To move just before DC is due to start primary school- what is the process re. schools?

[Blondie87]

I'm in a bit of a dilemma!

We are due to move areas this summer and are currently house hunting. We've had to apply to schools where we currently live as we don't have a new address yet.

We've found our dream house in a little rural village with a school across the road. However, the school is notoriously popular. Now that we've missed applying, if it's oversubscribed for September do we have any chance of getting our child in? Otherwise the nearest school is a car journey away and it would be gutting to drive past a school that is 10 seconds away!

What is the process involved? TIA.

I would find out before you moved if any schools had spaces and see if you can visit them? If they are ok, I would base the house search around that. Otherwise, you have to join waiting lists. Contact the local authority admissions team in the new area for advice - they will be able to tell you about spaces and waiting lists. Don't forget if you move very close to a school, you will leapfrog others in the waiting list.

We moved over the summer, we contacted the new local authority and applied to them and we only got a place because there was one free and we were just as close. It was very stressful as we never moved until 2 days before school started to had to apply from a different country.

Is there anything you can do to move quickly?

If the local school is oversubscribed your chances of getting a place as soon as you move are minimal. You may get in through the waiting list if your new house is close to the school but that is not guaranteed.

The process depends on the local authority for the area to which you are moving. Their website will tell you when you can apply (most LAs will accept an application once you have exchanged contracts but some won't until you have moved) and whether you apply to the LA or to individual schools. If there are no places available within a reasonable distance the LA must find a place for your child somewhere but it doesn't have to be at the local school.

Primary offers are out on 16 April, I think. On that date you will know how oversubscribed the school is, as the council will publish the figures. At that point if the school is oversubscribed and you buy a house across the road, if distance is used as an admissions criteria, you will be very close to top of the list. In catchment siblings would probably be ahead of you, and if it’s C of E there may be a religious component to the waiting list.

Thank you. I've got my fingers crossed there's a space. Reassuring to know distance is considered for waiting list; we can't get any closer!