Offer of Reception place - don't know what to do?!

[SarahOxford]

Hi,

I've posted before about primary admissions and moving house but things have progressed a little now so i have fresh new dillemas!

This morning we received an offer for my DS for our preferred infant school in this area, which is great. But, we've accepted an offer on our house two weeks ago and are moving 200 miles away so don't expect to need the place.
We haven't exchanged contracts yet so i'm going to officially 'accept' the offer because if the worst happens...
Do you think it's worth letting the local authority or school know that we don't expect to take up the place despite accepting it? It can't possibly be oversubscribed given it's a catholic school and we declared no religion on our application so were in admission criteria 7 of 7! But it seems rude to not let them know.

Secondly, we don't yet have a house to move into! We're putting everything in storage and staying with my parents until we have a new house. The problem is though, they live in Solihull and we're likely to buy in neighbouring authority Warwickshire. So what do we do now about admissions?

We're obviously prioritising vacant properties so we can move quickly but realistically getting into a new house by September will be tight. We haven't even narrowed down the village/town we're moving to so it's not like i can ask to be considered for a particular school using the solihull address.

So what do i do?
Is it a good idea to apply for the school local to my parents so that we're 'in the system'?

I don't at all want him to start a school in September and change schools shortly after and his birthday is mid May so i know he doesn't legally have to start in September. It just feels risky (and i'm not sure is legal?) to turn down his place here when we leave May/June time but then not be on any local authority records until we have a new address which could be in 6 months time!

Any advice/opinions/experiences would be really appreciated - it's all so stressful!

Acept the place nwo declien oin exchange (they will ahve a waiitng list by then) and conatct the LA's when you move. You can apply for a place form your parents' address and then go on waiting lists for when you move again so that he could start in say January or April near wherever you are living - all perfectly above board.

I would just accept the place and not say anything else to your current LA at this stage. There is nothing they can do with the information that you don't expect to take the place up.

It is perfectly legal to turn down the place when you leave and then not be on any LA records until you have a permanent address. However, you will not be on any waiting lists. If you really don't know where you will end up you should apply to schools local to your parents once you have moved there just in case the final move takes longer than expected.

When you have your final address you can apply for places at local schools. Note that the LA will probably not accept an application until you have exchanged contracts. However, if there is a school with vacancies that you particularly want you can apply to your parents' LA from their address and they have to give you a place if it is available.

No. I would accept the place and only inform the LEA when you exchange.

I agree, accept, but when you move apply for place, but defer entry until jan by which time hope that you are in your new house. You can always home educate for a while, there is loads of support around, it is only from sept 2013 (term after he turns 5) that you will need to prove he is being educated, hopefully by then he and you will be settled somewhere.

Don't give up your school place until you leave your current house. Anything can go wrong!

Thanks for the replies.
I think i will accept the place and wait until we exchange contracts to give it up.

I just wish i knew where we were moving to so that i could make enquiries at that end. I think i'll see in the first few weeks down there if we're settled on a particular village/area then i'll get on some waiting lists. For safety's sake i guess it'll be best to get on the waiting list for the local school to my mum and dad too.

It's useful that he doesn't legally have to be educated formally until after he turns 5 and i'm happy to home educate in the meantime. I can afford not to work whilst we're at my mum and dad's but once we move i'm going to need him in school so i can go out and earn the mortgage!

If a school has a place do they have to let you have it even if you're not in their local authority? Can i just approach schools about places? And at what point in the year? I presume they need to go through the allocation process from all applications made before they can tell me whether they have vacancies.

Yes, if they have a place they must offer it to you when you apply, but you must apply through your home LA.

Primary schools won't know where they are until offers have been made. The date for that varies from LA to LA at the moment. After that things will be fairly fluid for a while as people reject offers and places are filled from waiting lists. You can ask the LA which schools have places any time but it is probably best to wait until at least mid-May, by which time the rush should have died down.