moving to Edinburgh and registering kids for catchment school?

[fairywren]

Hi all

We're moving back to Edinburgh in August after a couple of years overseas, but we've been told we can't register our kids for schools until we are actually resident in Edinburgh?

This is despite the fact that we are moving back to our old house (in Duddingston), so we know the address and we just want the kids to be able to go to the local school. However the Council's 'schools placements co-ordinator' has told us that we cannot register from anywhere else, and if the catchment schools were full, we would be given an 'alternative'.

Does anyone have experience of this? I thought if you lived in an area you were guaranteed a catchment place?

thanks!

One of the issues is that catchment places are generally allocated in the November prior to the year starting in August so that out of catchment applications can be considered and appealed in the Spring term. If your local school is oversubscribed and out of catchment places have already been allocated then if you pitch up in August there may be no room left.

There are problems with catchment schools in pockets around the city where some are massively overflowing yet others are close to being closed. I don't know anything about the Duddingston area as I am on the other side of the city.

However, as you already own the house and have the address - presume you have tenants moving out at the end of their lease if it is rented in your absence- then I don't see why the council would not take this into consideration in your application now.

If you have more than one child, and depending on what year group they will be going in to then the position may be more or less complicated as there are tighter rules for Primary one numbers than for other year groups due to smaller class sizes. Also if the school is almost full there may not be spaces in both years if you need two places for example.

Good luck!

Hi, we moved to Edinburgh last November and we couldn't register at school till we had evidence of living here - council tax bill and utility bill. When we got here our catchment school was over subscribed in P2. The local authority were useless, they don't have a master list of available places and I had to contact all surrounding schools till I found one with a P2 place. Meantime older child started at catchment school and younger child went onto priority waiting list there. She actually got a place in our preferred school in January though. In our experience all schools we contacted (8) had P5 places but only the 8th one had a P2 place. Our catchment school is Bruntsfield. Good luck!

A lot of schools apparently keep one or more places for children moving into the catchment which are released right at the end of the holidays if not taken up - I know at least two people who were contacted last minute to be offered places. If you own the property, try getting in touch with your councillors now to ask them to intervene on your behalf. I think out of catchment application responses tend to be issued round about now, and then they go into the appeals season. There's generally a lot of movement in places, so even although the catchment places may have been allocated they could still have a place or two in reserve.

Hi I relocated from one area of Edinburgh to another after the closing date for registrations (only by a few days). I had a nightmare trying to transfer my son as they would only accept the application once I had a council tax bill which for some reason was taking a lifetime to be sent and numerous visits to the council tax office and phonecalls proved fruitless. I ended up contacting my councillor who intervened immediately and I was sent a few apologetic emails from school placements and revenues and benefits. But from what I've heard the schools do keep a few places back although I'm aware that areas like morningside are well oversubscribed. Good luck! It's not an easy process...

See this local news article regarding placement requests and pressure on school places in Edinburgh Primary schools

I'm afraid it's correct, until you produce a council tax bill and another utility you can't enroll! I applied in January and had missed enrolment but there was late enrolment until 22nd of February unfortunately we didn't move in to our permanent home until the 24th! Fortunately the school administrator at trinity was fantastic and on me bringing in my tenancy agreement flagged up with the council my situation however they couldnt officially do anything until I could produce the bill which thankfully was on my doorstep within a few days of me moving in! My advice is to call the school directly and make them aware of the situation ! Hope that helps!