Moving home in the few months before P1 - any experiences?

[CathyNoodles]

Hi, We are waiting to sell a place we've been renting out and want to buy something but it turns out everything is going to pan out so we would be selling and buying somewhere between April-June. Our son starts P1 in August. The chances are we can't buy in our current area, so the school would be different. But reading the guidelines you're meant to have applied for your final choice by Feb... I know it MUST all pan out, but wondered if anyone had done similar, and whether it was difficult to get a place at the destination school (as pretty much ALL the schools here seem to be over-subscribed)?! Thanks

Assuming that you want to go to your catchment school where you are living right now? So you could apply now and would be guaranteed a place there for P1. The council will tell you that you have to still be living within catchment on the first day of term in August in order to keep that place. Though in reality, unless someone is going to grass you up, nobody would know that you've moved. If you wanted to be safe, you could move out of catchment on the second day of term and the place would be yours until P7.

If you move to a new part of town in a different catchment, the new school is also obliged to find you a place for P1. Hope this helps.

Supposedly the schools are all meant to keep 2 places for children moving into catchment. You would be best to check with placement services at the council.

Assuming you want to apply for school in your prospective catchment, could you apply as out of catchment at this time, but have a back up plan of checking out schools that tend to be undersubscribed and selecting a best alternative? We re-located from England during the school year and shortlisted schools with no waiting list. When we landed we had a couple of visits and chats and got him started within a few days. It's not the school we're in catchment for, which is regarded as highly desirable, but we are very happy with the school he is at.