Relocating to Dorset and finding school place for Sept

[mrsflowerpot]

I thought we had our school place sorted... and now we probably have to move. Very excited at prospect of moving but bit daunted on the schools front.

DS is starting reception in September, has place in lovely school where he is at nursery currently. however, dh has now been offered a job in Bournemouth (100 miles away) and it's too good to turn down. So assuming the offer letter comes through and all is as expected, we'll be off and I have to find a new school for ds.

Will it be really hard to find a place at a decent school this late in the year? I have no idea how competitive the whole process is there. DH would be working in Bournemouth but we would probably live outside, sort of Christchurch or Wimborne distance (haven't got this far yet). TBH, would be tempted to find the school first and then decide.

Also, don't know the area at all, where is nice to live?

bump

No help at all, but an 'I know how you feel'. Dd's schoolplace is secured for her Jan start, and now it looks like we'll be moving this summer. But we don't even know where yet! Hope a Bournemouth mummy turns up soon.

Hi mrsflowerpot. You've got the choice of schools in Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset LEAs and all slightly different systems. We have primary and secondary/ lower, middle and upper schools. The schools are arranged in what they call different 'pyramids' and they overlap slightly, eg Poole and Wimborne. Poole look like they are changing from the three tier system to two tier and Dorset are having discussions on this. When we moved down the year before DD was due to start, we ended up buying before we had sold as we were so worried about getting a place, but we needn't have done this, there would have been space where we wanted. It does though depend very much on the school. I can't help you on Christchurch, but can help on Wimborne schools if you need it as that's where we are - I can recommend a few that are worth looking at. CAT me if you would like further information.

Thank you that is really helpful. I didn't realise that Bournemouth and Poole were a separate LEA, so that is useful to know. It's about 95% certain to happen at the moment, just waiting to see it in writing really before we come down for a look around at different areas. I'll have to find out from the LEA where there would be places, tbh finding the school would be key in the house-hunt.

Wimborne is a definite possibility from a distance to work pov and having looked at info and houses online, so at some point it would be great if I can CAT you and pick your brains.

We did exactly the same, found the school first then the house. I've been really pleased with our choice, the school we picked has just had a brand new building built and they have been great with DD who it turns out since she started school has dyspraxia. They sorted out all the referrals for me. Good luck with it and CAT me if you do want further info later.