Please can someone give me some idea on timings and what to do when re moving back to UK??

[MrsSchadenfreude]

We are coming back in early September

We have nowhere to live and have to find a house to rent near Milton Keynes as that is where DH will be working (I am stuffed with having to commute to London).

When should we start looking for somewhere to live, and what should we do re schools? The DDs will be going into Years 1 and 3. There seems little point in ringing up the education authority now if we don't know where we'll be living. Most rentals seem to be available now. Don't mind renting somewhere from, say June or July if we must, but DH thinks we should go back now and have a look at what's available, but I think this is too soon.

Having been in denial over this for most of the year, I am now starting to stress ever so slightly. Suspect I am also in denial as I don't want to come back...

Bump!

have never moved country personally, but TBH I can't see any point in coming over now... what would you achieve?
there will always be houses available to rent, so no point.

Might be worth contacting education authorities though, as soon as you know where you;ll be, or contacting any relevant ones now just to make sure the girls can get places

Thanks Starlover. I thought it would make more sense to come over at end of May/June, so if we see a house that we like, we can rent it straightaway. Then we can speak to education authorities. If needs be, we could come across straight after school finishes here at end of June and pop them into a local school for a few weeks if that will ensure that they get places from September.

Bump. And any idea of where to avoid or nice places to live near MK? Bletchley looks a bit of a dump to me...

we recently moved across the country and what we did about schools, with dds in yr 1 and reception, was to first phone around some of the likely schools to see if they had places. then our choice of where to rent a house (for the moment, we're planning to buy) was influenced by knowing if the local schools had spaces anyway.

The LEA probably won't be much help til you have an actual address, but the individual schools were very helpful.

also, some helpful mumsnetters pointed me in the direction of our new area's education admissions policy, which was useful - here they promise that if you arrive mid-year (maybe this also counts for arriving mid-school-career even in September) you are guaranteed a place in one of the two schools closest to your address, even if both schools insist they are full. That's Devon, other areas won't promise that but we found it very useful to know this when finding a rental property in an area we didn't know at all.

never lived there, but Buckingham always looks nice as we drive through... rubbish for commuting though. Leighton Buzzard?

Have been sent details of a house which looks good near Leighton Buzzard. Local primary school has good ofsted report. Will try and give them a ring.

would second fennel's advice re schools - no point finding a house you like only to find out nearest school is full - phone LEA and all schools you are interested in asap, work out where you could get them in (you may be able to pre-reserve places or be given first refusal if places become oversubscribed) and choose where to live based on catchment areas. I have a friend who found dream house without realising all the schools within 5 mile radius were completely full!

Just to try and ease your stress levels - two weeks into term in September is quite a good time to find school places. Some people leave schools and forget to inform the school, or intend to take up places, then change their minds. But if kids have already started elsewhere (got the uniform, etc.) parents are reluctant to move them a few days into term.

So you could end up finding places at a "better" school 2 weeks into term, than you would at the end of the previous term iyswim.

Roisin and Fennel - that's helpful. My other thought was to get them into school in early July - just when we break up here, get them into school in UK for last couple of weeks of term. Or would they make them wait till September?

I have never felt so stressed.

Roisin and Fennel - that's helpful. My other thought was to get them into school in early July - just when we break up here, get them into school in UK for last couple of weeks of term. Or would they make them wait till September?

I have never felt so stressed.

Roisin and Fennel - that's helpful. My other thought was to get them into school in early July - just when we break up here, get them into school in UK for last couple of weeks of term. Or would they make them wait till September?

I have never felt so stressed.

We're moving back to the UK from the South of France in July and like you, we have to find a house to rent and a school for dd (and a nursery for ds). We're thinking Cumbria and I'm going to contact a couple of schools to see if they will have places and then try to look for houses to rent in that area. It's hard though isn't it? Like you, I don't want to go back either.

if it's any help it wasn't actually as stressful as I'd anticipated sorting the schools out.

we weren't abroad but we were 250 miles away so couldn't check much out in person. we did manage to find several very pleasant sounding schools with spaces and helpful receptionists. and they got places in one where they've been 3 weeks now, it's a lovely school and it's all going very well really.

Mrs S, i don't think it'll really matter too much whether they go for 2 weeks in July or not, you can just see what happens and what the school thinks.

Fennel, thank you so much for this. We are only in Bilge, so not far away either.

Rhuby - know how you feel!