Changing Primary Schools

[Haribojoe]

DS1 is currently in primary school (Yr2). The school he attends was our catchment school when he started in Reception.

Since then we have moved (still in the same town but changes our catchment school).

DS2 is due to start school in Sept 2012 and admission rules have changed and siblings no longer automatically get a place in the same school.

This uncertainty about getting a place in the school DS1 attends has got me thinking that maybe we would be better off moving DS1 and then sending them all to what is now our catchment school. This would make life much easier in the long run as we also have DS3 and are expecting DC4 in the new year.

DS1 is receptive to the idea of changing school.

Has anyone had any experience of moving their children whilst in primary school? I'd appreciate and advice.

We moved 2 of our children after Y2 (starting Y3 at the new school). In our case it was because of problems at the original school. Both initially made a fuss about losing their friends but both settled immediately in their new schools and we never looked back.

Moved my DD at start of Yr 4 to our local school. She settled in very quickly and now has lots of independence as she walks to and from school by herself (Yr 5). She has contact with children in the village she didn't have previously.

If your new catchment school is good and they have spaces I'd recommend you do it. Having ties and contacts with the local community is a good thing IMO.

At that age moving schools should be really straight forward for everyone. Being in the same town makes it even better because he won't have to worry about leaving his friends behaind.

We have moved ds1 - currently year 6 - this month and hope to move our year 2 and year 4 children next month. They could stay at the school until they are 16 or move at year 7 age. Initially they went to this school as it was the nearest one but in retrospect we shouldn't have decided on the basis of potential local friends.

I would agree with the logic however there could be a potential problem which you need to resolve before you make a final decision.
Your eldest is in year 2, so you need to know whether there is a place for them. If there is then grab it and job done, eldest child will be OK about it and you can then apply for the local catchment school for next child which should not be a problem.
However if it is full in year 2, then any admission appeal may well be subject to the infant class size regs. If it is then you have in reality no chance of getting a place at appeal. So you need to establish what the admission number is for the proposed new school and whether there is a place in year 2 before making final decisions.
If it is infant class size appeals then you may well be best waiting for an appeal till next june /july when the appeal will be for September and therefore year when the infant class size regs do not apply.