moving (to York) once they start school

[WildebeestH]

This is a slightly hypothetical question but I'm interested to hear your thoughts... We currently live in London and are hoping to move to York within the next 5 years. DS starts reception this September and DD will be due to start in 2017. Is there an optimum time to try to move without too much educational disruption. How easy will it be to find (state) primaries with places for both of them? Do you need an address to start finding a school if it's an in year admission? We could be quite flexible with when we move as we have family we could stay with whilst house hunting but would that mean having to use their address to apply for a school?

I'd also be interested if anyone has views on areas or specific schools... we're thinking of Fulford or Archbishops for secondary (though obviously that's a long way away).

If you're wanting to move into a catchment area of a good school, forget it! As you've said 'in the next five years', OFSTED may have changed gone for good and school grading can change A LOT in that time! Certainly my local primary school (just south of York) went from outstanding to inadequate in literally 3 years!!! Having said that, I wouldn't rely on OFSTED giving you the full picture of whether a school is good or not!
Usually, the more expensive the area, the better the schools. Local infracstructure drives house prices so that is the best guess. You could try and access York Council's school's admission policy. If it anything like the East Riding, they give you a list of feeder schools for secondary schools and what their intake limit is and how may applied in the previous year and how many of those were 'first choice'.
Have you considered moving to North Yorkshire? East Yorkshire? You could live in either and literally be only a 15-20 minute drive from the city centre - you may also get more for your money.

I think the west side of the city (outskirts) is very favourable as is (Askham Bryan, Poppleton in the north, and I think Stensall in the East).

Stamford Bridge, Bishop Wilton and Pocklington are all favourable in the East Riding - all 20 minutes from York.

We live in a village just outside the ring road to the east of York, which is currently in the catchment for Fulford and some children go to archbishops (which is nearer than Fulford).

I'm very happy with the primary school and there aren't any issues with admissions generally.

Where would you be looking to work do you think? Getting round York can be an issue traffic wise although who can tell what will happen with traffic plans over the next few years.

My children go to Fishergate primary which is within the catchment for Fulford for secondary. The school is lovely but because it is near both the barracks and the university there tend to be quite a few families who move during the year, so places often open up. Reasonably priced family houses in the area are in huge demand as a lot of the family houses have been turned into student lets, but if you are used to London housing costs things are a lot cheaper.

A lot of families live in the villages on the outskirts of York. Many of them have excellent primary schools, but they tend to have fewer places opening up.

There are plans to build a new housing development in Fulford which are likely to affect the secondary catchment areas, so keep an eye out before you commit to am area if school catchment is very important.

Really interesting to hear that. We both grew up in York and I lived in a village about 9 miles outside York. We may change our minds when it comes to the house hunt but at the moment we really would like to be within 20 minutes or so walk of the centre if we can. Work is the main issue stopping us moving sooner but if it works out we would probably be mostly working from home with some commuting to London.

I completely agree about schools changing rapidly. I'm just quite excited about possibly moving and can't help but start to explore options.

I wonder when the new housing in Fulford might happen. DS is in year 5 so ok to get into fulford but DD only year 3 so could be an issue as catchment comes before siblings. Will just have to wait and see I suppose.

Op - have a look at this.

www.york.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/8778/guide_for_parents_1415

Pages 57ish onwards gives all sorts of info about how many places have been filled over the last few years for each school. Should give you a good idea where there are likely to be vacancies. I love the tables. If you have the right type of brain they will give you hours of fun!