moving house and changing schools in London - help!

[batstop]

Hi, we are trying to move house and my son will have to move to a different school. We found a house we were interested in but the local authority wasn't prepared to give me any clue as to where we would be on the waiting list for the two local schools and wouldn't do so until we were actually living there. This makes me very nervous. Should I hold out for a house on a school's doorstep? Does anyone think there is an average distance in which you are likely to be high up on the waiting list? e.g. under .1? Moving and leaving the old school feels unsettling enough without the uncertainty of having to ship him across a borough to a school with places etc and then waiting for a place so he changes again. Is this just how it has to be? Has anyone else had experience of this situation?

As you are an in year applicant the distance is of limited relevance. Yes if you live opposite a school and it has a high turn over you should get a place, fairly quickly. However if no places become available you won't necessarily get a place. However the LA does have to offer you a place somewhere, and if far enough away then they have to provide transport.
If your child is in years 3 and above you could appeal.

thank you. we are in a good school with nice friends. should we go all out to stretch ourselves and stay where we are? starting again scares me but so does stretching ourselves financially to stay round here. Yikes!

When we moved boroughs in London, I contacted the schools directly to see if they had places available.

The big issue with London is secondaries, so that is something to consider. Could he commute to the old school?
Moving is always a bit of a risk, but often necessary for schools later.

the new house would be near good secondaries though that's not for several years. it would be a half hour drive each way to the old school - twice a day that's a two hour commute. Schools that def have places in new borough are probably 15 min drive each way and are the ones that nobody wants to go to! It feels such a mess. I think we should wait for a house nearer to local schools (not .2 as this one is.) DH thinks we'll be waiting forever and should just go for it and it will all sort itself out in the end and that I should chill out. I'm finding that a tad difficult!