if you don't live in those postcodes, you cant apply.
We do have property in the UK (the house in which our children grew up until we moved abroad) and are returning to it, but STILL can't apply for a secondary school place until we are physically back in the country.
Probably not what you want to hear, but it's virtually impossible to know months in advance of returning 'home' into which secondary school your children will be accepted.

LA will require an address for a state school application although some allow an application to be submitted a few weeks ahead of the actual move. You need to look at the relevant LA website to see what their policy is and how you make an In Year application if you are too late to meet the deadline in the October before the academic year if looking at age 11 entry, or would already be between 11 and 16. There will be a different process and options for sixth form entry.

thanks a lot for yoir responses. So how do people do it? pull their children out and homeschool for part of the year? joining a school in year sounds a bit traumatic of just temporary ...

I did it last year. Got paperwork ready prior to departure. Arrived back in UK in July. Got forms to LA the day we took up residency. Got places at extremely oversubscribed secondary schools during the summer holidays (very early on). Looking back it was a doddle. Thinking about it beforehand was quite stressy.

When are you looking to move, and into which year?

But yes, move back, get address, contact education authority and say you need a school place if using state education.
Contact the schools when you know your return date if looking for private education.

Good luck with the move.

not for a few years yet i have some time thanks!

sayatidaknama ok so you applied late. did you get them into a good school, school oc your choice? i need to start making some phonecalls.

its for secondary.

I would look to move back in July if possible, so that you have 6 weeks to try and get something sorted out by the time term starts in September.

I did an "in year" application. It is called this if you don't apply when everyone else does, usually in October, for the following school year. It was for secondary, not for year 7, and yes, as I said, for an extremely oversubscribed state secondary. It was our first choice but we do live very close to the school. This is crucial if you applying "in year" and live in a London borough (my experience).

thanks for the update thats v useful to know

It's always "in year" application, unless you are applying for Reception or year 7 - and yes, those are due in the January (reception) and October (year7) before the school year starts.

just had a thought - is it easier to get a secondary school if the child attended the 'feeder' school or doesnt that matter these days? what are your thoughts on that one?

Some areas have feeder schools where their pupils have a higher priority for a specific secondary (ie. Rural areas where distance could otherwise exclude them) than those not, many don't. There may be rules about when you are attending so you can't just turn up in Autumn y6 then make your application on that basis in October.

OP - re feeder schools - it depends on the individual schools' admissions policies. Some schools have 'linked' or 'feeder' schools, and some don't. Once you've had a look at the admissions policy for one of the schools in which you're interested, then you should be able to find the information about previous years' admissions on the County Council website. This will show you how many children from each of the criteria on the admissions policy got places in each of the last 3 years.

For example, and the school I work at, we have 'linked' schools. So first we take all the children who live in catchment and want a place, then we take those who attend a linked school. Three years ago, we took all those at linked schools and some who were neither living in catchment nor attending a linked school. Two years ago, we took all those attending a linked school but had no spaces left for those who neither lived in catchment nor attended a linked school. Last year we couldn't even offer a place to all those at a linked school.

So if you wanted a place at my school, for example, my best advice would be to move into a house in catchment!

However, I know of another school over the border in a diffferent county where they do not operate a catchment area, and you basically have to be attending a feederlinked school to get in. If you're not in a feederlinked school you won't get in, even if you live next door.

I am assuming you are moving back to England. If it was Scotland then you pretty much get a place at the catchment school, and I believe it is more straightforward in Wales too.

On the whole you have to be resident before you can apply. Exceptions: for sixth form I know my DD's college regularly offers places to students living overseas; and Forces personnel or Crown employees (eg diplomatic services etc).
Next when to come back? Ideally before your eldest is in year 9, definitely before year 10. Year 6 can be a good year if you get back in time for the normal applications round.
Be aware that some places have a school entry in year 3, you apply in January like Reception. Others have middle schools, so senior school starts with year 9.

The procedure, you move and then apply as an "in year" applicant, listing the schools you'd like in order of preference. If one has an appropriate vacancy you should be offered a place. If not the LA has to find you a place "in a reasonable time", this could be at any school within a "reasonable" travel time. If no school has a vacancy the LA can force a school to create a place.
This could take 6 weeks or so, so a back up child care plan is a good idea. If you don't like the school you get offered you can appeal (ask for advice here).
Moving in July might be a bad idea as over the summer holidays schools may be shut and it might add to the time taken to find a place.

thanks so so much for the advice lots to digest!

another thought - your safest bet is applying to an independent school for a guaranteed place before you arrive home (if you can afford it).

You can set everything up when outside of the UK, and the DCs can sit the exams etc... abroad.

Choose your area, move in and apply to the state secondary schools of your choice but use the private school as a back up in case a place at the ones you want isn't available.