HELP Temp relocation & schooling

[Allme501]

Ok, so I’m not sure if anyone will have experience of this but I honesty don’t know where to get advice.

We are facing a very difficult family situation which may mean having to move to another part of the country for 6-8 months but we have a 5 year old who is in school.

Obviously our little one needs to go to school but does he have to stay at his school? What other options if any do we have?

The thing we want to desperately avoid is one parent going and one staying here as that would split the family up and we have little to no other support.

I appreciate this is a very specific issue but if anyone does have any experience that might help I’d be very grateful x

You can make a mid-year application for a school place in the area you move to. If there are places, you should get one quickly, if not it can be a longer process. You would have to apply again when you move back home, with no guarantee of getting a place back at the same school.

You could also choose to homeschool whilst away (or temporarily whilst waiting for a place). Again you would have to reapply when you move back, as they won't keep a school place for you for several months.

You can move him to a different school in the new area.
You can home educate while at the other location to avoid him having to join a new school.
Either way you can move him back to current school if they have space on your return.
You can ask the current school if they are able to hold the place, if it crosses over year breaks the answer will be no, but if it's during a school year they may agree as they've already had the funding on headcount day in September.

No personal experience but I help people to relocate.
You could home school if that would work for you or see if there is a place at a school near to where you need to move to. The LEA would have to provide you with a school place if you have a permanent address there but the school might not be one that you would necessarily choose.
You would lose the school place that your child has now and if it gets filled you won't get it back
Its not an easy situation unfortunately

This situation isn't uncommon within the Travelling Community so many schools do have procedures in place. They receive additional funding for those students though which may make them more flexible!

You'll need to apply for school near to where you're going and then reapply to the original school when you're back (but if it's oversubscribed you may need to wait for a space to come up and it could be a while dependent on waiting lists).

I would do whatever would be better for your child. If whatever you're moving for would be stressful for him I would consider only one parent going and coming home at weekends.

You make an in-year application to new location LA. However if his current school is popular there is no guarantee he will have a place to return to later.

I think splitting the family up for a bit and seeing each other at weekends sounds much more workable than changing schools for that short amount of time.
By the time your DC had a new school place and was settled in/ making friends you’d have to move them again and repeat the process.

You'll need to make an in year admission application to the local authority where you're moving to. There's no such thing as 'holding' you sons current place open, if they are undersubscribed then he'd likely be able to return, if they are 'full' on your return, then infant class size rules will apply and you'd be offered a space wherever its available. The area you move to will also be subject to infant class size rules so you may not get the school of your preference if another school within reasonable distance has space. Think very carefully whether that level of disruption is going to work.

You'll need to make an in year admission application to the local authority where you're moving to. There's no such thing as 'holding' you sons current place open, if they are undersubscribed then he'd likely be able to return, if they are 'full' on your return, then infant class size rules will apply and you'd be offered a space wherever its available. The area you move to will also be subject to infant class size rules so you may not get the school of your preference if another school within reasonable distance has space. Think very carefully whether that level of disruption is going to work.

You'll need to make an in year admission application to the local authority where you're moving to. There's no such thing as 'holding' you sons current place open, if they are undersubscribed then he'd likely be able to return, if they are 'full' on your return, then infant class size rules will apply and you'd be offered a space wherever its available. The area you move to will also be subject to infant class size rules so you may not get the school of your preference if another school within reasonable distance has space. Think very carefully whether that level of disruption is going to work.

Apologies no idea why it did my reply 3 times!