Enrolling in school from abroad

[Hearmeroar2]

First time poster here do please be gentle! We live overseas and are hoping to return to England in 2023 or 2024. Two kids, who will be aged 10 and 12. I've been trying to understand how to enroll them in school and am utterly baffled - and hoping you lovely people can help!
Both kids are reasonably smart and sporty in the top sets at school (which is English language). The 11+ doesn't exist here, nor do any other formal primary school exams.
Getting them into a great school in the uk is an absolute priority -geographically we are not constrained - no particular family draw. We initially assumed we'd move into the catchment area of a school once they were enrolled. I've contacted 2 schools in an area we were interested in, but they replied they were full, no spaces. This seems to leave us with a catch22 - if we move into area of a good school they may be full, but we don't seem to be able to enroll without living in area!
So my question is, how do you get kids into good schools when you're moving back from outside the uk? Any advice from people who have been there and done it? Im getting unnecessarily stressed about it because I don't want to move then move again. Thanks in advance!

You can’t get a space until you have an address, they won’t give a place to someone out of the country as it will likely be needed by someone actually in the uk. Make your decision and come back well in advance, you may have to home school for a while. I would suggest you try and get back by 31st Oct of the test before your youngest will go to secondary.

Year not. Test

Any great school is going to be full with a waiting list. The waiting list will be ordered using admissions criteria (eg something like siblings of children already enrolled first then distance from school), it isn’t first come first served. When a place becomes available then it will be offered to the first child on a waiting list

I suggest you find a great school where places come up relatively often, so one with a large intake and in an area where people move relatively often, and find a property as close to the school as possible.

As a pp said, if you can move in time for the youngest to apply through the normal route then chances will be much better. So ideally by 31st Oct in year before they would start secondary

You do not have a legal right to a state school place until you are resident in the UK so you cannot enroll from abroad. You won't be necessary be able to get a place at the school of your choice as many are full.

I guess your best bet is to focus on an area you want to live as you must have other reasons to live in a particular place such as family or jobs. That would at least narrow down the area..

We eventually realised we could put my mum's address as a temporary address as we stayed there briefly while looking for a rental place. So we applied for schools using that address, as it turned out we found a rental pretty quickly anyway. Do you know anyone you could stay with when you first arrive (even if for a night or two... just in case you don't find something). You can find statistics on school places from the local admissions office. And go on Facebook groups for the local area to ask people for advice.

Maybe you should consider paying for schools?

Recent thread on the sane issue. It’s about comprehensive schools. There will be other timelines if 11+ is required, or for private schools.

Different LAs have different rules. Where I live you can apply from your current address abroad but you won't be given a place until you're here and can provide proof of residency. And yes, most of the schools that are popular (doesn't always mean they are good, a good ofsted doesn't mean the are good at everything) are full. You might want to look at less popular areas to live in.

There is one exception to the overseas rule... if you or your partner are "Crown Servants" i.e work for the British Government and the move is due to the job changing, you can apply from abroad with a proposed address.

You could always consider Scotland if you move into catchment you get a place.uni is cheaper too if you’ve been resident here.

Even as crown servants you need to show proof of address (eg if you’re going back to your house but it has tenants in it at that moment)
All you can do is pick the school you want in an area where there are other schools that you could live with ( so an A school with some plan B schools nearby)
Then stick the children on a waiting list and usually at some point a place will come up (especially in London) - the closer you live the nearest you’ll be to the top of the waiting list.

@Woeismethischristmas

You could always consider Scotland if you move into catchment you get a place.uni is cheaper too if you’ve been resident here.

Extremely good point, often overlooked on these type of threads.

I live overseas and have considered moving back to UK but getting school places seems almost impossible unless you actually have moved and are in an address. Which would have meant moving before having a school place and with no guarantee that would get one, as the school maybe full especially if the application was in year or not at the usual point.
Maybe there are some areas where you can apply abd get a place before you actually commit to moving but I haven’t come across any, unfortunately

@Nutellanjam

I live overseas and have considered moving back to UK but getting school places seems almost impossible unless you actually have moved and are in an address. Which would have meant moving before having a school place and with no guarantee that would get one, as the school maybe full especially if the application was in year or not at the usual point. Maybe there are some areas where you can apply abd get a place before you actually commit to moving but I haven’t come across any, unfortunately

You can move somewhere where there are lots of schools with places. The are areas of my county like this.

The only way to guarantee a place before moving is at a private school . Local Authorities vary how far in advance they will process an application from overseas but you would need a rental agreement or exchange of contract (in England) to prove address before starting. If the school is undersubscribed or has an in year vacancy with no waiting list then a LA has to offer your dc the place even if currently out of area but there may be limited time to take it up. It is likely this would be at less popular schools though unless you get very lucky. You would presumably looking for year 6 and 8 places. For the younger it would be better to be back by October year 6 latest to apply for a secondary school place on time but if thinking of a grammar area you may need to register for 11+ and be resident earlier.

@Nutellanjam

I live overseas and have considered moving back to UK but getting school places seems almost impossible unless you actually have moved and are in an address. Which would have meant moving before having a school place and with no guarantee that would get one, as the school maybe full especially if the application was in year or not at the usual point. Maybe there are some areas where you can apply abd get a place before you actually commit to moving but I haven’t come across any, unfortunately

Exactly the quandary I am in! Thanks everyone for the replies. Scotland comes on and off our list - we love it but the weather! Private school is also something we're considering but I'd prefer not to if we can avoid it. Great advice about returning by the October, I'd never have thought of that!

We lived overseas for a while, applied for year 7 place for one DC and return to same primary school class for other DC using our UK house address while overseas.
Even though we owned the house and were returning to it, and had evidence of intention to return (contracts/flights booked), we weren't considered resident for the purposes of school applications until we were physically back in the property.

Call the schools and LEA’s you’re looking at - we’ve found they vary wildly and if a chosen school has a place you might not actually need to show proof of residency until the start of the year (2 LEAs have said they won’t bother asking for it if the school has a place already) and I’ve had 2 schools say they have places at the moment and even if they fill up before we move they’ll keep a place open for us

Yes the vast majority you need to show proof of residency in catchment to have a hope in hell of getting in. You also need to know if there are deadlines - for example 2 LEA’s have said apply after 1st June for 1st September start, another one said we have an application window of 1st May - 13th June for 1st September start

Some counties do allow you to apply from overseas up to one term in advance. This could be an option if you can find a school you like that has space.