How do I find out if a school has places?

[AnnieLobeseder]

Good evening all

We're in the process of relocating, and are looking at houses in a couple of nice villages with good schools. There's not much between then in terms of reports from locals, house prices, Ofsted reports about the local primary etc. But since one of the main reasons we're moving is so we can settle our DDs down and never move them again, we want to make sure they can get into the local primary school immediately rather than them going to another school until the local one has places. And so our choice of house/village may therefore depend on whether the local school has places for them.

I tried emailing one of the potential schools and never got a response. Does anyone else know? I realise that a school having places now is no guarantee that they will still have places in a couple of months when we move, but equally, if a school is over-subscribed and has a waiting list a mile long, there's not much point in even trying.

Does anyone know if/how I can find out? Thanks.

Ring them? That's what I did.

Phone them!

E-mailing is never good, our admin address gets 2-300 emails A DAY! It does take a while to work through them! A quick phone call, or even pop along if possible, is a better idea.

Hmmm, funny how the simple answers sometimes never occur to you! Plus I hate making phone calls. Ah well, you are all right, I must suck it up and get on the phone tomorrow.

Thanks!

Also you can call the education dept at the local council to find out which schools have places and how long waiting lists are etc.

The hertfordshire council website for example, has a published list of school places in each year group that updates on the last day of each month.

Yep - go to your local council website - look for "In Year Admissions". Some websites will have a list of current vacancies. Others may just have a phone number - call them and they should be able to tell you.

LAs vary quite a bit with the accuracy of their data ime. (I've just been through this and dealt with LAs in 3 different counties) I was told that both the schools my dcs are now at were full by the LA. Both had places. Probably best to call the schools directly if you can.

Whatever they tell you is only valid right now - another child could apply tomorrow and get the place and things can change quite quickly. It's definitely worth talking to the LA about the process for In Year Admissions - they also vary slightly - and check what proof of address they require before you can apply. Some LAs require a signed tenancy agreement or proof of exchange of contracts (or even completion), others are slightly more relaxed.

If you want to PM me then if by chance you are looking at schools covered by any of the LAs I looked at, I'd be happy to point you in the right direction.

Good luck!

Just phone the schools. Schools have the most up to date info including the near future especially academies. I went to visit the potential school and was told that two places were about to become available in a few weeks. So we got a place for dd. The LA website can not be as up to date as that.