Relocating to London - stressed out about school at the last minute

[ugilad]

Hi,

We will be moving to London this sommer (arriving end-August), and I have just started learning about the English school system and am very nervous.

1. DS is Nov-2011 - does it mean he gets to go to the first year of primary school?
2. Is it true that the public schools are overbooked in London, and that I should just give up and seek an apartment near a good private school instead?

Thanks!

Do you mean he was born in Nov 11 (so less than a year old)?

And re: your second question, yes good state schools ("public" schools here are a certain type of private school - yes, it's confusing!) are often oversubscribed esp. in urban areas, catchments change from year to year so are hard to predict, making it a bit of a lottery. Ideally you want to be no more than 0.2 miles from a decent primary and have a few backup options very close by too. If you are considering faith schools then different rules apply!

What area are you looking at?

the crucial thing is whether you have an area in mind, or whether you want to find the school you want and relocate close to it.

Before advising you further we need therefore three pieces of information:-

1. What age is he / (date of birth)

1. have you decided which bit of London you are moving to or if not what are your constraints. (For example if you are moving because of work, and your workplace is near a particular railway station that would give you a set of options. Most commuting in London is by public transport, often rail based.)

1. Do you want to rent or buy?

Whoops, sorry about that, Nov-2007

Sorry about the confusion, adding the missing info:

1. DS will be five on Nov-2012, born Nov-2007
2. We are looking at N or NW London, west Hempstead, Finchley, barnet, - not really sure at this stage. Constraints on location are that I want it to be close to the northern line which passed by work (at WC1)
3. We will be renting, for the first year for sure, most likely later as well.

Do we have any realistic chance of getting into a good public school this late in the year?

Ok so he will be starting reception this Sept and you have missed the application deadline so will be looking at a late application. You could call the local council in the areas you're considering and see if they can give you some info on which schools may have places. I'm not sure if you'll actually be able to apply til you have an address in the borough though?

My advice is to find somewhere to rent which is two or three houses away from a large primary school (three class enttry).

As a late applicant you will go on the waiting list, and waiting lists are in order of criteria. So if you live very very close to the school you will be top of the waiting list apart form siblings or social or medical need.

There is quite a lot of mobility in London schools and places do become available. The bigger the school the greater the likelihood of a place becoming available.

Check that it is a school for which living close to the school is a factor. Check that it is not a faith school which will prioritise faith applicants.

If it has an ofsted report which says it is a 'good' school, it should be fine.

People are very competitive to get into a few particular schools, but it may be best to avoid those because if people have moved house to get into them they may have the lowest mobility and places becoming available.

Hi,
You have a good chance of getting a place in those areas, especially the more affluent areas.. I say this because many people hang onto a state school place despite having accepted private schools and then simply don't show up on their start date in September.

Thanks everyone!