Relocating - registering child at school

[Rachy1809]

Hi all,

We are relocating to the south from Manchester sometime in the next 6 months. Not sure where yet! The problem is our son is due to start school Sept '14 and I have just seen a poster saying applications should be made by mid Jan. If we arrive at our new destination after this date what will happen regarding getting my son into school? Do schools keep places free for children new to the area?

Any advice would be appreciated.

No they don't keep places free. Most LEAs have a short grace period (two or three weeks) for people moving, effectively giving you a deadline of first week of Feb. after that you go to the back of the queue, and have to wait till all the on-time applicants have been allocated places.

However once the ontime places have been allocated, places are allocated to late applicants in admission criteria order, not in application date order.

Hi Titchy.
Thanks. Very informative. (Smile)

Where are you moving to?

If you are moving to a village in the middle of nowhere where the local school hasn't filled all it's places in the last 10 years then it is going to be a lot less of a worry that if you're moving to South London!

We are having the same issues.
Currently in a chain moving from West Sussex to Kent.

DD1 is in Yr 1, changing her schools shouldnt be too much of a problem although we cant get the ball rolling for that untill we exchange.
DD2 is due for Sept 2014 intake.
The plan was that DD1 would get a place and we would put DD2 down for the same school.
The deadline for DD2's admission is 15th Jan.

Been onto the phone to both councils this morning and neither were very helpful and kept refeering me back to the other! Basically if we dont move in time for the deadline then they could end up at different schools which is far from ideal!

Pigley - Yes, your best bet is to get in before the deadline. Ideally you get DD1 into a school you are happy with in time for DD2 to be submitted in time for the deadline as a sibling (which in many areas is as close to a guarantee of getting in as it comes, though obviously there are always schools with odd rules or weird sibling/looked after children bulges).

If you don't move in time for the deadline then yes, they could end up at different schools. However, since sibling is normally high on the admission criteria it should put the other child high up the waiting list for whichever of the two schools you prefer. If you like the school your older one gets into then in many ways it will be easier. In many areas schools have quite a lot of movement before September for reception. Some children go private, or move away, or move to another school as places free up for one reason or another. If you are a sibling sitting on the waiting list, in many areas you have a good chance of getting a place before September, particularly if it is a school admitting at least 60 children each year. It might be worth trying to find out from the schools how much movement they have had on their waiting lists in recent years.

Of course, in some areas (particularly rural or highly sought after state schools) waiting lists might not move for years...

Thanks Amanda, Interesting to know about the sibling links.

Ideally we will move before the deadline but being in a chain who knows how long it will take. We shall be encourging our solisitor along! :)

You need to check it out for the schools you might be interested in. It should all be up on the local authority websites for the 2014 admissions by now.

But a common one in areas without a fixed catchment area is:

• Special categories: looked after children, children with a statement specifying that school, etc

• Siblings of current pupils;

• Other children by distance. Commonly straight line or shortest walking route.

You need to check because it can vary. Some schools have fixed catchments, some only prioritise siblings in catchment, some have done away with sibling link completely. Religious schools also often have some form of religious criteria (which can vary wildly, from a letter from the vicar, to regular attendance for 2 years or more, to just being baptised).

Also check out whether your DD2 would count as a sibling from when she is given a place at a school, or only when she starts (so April or September).

Just to point out, although a school in South London is going to be over subscribed, as will all the others around it; families are more likely to relocate from there than a tiny village primary. So you probably have more chance to get in from the waiting list at a South London school than some tiny village one.

Its also complicated by bulge classes and free schools opening.

So OP Don't Panic!

We were in a similar situation once. We mentioned in the appl form that we were going to move to the new address after this date (we moved in Dec). We had to submit appl-s before our move. It worked out well. We had agreed with our future landlord about our move date and paid the deposit etc.

If you haven't moved by Jan, do make sure you apply for a school where you are now, just in case the whole thing falls through...

Mummytime - Yes, my example was a bit simplistic. That's why I said a village school that was never full. You are totally right - many London waiting lists move at incredible speed, and in other areas might never budge. I suppose my real point was 'the issues you will face vary enormously depending on where you are moving and the surrounding schools, so you need to look into it very specifically to your new area'.

You don't have to live near a school to apply for it though.

We applied successfully (wouldn't have got in the next year, mind) to a school 70 miles away. Iirc we had to apply to the authority where we actually lived at the time of the deadline and went into the allocation pot from there.

Success will still depend on whether you are going for a village school or an oversubscribed city school though.

Good luck with the move.

Indeed Cakes. If a school has places (i.e. doesn't need to use its over subscription criteria) it will allocate them to anyone who applies. One school in our area memorably had an effective catchment one year of over 200 miles. Presumably someone had applied from the other end of the country, but got a place because the school wasn't full that year.

The risk is that, if you apply from your current home and meet the admission criteria, that is the school place you will be offered. So if your move falls through you could end up with a school 100's of miles away and no local place!