In-year admissions at Bromley Primaries

[notmydog]

We've been living overseas for almost 5 years now, planning to return towards the end of March 2013. We've been looking at various areas around London, and Bromley comes out tops in almost all aspects. We have to be close to London for DH's work (I work from home). We've previously lived in East Kent, but unless DH gets a firm job offer (highly unlikely) we won't be able to return unless we are willing to spend £6000 per year on train fare.

My DD is 7, turning 8 in March, so she'll be going into Year 3. I've been looking at a wide area, from Beckenham though to Brickly, and the majority of the state primaries look good to me. We'll be renting privately, so will have to go into short-term accommodation when we first arrive whilst we are looking for a flat to rent. I understand that my DD would not be offered a place before we have a tenancy agreement, so this will be priority, DH might even have to fly out a couple of weeks ahead of us to try and arrange a flat to rent.

I've got no idea how difficult it would be for us to get an in-year admission. I've downloaded the forms from the council's website, and I see that we can list 4 preferences. I also understand that all in-year admissions are handled by the LEA and not the schools. However, do you think it might be a good idea for me to contact a few schools before we leave? Maybe if I know beforehand which ones are completely oversubscribed, I'd know not to list them.
Also, is there a place where I can look at the actual catchment areas of each school - or would the estate agents be able to advise us? I'm scared of ending up choosing a home outside of any catchment areas.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I'm really stressed and worried about the whole process.

I know Bromley Council Admissions are very helpful (DS1 has just completed application to secondary school). so worth calling them.

It is probably worth calling some schools you are interested in, as if they are full and have say 10 people on their waiting list, you may need to discount them.

Page 40 of this booklet gives you the catchment areas for the last 3 years

www.bromley.gov.uk/downloads/file/1433/starting_primary_education_in_bromley_2013_booklet

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Good Luck

Sorry, link not working - try searching booklet bromley primary schools

Agree with Tiggytape that for an in-year appeal where you are living is not important, what is important is whether the school have a place available in year 3.
So, whilst it is the LA responsibility to allocate a place, a few telephone calls to schools may help you narrow down what schools may be worth putting on form.
Having said that I would never ever rely on estate agents for information on schools and school catchment zones. Not trying to do down estate agents but they want to sell houses not school places, so their information tends to be both sketchy and out of date.

Thank you so much! I will certainly take your advice and call the schools ahead of time, maybe also visit them, as DD will anyway not be attending school in the first few weeks until we have a tenancy agreement in place. I will also look into the appeals process, although I''m not sure on which grounds we can appeal a decision we don't like. For instance, I would like her to go to a school that has a breakfast club and aftercare, as I might need to travel for work from time to time and DH will be working in the city. We would also prefer a school that offers music and drama. Would an absence of these facilities be grounds for appeal?

Appeals are rarely won on childcare grounds so an absence of these at the allocated school is unlikely to be a winning argument. All primary schools offer music and drama as these are part of the national curriculum. Some schools may offer more activities than others under these headings. The fact that you want your daughter to go to a school with these activities won't carry much weight at appeal. However, if you can show that she has talents or interests in these subjects that would be a stronger argument.

Basically, if you end up appealing you need to show that your daughter will be disadvantaged in some way if she does not go to your preferred school. So you need to look for features of the preferred school that are missing in the offered school and that would be of particular benefit to your daughter.

Thanks for the advice!

Hello,

I have been reading this thread with huge interest as we are in the same process, moving from France in a few months with our 5 years old son.

So have you settled in the area? How did it go?

The ladies at the admissions team are indeed very helpful, but they told me all schools are full, so i don't really know what to expect and my husband (who's english) and i (french) are both very worried with this in year school admissions dilemna... We liked Balgowan, Clare House, Marian Vian and Alexandra infant. Where is you child going now, if you've moved?

My main worry is that our son isn't 100% bilingual but not far and he hasn't done reception so hasn't started words, reading like it gets done in the uk.

Thanks to all for any help or comments.

I think (and I may be wrong) that what you will need to do is to move onto the doorstep of your number 1 choice school and as such, you will move to the top (or near the top) of the waiting list. But that may be irrelevant if there are no spaces, so I'd guess talking to the admissions people at Bromley is the best way forward. You can only speak to them after 2pm. Good luck.

We had a in-Year admission in January, a girl moved away and we got a new pupil very fast. When speaking to the father he said they waited for 2 months for a space and were warned that even with preferred schools on the form they may need to take what's available.

They live more or less next door to a large Infant/Junior school and didn't get in.

As they were able to commute to the girl's old school (Greenwich) they decided to wait until a space became free instead of taking the first one offered. But if you come from far away then this may be your only solution.

Hello,
Thank you very much for your replies, i didn't see them until now as i expected an email if a reply came in on the forum...new to Mumsnet sorry.
I've called again Bromley admissions team asking them, if i was to move in today near Kelsey park for example, where would they send my son? They refused to answer as it would be only possible to know once we have really applied but that could be anywhere in the borough up to 45mn drive...but what if you don't have a car?
All this is sooo stressful, i wonder if we are going to manage this move...
Thanks again