school admissions for children returning to UK from abroad?

[borninmyheart]

This is my first post, so be gentle with me!

I am a LP of 2DDs (7 and 11). We currently live abroad, but rather unexpectedly (but for positive reasons) are returning to the UK for about 6 months from February. I am a UK taxpayer, will be working FT in London, and have family in the SE who I'd like to be near, for the children's sake (and for my sanity, as we face up to big changes in our lives).

My question is: I have been looking at schools admission policy in the UK, on the gov.uk website, and it all seems very complicated. I'd like both DDs to go to local, state schools while we are in UK. But they will be joining in-year, and would only be in school for 4-5 months until the summer holiday.

Do any MN-ers have any idea what the policy is on seeking admissions in these circumstances? I do own my own home in the UK, which is in the catchment area for a good primary school (I bought it before I had children), but this is currently let out.

I don't think I'll have much luck with the LEAs until after the festive break; but if anybody has any advice in the meantime, that would be very welcome!

Thanks in advance.

Would you be living in the house you let out?

All schools I know of ask for proof if address where the child lives. Such as child benefit letters, to Actually prove the child actually lives there.

And it also depends if there's space at the schools you are thinking of. There may be no spaces available if they are particularly good schools as they tend to fill quickly and have waiting lists in case a place comes up.

Can't offer more constructive advice I'm afraid. But hope it works out for you.

I investigated this last year, although we didn't move back in the end. The LEA in my area said I need proof that I would be moving back in to my property, which could be a letter to the tenants terminating the tenancy. Your LEA should have the admissions process online, with guidelines. If I were you I wouldn't tell them that it's only for 5 months (you never know what the future holds anyway). You will probably have to fill in the admissions form in the same way as anyone else, though of course you will be classed as 'late' applying. So I guess all depends on whether there are any spaces in your nearby school. They are obliged to find your children places somewhere but it might not be your preferred school.

Your children are entitled to school
Places once you are in the UK. You will need to provide your LEA with proof of the address you are staying at.
It may be difficult to get them both into the same school mid year, so be prepared for this.
It sounds like your older child will be going into Y6, some schools can be reluctant to take on new pupils during Y6 due to the impact it can have on SATS, therefore they do not always disclose if they have spaces.
Also on your case I would not yet inform LEA/ school that your stay is temporary, instead give the school 6 weeks notice when you leave.

At 7 & 11, it's not really the admissions procedure you need, as local children will already have a place at a school, rather than processing heaps at once, they are only looking at yours. Schools may have waiting lists, to which admissions criteria are applied, but realistically you won't want to be only on a waiting list, you want an actual school place - which means finding a school with places empty in the year groups you want.

Contact the LEA and see which schools have places for the year groups you need - this information should be readily available, or call/visit the schools themselves. If the school has places, it doesn't much matter where you live or who comes above you, as there is obviously no waiting list and you will be the closest applicant, as it would be unusual to have 2 in year placements at the same time (especially Feb, as opposed to Sept new school year time).

If more than one school has a place, then great you have a choice... they won't offer you the school place until you have an address and can demonstrate you live there, but once you're there you can get offer immediately. If not school has places in both years, then it's either look further afield, or juggle a 2 school scenario.

Best of luck.

Thank you all for your advice, which has been really helpful to start to get organised. It sounds like I need to start checking websites for those elusive vacancies!

It sounds like both your girls will be in junior classes, in which case, schools should be more flexible. Unlike a previous poster, I'd advise honesty as I think then you may get the LA to be more accommodating that a permanent placement. My LA allowed my class to go over infant class size legislation for a little girl who needed a school place for 4 months before her parents moved home. The Dad's employer confirmed the details.

Unless you are Forces, you cannot apply for a school place until you are living in UK.

The LEA has to come up with places somewhere, but the schools you like may be full. If all the schools in your area are full, then the LEA has to activate the Fair Access Protocol, which essentially forces the school/s most able to cope with a pupil over numbers to admit. This however is based on their assessment of the school's ability to cope, not your preference, so if they have offered a place at another it can't be used, if you have turned an offered place down.

The LEA also has to provide free transport if the only places available are over the qualifying distance from your home.

It can take a little while for the LEA to process your application and make an offer, or to come up with a place via FAP, so allow for this in your admin.

If you move house, you do not need to give the initial school any formal notice, you just move schools when the new place is offered.

Is the 11 year old in year 6 or year 7? If year 6 you will need to be planning a secondary place (and you'll be a late applicant by now) and just manage with whatever primary place you get for the two remaining terms.

The reason I suggested not informing how long you plan to stay is due to funding. School get money based on the numbers of pupils they have. In my area they complete a census twice a year, I think it's September and February, and have to provide the UPRN? (Unique Pupil Reference Number - each child in education has one so there funding can only go to one school) for each child on roll. If your stay falls between these dates (I don't know if it varies from area to area) then there is little incentive for school or LEA to be particularly pro active in helping you. You have no obligation at all to say how long you are planning to stay.

Thank you for all your suggestions: they are so helpful in trying to work out how to "navigate" a system which until a few days ago was totally unknown to me. My eldest is currently in Year 6, my youngest year 2 - so we would be looking for 2 primary places, ideally (as I am LP) looking for one school, but appreciate that may be difficult.

Mrs Journs thanks for that further explanation of the funding situation. I think I will play it by ear in terms of identifying our short term need: I do have an employer who would potentially be able to support me in approaching individual schools (although I am not Forces, I am in Crown Service which I imagine would be treated similarly).

Thanks for helping me sort through this!

If you are abroad on Crown service, you should get priority for any places - look up Crown, admissions and your LEA. The staff at the LEA may not be familiar with the rules for Crown servants so you may have to spell it out.

If you are a Crown servant but haven't been working as such abroad, you may not qualify.

Just to clarify the Crown servants rule notcitrus is right however i went to see a very popular school (which was my closest) and a grandmother on the tour kept going on at the head about her grandchildren being the children of crown servants) the head clearly got a bit tetchy with this (she did mention it in seemingly every room!!) and in the end he said something like 'so you've said but I cant give them places if I dont have places to give'
so whereas you will get priority it will only be to the top of the list if the schools are full

like others on here I wouldnt say that you only need the places for a term and a half.

Depending on your circumstances, you might also consider home education. That could make childcare simpler (though more expensive) to organise and would allow the children to continue in the same style of education they have been used to abroad (assuming you are going to return to the same country after your stay in the UK?).

For some children, settling into a new school is hard work and a difficult adjustment. For others it is easier and well worthwhile even if it is only for a few months.

Just to clarify that Crown servants do not get priority. Some LEAs will treat crown servants as though they are resident in the LEA already, prior to your actual move, and that may help you secure a place in advance of your arrival. But many do not do this. LEAs do not give actual priority to the children of Crown servants over others in the LEA. (Military is different.)

At any rate, you're looking for an in-year admission, so once you have proof of your UK address, you can contact the LEA and find out what places are available. They will try to keep your children in the same school if at all possible. Best of luck!

All LEAs are slightly different. In my case, I was told to GO to the LEA offices to fill out the form as soon as I arrived in the country. They would not look at my case before that.The form I filled out was in fact the same form as the ordinary application form ie I had to give six choices of schools so be prepared and know which schools you would prefer. (Number of schools varies according to the LEA.) You MUST have proof that you live at the address that you give - usually more than one piece of proof eg council tax bill and ultilities bill. My flat was rented out and I moved back into it the day after arriving back into the country. Don't underestimate how long it takes to change the council tax and utility bills into your name, you need to start this process BEFORE you arrive in the country - you can do it on-line, but you may need a helpful friend/relative in-country to help out. You also need to take the children's passports to the council offices. Waiting for a place was stressful and I couldn't help to prepare my DD eg what uniform she would be wearing, showing her where the school was etc because I didn't know. I was offered my fifth choice of school after a few weeks. Not long after DD started school, I was offered two other places but decided to stick with the original school rather than move her. As I understand it, you need to accept the first offer, otherwise the LEA can say that it has fulfilled its duty and not make other offers. My DD has taken quite a long time to settle in her new school and we have had a tough time but children are all different and hopefully yours will settle quickly.

"there is little incentive for school or LEA to be particularly pro active in helping you"

The school cannot help you, other than straight information about vacancies. The LEA must find you a place; it's the law and unrelated to funding.

You need also to apply for a year7 place as the admissions round as soon as you are here (assuming 11+ transfer, not middle school system). You will be treated as a late applicant (deadline has already passed) but need to get on with this so she has somewhere to start in September.

Thank you for all of your insights, and for passing on your experiences, which do seem to differ depending on the LEA - but nonetheless helpful to know what the range of experiences/potential options are. Thank you for your best wishes for this process! Now, just need to wait until LEA staff are back at work!

I agree with both of Scaevola's posts.

I note what mumplus says but the LA cannot force you to go to their offices to fill out the form. The rest of her expericnce seems fairly normal apart from the Council's insistence on seeing the children's passports.

There is some misinformation on this thread regarding children of crown servants and children of service personnel. Both get the same treatment under the current Admissions Code. That means all LAs are required to allocate a place before the child moves to the area provided the correct documentation is provided with the application. However, being a child of a crown servant or service personnel does not give any priority on waiting lists.

Agree with PRH, as a Crown agent you would be given priority in terms of getting a place allocated before you have actually moved into the area but not in terms of being guaranteed any place.
In theory as an in-year application for year 3 and year 6 it is the 2010 admission code that is relevant (paragraph 3.27, 3.28) for when you have to spell it out to the LA admission office. Being realistic the admission office will not have much knowledge of the situation re Crown Agents unless they live in certain areas of the country. However when it comes to a year7 place for stating September 2013, the 2012 admission code will be relevant, where the appropriate paragraph is 2.18.
In theory you are already late for the September 2013 admission cycle but you should be able to get yourself accepted as an on-time application if you apply now. If you do not apply then it will become obvious that this is a very short time span that you are going to be in the UK, so you do need to ask for the year 7 place.

admission thank you for your very clear advice: I spoke to the LEA concerned yesterday, and raised the question of a year 7 place for next year as well as the year 6 and year 2 place in-year. They confirmed that they are aware of the rules in terms of Crown servants, to start helping me find places before we return to the UK. I feel more reassured now the process has started; and am very grateful to everybody for the input.