New to the borough in year application

[neversummer]

Hello all, we will be moving to Richmond from abroad (husband's job relocation to London). We have a girl (will be in Year 7 in Sep 2023) and a boy (will be in Year 6 in Sep 2023). We will arrive in late Jun. We already got an address and utility bill (husband there to sort these out first). Questions:

1. When we apply for in-year application to Richmond council, will they put my boy to Year 5 and my girl to Year 6 for a few weeks? That would be most ideal as they can make some new friends and blend in more easily.
2. Do we need to separately apply in-year Year 7 application for my girl? We already know what schools we want to choose (based on reading the comments here and from words of mouth, etc)
3. For the last few weeks in Jul as well as Year 6 for my boy in Sep, do we need to call up each primary schools to check for vacancies and apply directly?

Appreciate if anyone can share some advice what to do.

Thanks.

You'll need to apply for both year 6 and year 7 place for your daughter, and a year 5 place for your son.

The LA admissions people may be able to tell you which schools currently have spaces. You may be able to get information on the situation for year 7 from the LA website - at the moment it has the situation as of 1st March, when places were initially allocated, and all schools except one were full - but that may have changed as people accepted places in private schools.

The LA will have to offer them spaces somewhere, and you should not turn down what they offer. You can still go on waiting lists for other schools, or appeal.

Thanks for your reply @lanthanum

To be clear (as I am new to the process), I will need to:

1. Apply in-year primary admission 2022/23 via the Achieving for Children Google Form for both my kids, hoping to get a place allocated for them starting late Jun/early Jul. The form says do not apply more than 4 weeks before expected arrival. So that means we should apply in early June?
2. I saw that In-year application for 2023/24 will only start in June. So I have to apply for my girl's Year 7 in June? By that time, can I still apply for 2022/23 in-year as mentioned in (1) above?
3. LA admission people - how do I contact them? I sent an email to the richmond.admissions email and I have not received any reply.

Thank you.

When we apply for in-year application to Richmond council, will they put my boy to Year 5 and my girl to Year 6 for a few weeks? That would be most ideal as they can make some new friends and blend in more easily.

You would not be able to put your son and daughter in Year 6 and Year 5 for Sept 2023. They'll need to be in the correct year groups unless there are certain circumstances such as a late August born child deferring and starting a year later. I suppose you can ask but I reckon you'll get a "no" especially if it's just "for a few weeks".

Do we need to separately apply in-year Year 7 application for my girl? We already know what schools we want to choose (based on reading the comments here and from words of mouth, etc)

From what I can see on Richmond's website you still apply through them rather than the individual schools. Note that your preferred schools may not have spaces but you could be high up on waiting lists depending on where you fall on their oversubscription criteria so you may well get a place. You can also appeal.

For the last few weeks in Jul as well as Year 6 for my boy in Sep, do we need to call up each primary schools to check for vacancies and apply directly?

Check the Richmond council website, they have information on how you apply for an in-year place.

It's unlikely that any school would agree to take a new pupil in late June esp if the dd was leaving 10-15 school days later - there is a lot of admin involved in school registering and de registering.

Focus on Year 7 for your dd and find out which school in the borough has space - your husband can call them direct and ask if they are full for Sept or have a waiting list. If they direct him to the council at least you have made a start. Maybe start with somewhere like Hampton High.

Also
Are you Catholic? It gives you different options.

Can you ask your husband's new employer for help as part of the relocation?

You are more likely to get a place for year 5 ds on arrival as that will be same system as for year 6. You can add your dd onto year 7 waiting lists on arrival by making a late application, although your preferred schools may well already be "full". Waiting lists are ordered according to admissions criteria so she maybe placed higher than some of those already on it.

Apply in-year primary admission 2022/23 via the Achieving for Children Google Form for both my kids, hoping to get a place allocated for them starting late Jun/early Jul. The form says do not apply more than 4 weeks before expected arrival. So that means we should apply in early June?

Yes - apply for a Year 5 place for your son and a Year 6 place for your daughter, emphasising you need a start from X date. State Schools in Richmond break up 21 July so ideally they would get a few weeks, but places will be allocated at whatever school has places in those years, not necessarily schools of your choice, and not necessarily the same school. However you may find the process takes longer than expected, especially if all schools are full and Richmond have to do some negotiating to get them in somewhere, so it might be the case that allocations don't happen before the end of the academic year.

I saw that In-year application for 2023/24 will only start in June. So I have to apply for my girl's Year 7 in June? By that time, can I still apply for 2022/23 in-year as mentioned in (1) above?

The Yr 7 application is different, as it is a transfer point and allocations were made a couple of months ago - applications closed last year. You need to apply for this asap to get yourself on waiting lists, and for Richmond to start the process of finding you a space somewhere if schools are all full. Again, at this point you will get allocated a place somewhere but it's unlikely to be a school of your choice, but you can stay on waiting lists.

LA admission people - how do I contact them? I sent an email to the richmond.admissions email and I have not received any reply

Unfortunately that seems to be the only way, aside from the in-year form.

Yes as @LIZS says if you rent a house next to your preferred secondary, ie Orleans Park, then your dd would be top of the WL but you would still be dependent on someone else dropping out to gain a place
Where is your husband living in the borough?

When we apply for in-year application to Richmond council, will they put my boy to Year 5 and my girl to Year 6 for a few weeks? That would be most ideal as they can make some new friends and blend in more easily.

Oops misread that part! If you mean for a few weeks in June, then yes maybe but as someone pointed out above, schools may be reluctant to take someone on for a few weeks, especially as your daughter will be leaving the school anyway. Might work out for your son though as he'll be (presumably) staying in the same school.

I wouldn't get your daughter a place for Y6. Focus on a place for your son to start soon after you arrive for Y5.
You are not applying for a mid year transfer for September for Y7. Apply as soon as you can.

My oldest did 6 weeks in Y5, then moved into Y6 after the summer holidays - but there were school places available (not richmond) and it took about a week from applying to being offered a start date.
They did want proof of right to live in uk (British passport for us) and boarding cards from our flight to show when we arrived in the UK.

Be prepared not to get offered the schools you want - if you want it because it is popular, it is likely to be full.

Somehow my previous reply sent from my phone was gone. Apoglogy if this somehow came back out later as duplicates (or very similar post).

Thank you for all your inputs.

If I understand the Richmond school admission policy correctly, all out of cycle application (whether it's from Junior to Secondary or within the same stage) are called in-year transfer. Please correct me if I am wrong.

This then brings to my question of when to apply for my girl because the only links available now on the Richmond council website is a Google Form for 2022/23 in-year application. The website says 2023/24 application will open in June. So that means I cannot apply Year 7 (2023) for my girl asap, is that correct? Or is there a different place I can apply?

Understand the slim chances of getting into the closest primary schools for the last few weeks of this academic year. We will still give it a try. But timing is tricky because the website says do not apply more than 4 weeks before estimated arrivals (that means we should apply early June). It also says once applied and allocated a space, we have to start within 5 days. Earliest we can possibly start is Jun 29 or after. So if we apply in early June, and get a place in mid June, we won't be able to take it. Such a dilemma when to file the in-year primary application. :(

For year 7, you need to do an application asap. Unfortunately Richmond's website is spectacularly unhelpful when it comes to how to do a "late application" for Year 7; I would try emailing them again with a subject line "Late Year 7 Application" and keep that email specific to that subject.

I would apply 5 days before you land in the UK then.
We were asked to start pretty quickly - and I delayed by a week. Mainly to get things like uniform. They pressed quite hard for me to bring it forward, but were ok with me saying no.

I don't know the Richmond system. I've just looked for here, and I could still make a late Y7 application. Might be worth looking for.

Thanks all. I just filed eAdmission for my girl. Now just need to wait for good news. :)

We will apply for primary school in-year application in the next few weeks before we arrive.

You could still ask your partner to ring the secondary schools near to where he lives and find out what he can about the waiting lists.

As others have said, apply for the year 7 place (it isn't in year because none of the year 7's are registered there yet), then even if you can't get a primary place, you should be able to attend any secondary transition days with new class, they may even have extra days she can attend as she knows no-one

@neversummer you need to apply for the year 7 place NOW, using your address abroad, and this form: https://www.eadmissions.org.uk/. There is no need to wait for an email reply, just do it. It's not an "in year" application, its a "late application for secondary transfer".

You will be allocated a place in an undersubscribed school, which you should accept, but stay on the waiting lists for higher preference schools. When you move, you can update your address, which may improve your waiting list position

Please don't do this. School admissions staff have enough to do without answering phonecalls all day. All of the schools have a waiting list except Twickenham School (which is a good school, but less popular than others due to a legacy of poor leadership in the past). As your current address is abroad, you will be at the bottom of all the waiting lists, until you move. Aim to move as close as possible to the school you want (but check the admissions policies carefully first, as two schools have remote catchments and another two schools have faith criteria).

Thanks @krabappl .

I have indeed filed the eAdmission for my girl using a Richmond address which I have the tenancy agreement and utility bills. By the time they review the applications, we would have physically moved in and we have the eTicket also.

For in-year primary school application, we will apply through the Richmond council Google Form a week or two before we arrive, hopefully we could get a school for both my boy and my girl. My boy will continue into Year 6 in Sep.

Hope it works out.

Thanks all. :)

Ah, ok, sorry I missed the bit about you already having the proof of address. Good luck!

... however you might want to read page 18 of Richmond's secondary school admissions brochure and then keep your fingers crossed that you don't get caught: https://www.richmond.gov.uk/media/3066/secondary_admission.pdf

can your Dd come over any sooner and live with your DH?

Richmond are likely to review the application for secondary before you arrive at the end of June, as they will need to add you to waiting lists

It's also a waste of time phoning schools to ask about waiting lists/any spaces, because if they answer 'yes, there's a waiting list' it could be deemed as an illegal attempt to discourage applications.

Just apply, you could happen to be top of the list when somebody leaves before the end of term - or has already moved somewhere else and the school is waiting for confirmation that they've started at a new school before offering.

Don't forget that next week is a write off in terms of school staff being around to process applications, offer places or book appointments to arrange an in year start date. Which gets you to June. Then there's a week to deal with an application. Then there's a week to make an appointment. Then there's (reasonably estimating) a week to get everything set up on the system. Which gets you to the end of June and the induction process for year 7 with the secondary; everything should just squeak into place for her.