Moving house after primary allocation. Advice please!!

[allibaba]

Advice gratefully received from anyone with experience of this or who knows of someone who did this!

I've got a new job back in the part of the world where I'm from so more family back up and close friends, job starts at the end of June. We need to find a new nursery for DS2 but DS1 is meant to start school in September. If we move to the village we want do we automatically get in to the school there or do the LEA send us somewhere else?

We've got so much to sort out anyway and we've heard today that we got our first choice primary where we currentlylive. Feeling quite stressed about it all to be honest as want this to be fairly easy but don't know anyone whose moved prior to kids starting school but after the allocation process.

Will the LEA let us in to our nearest school even if all places are taken? We're moving over 100 miles away from our current location.

Anyone??

They will need to find you a place, but it will where there is space, not necessarily in the local school. They won't make them go over numbers to admit you, no. How oversubscribed is the school - often this is on the LEA website?

It might be worth phoning the LEA and asking what they're likely to do. Ours seems to have a policy whereby if they can't offer you a place a reasonable distance from your house, they WILL take an extra child over and above the normal intake.

depends on local situation, you have to ring the school & the LEA to ask. We moved 31 July & DS was fine to start school 3 Sept with the rest. Not an over-subbed area, though.

I'm not sure if its over subscribed or not - how do you find out?

I admit I am quite naïve about all of this especially with it being my first child (DH did the forms to apply for where we are now). Its a really small village but I am conscious its a high birth rate in this year.

I wanted to send DCs to a village school ideally but due to my new work hours I need wrap around care and there are not many schools in this area that provide that. Having said that there are a lot of schools in the area - about 5 primary's within a 5 mile radius of each other in a pretty rural area with small villages where each village has a school.

Just looked on school website, they take 18 kids in each year and on the over subscription criteria Point number 2 is the child must live in the catchment area to be consider.

Typical that this has happened just when the Easter holidays are on and no one is around!!

I think you need to speak to the local education department. We moved our children when DS was at school. DS HAD to be given a placement in a school within 3 miles of our post code. From what I remember the number of pupils in said class makes no difference if a child requires a place. However I do not know if this is the same every where. I would start making calls/sending emails.

The LEA will allocate you a place at a school if the one you want is oversubscribed it's unlikely you'll get in. EVERY other school in the area would have to be full also before it was even considered.

Thanks everyone.

I'll give the LEA a call tomorrow and discuss it with them. Fingers crossed this will be ok, things are very rarely that easy though...

You will only get a place now if there are fewer than 18 acceptances (and that will depend entirely on the local populace). The LA will provide a place, but it does not have to be within certain distance (though travel for the child would be funded if further than 2 miles for under 8yo), and in a shire LA, that place could be dozens of miles away.
You can go on the waiting list once you have moved- you cannot make an application until you are resident AFAIAA, and places on the waiting list are allocated according to the school's admissions criteria (usually LAC, distance, religion 1st if it is a faith school).

Congratulations on your new job!

The schools rarely admit to make a class size over the legal limit. All the schools would have to be full for that to happen. The Local Authority may have a list of schools that have places and no waiting lists. It is no good being number 10 on a waiting list for 18 places either because you will never get in. Moving in after the process has taken place does not trump the process. You just have to find out where there are places because you are, unfortunately, last in the queue. You might be ok though.

The LEA doesn't have to give you a school place within 3 miles. For under 8's it has to give you a place under 2 miles or fund the transport.

You can apply now, but until you move, your place on the waiting list will be determined by your current address.

Thanks everyone for the helpful advice.

As an update I called the LA this morning and the school we wanted has 6 spare places! I am so relieved and they have been really helpful in explaining what we need to do over the next few months to apply and get it all sorted.

I feel very fortunate as from what I see on the message boards we are in a much better position than some. Moving your life 2 hours away is very stressful but hopefuly this will make the DCs transition a bit easier.

Just have to find somewhere to live now...

Fabulous! Make sure you do the formal application ASAP just in case of others going on the waiting list,