Please Help with In year school admissions

[KaylaC]

Hi,
I don't know if anyone can offer any advice but here's my situation......
We moved back from New Zealand 7 weeks ago. We are currently staying at my parents house, while we wait for the tennancy agreement on our house to end, then we will be moving back to our house, which is in a different county to where we are currently staying. My son is turning 5 in 2 weeks and I managed to get a place at the pre-school here for him and my daughter who is 3.5 until the end of term.

I made an online in year application for a school near our house (which we'll be moving back to at the end of september) and I was unsuccessful, I've rang around all the schools near our house and none of them have any space.

What do I do?? I have to legally send him to school in September as he's already missed a year of school (NZ don't start them until they are 5)

Hoping someone can offer some advice....

There is something I think called the fair access protocol which kicks in if there isn't a school within a 'reasonable' travelling distance, but that may still be quite a long way away. Hopefully an expert will bbe along soon.

The LA is required to offer you a place, however it may not be at a school close to where you live although it should be "within reasonable travelling distance" and if over 2 miles they need to provide transport. I think you can apply from your current address and then inform them when you move, and you can ask to go on the waiting list of any schools you want, normally the closer you are to the school the higher up the list you will be.
If you get offered a school place, do not reject it, even if you don't want your son to go there. As by offering your son a place the LA has fulfilled their duty. But do keep his name on the waiting list for all schools you would prefer.

Don't panic about him not being in school, the law in England is just that you have to educate him "in school or otherwise" which allows for home education. Also at 5 he will probably catch up quickly, I have known other children catch up having had no experience of school before year 1, and some who didn't even speak English.

Given that you are living in one county but applying for a place near your home in another county, I think the first thing you need to do is contact the LA that covers your home, explain your situation and find out when they will accept your house as the correct address. They may insist that you apply using your parents' address, in which case you will apply to the LA for the area where your parents live. That is not ideal as you will end up being allocated a place there rather than one near your house.

The LA for your home address should be able to tell you which schools have places. If a school has a place when you apply they must allocate it to you regardless of where you live.

Ultimately, the LA must find a place for your child. As others have said, it must be within a reasonable distance but what you regard as reasonable and what the law accepts as reasonable may not be the same thing - up to an hours journey each way is regarded as reasonable.