Primary 1 application (Edinburgh)

[user1465101423]

Hi everyone,

Apologies in advance for the lengthy post!

My husband and I are currently living in Hong Kong and our eldest daughter is in K2 (4 years old). We are planning on moving back to the UK (Edinburgh) next year. We can only completely move back around June, 2017. This is past the cut-off for Primary 1 application. We were planning on renting a place in Stockbridge (Stockbridge Primary would be our preferred school) before the deadline for the local catchment area requirements, but not actually moving in until we come over in June.

Is this a feasible plan? We are worried that we won’t be able to prove that we are living in the area (because we won’t be!) and even if we were to lie and just say we are living there, once they ask about our daughter’s nursery/previous schooling, they will easily see that we’re still in Hong Kong.

Has anyone been through a similar situation? Any tips or advice?

Thanks millions in advance!

http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/20256/schoolplaces/1374/joinnaschoollaftertheestartoffsession

This link maybe helpful to you. Classes for next session have already been decided so if it's a popular school it may already be full, but they may have reserved places for people moving into catchment.

I would phone the school for a chat.

Oops just noticed its 2017 you are talking about. Classes are decided by March/April, so June might be cutting it fine.

I'm posting far too early! They will need proof of residence and they can check council tax records and even gas/electric bills so be careful!

Ds1 starts school in August (different area in Scotland though). We applied for a place at the catchment non denom school in January at enrollment week and he got a place. But then we changed our mind and wanted him to go to the Catholic school in our catchment area instead. So we applied with the school in May. Our council review these requests every two weeks so we were told within about 2/3 weeks and he did indeed get in. Our council required two proofs of address, such as council tax bill, bank statement, gas bill etc but didn't ask anywhere on the form about previous nursery. I doubt you would be able to apply before you are living here though.

If you post on Mumsnet Local for Edinburgh you might get some more local knowledge that helps e.g. how pressured Stockbridge Primary is for places (I'm on the other side of town, but I'm guessing you'll b be exceptionally lucky to get in after the cut off, or to get in straight away at least, but you might be surprised). Also what people think of the local alternatives. Sounds like you're from Edinburgh originally so you may have a good idea, but I grew up in Edinburgh and returned with DS aged 6. He is not in our catchment school, which the rest of the world is fighting to get into so it's very crowded. I wouldn't have thought of the school he was in until we started looking but it's working really well in lots of way and I wouldn't change schools now, so you might be surprised by the alternatives. Or else she goes on the waiting list, at her age friendships are shifting sands. My niece moved schools at a similar age this year and is very happy at new school.

These are big decisions and we worry at the time, but all the primaries are pretty good, and the kids turn out fine.

Thanks for the replies!

City of Edinburgh council are doing their best to reserve at least 1 space in each class to allow for children moving into the catchment after the closing deadline (which in your case is end of Feb 2017), however this policy is coming under pressure in heavily oversubscribed schools like Stockbridge, so there would be no guarantees.

I'm not confident your plan of renting somewhere rather than actually being resident would work as they do seem to scrutinise the proof of address fairly closely.

However, it is a fairly transient area and there is a reasonable amount of movement in the run up to the start of the school year. If there wasn't a place available at the point at which you become resident, you would be at the head of the waiting list (possibly only behind someone else in the same boat as you who lived closer to the school). You would have a good chance of getting a place shortly before / after the start of term, and would be more or less guaranteed a place for p2 when the max numbers of pupil per class increases from 25 to 30. Hope that's useful!