In-Year School admissions for returning resident (reception/year1)

[paula70]

Hi All

Weve been living abroad for a number of years and we are now considering returning this year to the UK with our two kids. The issue is with the timing of school admissions. We are planning on returning towards the end of this year to the house that weve been renting out. It has 3 decent schools nearby (10 mins walk or drive) but theyre all oversubscribed going by the last ofsted reports. So we are concerned if we do an in-year admission we might end up with a long school run miles away if they cant get into any of these nearby schools. So going at the end of this year allows us to do a proper year start admission request in January for September 2016 to the schools we want.

Anyway, the main question is. If I was to go a month earlier to look for a new job, get the house up and running , could I apply for an in-year school admission for my kids before they are back in the UK to speed up the process of having them back at school. Do the kids have to be resident in the country to apply? Is there a time limit for how long the local council should take to find a school place for children? And also considering the appeals process if they were to give us a school miles away rather than something locally.

Thanks

I'd have to take it back home with me though. Would be a struggle as I have the pram :-/ unless they had bike stores! Yeah I will definitely book a visit after the hols :-)

Thanks for all the responses!

It does appear that as long as you are resident in the house ie have council tax/bills to show you live in that location, then you are able to apply, it doesnt mention that the children need to be present. But like tethersend said, they wont hold school places so I cant submit the application too far in advanced , perhaps a week or two before my children arrive back in the country. I think the only thing I can do is contact the schools or local authority before and ask for the subscription levels are for the schools local to us and then try and gauge what our chances are.

The worst case is that we have to hire a childminder to look after the kids whilst we sort out employment and also take and collect the kids from school if the distances are too great for us to do it ourselves.

It might be that for the first 9 months or whatever until the new term starts in Sept 2016 well have to take whatever they give us and hopefully well get them in the school around the corner, which is 5mins walk.

Scooters are easy to hang off pram or fold / collapse. I'd be shocked if there was no bike rack

Travelincolour I'm not sure they would as they have offered me alternatives to my first choice.

Paula sorry I've high jacked your post. Yes you can ring them anytime and they will tell you what schools are available in your area at that time so probably best to look into nearer your move date. Goodluck

No probs Sarah1103 :-)

Paula

September is only really relevant if a child is transitioning to year 3 at that point as the year 3 onwards class size rules are less strict.

Thanks, yes actually our eldest would be going into year 3 in sept 2016.

We were under the impression that we would need to be in the country before January 2016 deadline in order to apply and have more chance for first choice school places for the following Sept. But is it just the case that you are always on a waiting list for your chosen schools regardless of when you apply.

The jan deadline is only relevant for Sept Reception intake. Otherwise you just apply when you can and start when you have an offer

The January deadline only applies if you are applying for a reception place (or y3 place for a separate junior school) the following September.

Applying at any other point in a child's schooling (save for secondary transfer) is known as an 'in year' application, regardless of the point in the year it is made.

If places were freed up in every year every September, then everyone would have to reapply for their child's school place every year. It would be chaos!

Is the school nearest you a primary (4-11) or a junior (7-11), do you know?

ok thanks, the nearest school offers everything from reception up to 11 years old (infants & juniors). So thats why we want our kids to go there, there something like 450 pupils.

Ok, so the bulk of pupils in year 3 will be in year 2 when you apply for a year 3 place; however, some may be moving schools at this point or the school may have a few extra places; it's certainly more possible to win an appeal if it comes to that