way to target both primary and secondary schools in Canterbury

[t1na24]

Hello! I am new to this forum. I have been reading up a bit, and already got a wealth of information regarding school admission process.

I live in Bangladesh (in Southeast Asia), and have decided to move to the UK with my 2 daughters in Oct-Nov this year. We are British citizens. My husband will travel back and forth till he gets a proper visa or ILR. We want to settle in Canterbury, and our first priority is getting our daughters aged 12 and 7 into decent schools . And so we will also need to find a residential address accordingly. Till I get a job, we will live on our savings. Our budget is tight - about 2000 pounds a month.

Would love some pointers on how to go about the school search, for both primary and secondary level. And also if you know which schools will be suitable (has a racial mix, etc). I have checked Ofsted.

Thanks!

Assume you realise that you would not have free choice of schools and that your dc will be allocated wherever has a vacancy at the time in the appropriate year group. Those may not be the most local schools to your address however you plan it nor the most popular. It might be better socially to arrive ready to start the new school year in September rather than mid term.

Also bear in mind that Canterbury has a grammar system. I'm not sure how admissions work out of year for that, but if you wanted your eldest to go to one of the grammars then she may need to sit an exam - you'll have to investigate. I wouldn't send my child to any of the secondary moderns in Canterbury.

Do you have family/work reasons for moving to Canterbury?

As previous posters have said it is a grammar school area and the secondary moderns are not great academically - and not particularly racially diverse.

If you were looking for a grammar place, Your 12 year old would be competing with others who have moved into the area for a small handful of Y8 or possibly Y9 places. The only ones available are those which have been freed up because children have left the school. Unless she is VERY bright she is unlikely to get one particularly as she is coming from another educational system.

There are many other areas in the UK with good comprehensive schools which are more ethnically diverse than Kent.

You wont get much of a choice in schools. You will be able to select schools with vacancies- and in all honestly, the popular schools wont have many spaces.

Is there any way you can move earlier? We came back in June, and the kids went in for the last few weeks of term, which made the start of the year much better. Oct/Nov is quite a bad time - term has just started, spaces will have been filled by people who moved over the summer holidays. If you come back July time, you will be in a position to accept any places as they become available.

Canterbury is a grammar school area with 11+. Your 12 year old has missed the boat for that, so you would almost certainly be allocated a place at the first non-selective school to have a space available when you move. Remember that state schools in a given area have a combination of different criteria to take into account, including things like faith for religious school and all schools prioritise children in care. As such, the lists change and you will not be able to get a fixed idea of which school might have a place for you when you move if you ask now. If I was moving and had any choice over area, I would not move to one with both grammar schools and Christian schools. I would move somewhere with non-selective non-faith schools.