Temporary accomodation and schools admissions.

[Pascale73]

Does anyone know how this would work?

We are moving back to the UK from abroad, possibly in the next few months.

We would be looking to buy straight away, however it is likely it might take us a little while to find somewhere - a couple of months, even more. I don't actually really know what the timescale would be for finding a house, making an offer, doing all the legal stuff, moving in. Hopefully we would be in a new house by the end of the summer holidays, but realistically, that might well not be the case.

While we are house-hunting, we will probably move in with my parents (they live in/very close the area we would be hoping to buy in) rather than rent somewhere short-term.

How would this work with schools? We have 2 primary aged DC, and I would like them to start school as soon as possible, plus the youngest is I think due to start in September.

Can we use my parents address to apply for school places, or do we have to wait until we have bought somewhere? We won't have a rental agreement or utilities bills or anything if we are just staying with family temporarily, so we won't be able to "prove" we have moved to the area.

We could end up buying somewhere several miles away from my parents house, and then we might have to move the DC's school again, so in that case it would be better to wait.

But if it takes months and months to find somewhere, the DC will need to be in school.

SIL says that there is a problem with people moving temporarily just in order to get a school place, and then moving again, and that if we do that they will take our school places away. I don't want that, of course! But it will be a temporary move (I'm hoping very temporary).

Can you get temporary school places, say for just half a term?

It's always been legal to place a child in a year group other than it's own age cohort. The recent noise about it is because there was an announcement that there could not be a locally imposed blanket ban on all such placements, but that every request has to be considered individually. That has not made it any likelier in practice that a school or admissions authority (which might be the school, depending on its status) would agree to such a request.

Unless there are specific issues, which would be ameliorated by educating in a younger group, expect a 'no'. But if you do secure it, consider staying within the same LEA for the rest of your DC's school years, as the decision of one is not binding on all.

The issue being discussed wasn't placing a child outside of its age cohort, but starting a child late in reception by waiting until they reach the age of 5.

It was stated upthread that schools have to allow this.

I remember all of this- the main problem is that there are too many variables! You do not have an address, you are open to looking at a fairly wide area for housing (as you should - finding good and availabe housing in the UK is getting tougher by the year), then there is secondary school to consider (are they good now? Will they still be good in 3 years when you need them? Are they getting a new head? Is distance an entry criteria? Will it still be in 3 years?), and of course primary schools. Which you cannot visit or even narrow down as you do not know where you will move.

Keep getting lots of background info on admissions policies of your likely LEAs and even particular secondaries. It is possible to find a secondary you would qualify for on distance.and then draw a 1km ring around it and find a home there. As long as it is not so oversubscribed that the catchment drops to 600m due to bulge years on local primaries. Or it becomes an academy and sets new admission criteria. Or it is single sex.and there is no suitable nearby school for dc of the other gender.

OP, admit temporary defeat. It will all become clearer on arrival. Mostly.

Our planned househunting area is based almost entirely around secondary schools catchment areas. Across 4 different education authorities! I have been reading up on all their policies, and looking at websites for the schools. Also at which primary schools were oversubscribed last year and what their admissions criteria are. But it is academic really until we know exactly where we will be.

So we need to be within 1 km of a good secondary school, ideally, not just within the catchment?

I think I do need to admit temporary defeat .

You'll love this: schools do not have catchments. They have distance criteria. Every LEA and in some cases individual schools measure distance.differently (As the crow flies, shortest walking route) and some don't use distance as a criteria at all. If they do, the LEA should have info on previous year's furthest distance. In London it can be well less than 1km.

Some of the ones I have been looking at had designated areas, and children living within the designated area had higher priority.

I actually found one with an "inverse distance" criteria. If it was oversubscribed, it would take the pupils that were furthest away first .

I definitely sympathise OP but, to be fair, this is exactly the same situation someone moving within England and Wales would find. I'm not sure that's any comfort but I thought it worth emphasising that pressure on school places in certain areas makes this a challenge for anyone trying to move.

Yes, I suppose, although someone moving within the country might at least have a UK address for official purposes, and be less likely to have to move into temporary accommodation first, which is my main concern.

We can't really get a mortgage offer until we are UK residents, so we have to have a bit of time in limbo while we find a house.

Hi Pascale, arriving a little late to the discussion but might be able to add something useful. I am familiar with (at least a borough of) one of the areas you are looking to move to (Surrey), having moved from there to abroad (and now investigating the move back).

I am sure it seems impossible at the moment, but there may be some things you can do to help reduce some of the uncertainty. I know it is really hard when you don't know when you will be moving, as well as (exactly) where.

I would ring up the LAs and get lists of which schools currently have places. Whack this into a spreadsheet and update it regularly (bear in mind reception and year 4 places at junior schools will be allocated shortly (mid-April)). Have a look at what secondary schools you like the look of are are nearby. Am I right in thinking that long term you want to be based near your DH's work? in which case, would focus on schools in that LA. Look at property prices/availability in that area to see if you think you can afford to live there. That way too you can try to visit those schools that seem likely prospects to get places in.

I would make a late application for a reception place for your youngest child now/soon, using your overseas address, to the LA you think you are most likely to be based in. This might not help but certainly won't hurt. You may get allocated a place at an undersubscribed school which might help your older children move up the waiting list in case there are fewer places available further up the school (based on my understanding that you would have one child in Y3, one in Y4). That being the case you may wish to focus on primaries rather than infants/juniors so you can try to get all three DC into the same school.

[This is not completely pie-in-the-sky, btw - in the borough we moved from the primaries seem to be more likely to have places available (i.e. undersubscribed at reception), and there are at least two I would be happy for DD to attend if we couldn't get her back into her previous school if/when we return to the UK.]

The flip side is that if you get school places for your older DC before September, this would move DD2 up the waiting list (should there be one) for a reception place. If you are considering separate infant/junior schools you may wish to do a late application for a junior place for your eldest DC as well. Remember whatever the outcome, you can go on waiting lists/update your address once you have one in UK so you won't be worse off than doing nothing and it might help!

Don't lose heart - it will all work out in the end! Sorry for waffling on, and I know a lot of what I said is repeated upthread. Don't stress about 'solving' the issue before you are back in the UK, just try to focus your criteria a bit more so you can narrow your search. Sending and .

Hi Sparrowfart, thank you.

The spreadsheet is a good idea and I will certainly
do that (also makes me feel I am doing something useful!)

Unfortunately the LA that DH will work in won't accept any applications until you are ordinarily resident in the borough, (although some of the surrounding LA's will accept applications from abroad for Reception and yr 3).

We will have to think seriously about applying for a place for reception/yr 3 in one of the other LAs, not sure yet. But it is potentially good advice, thank you.