Help!! Moving house 3 weeks before reception start

[PassTheCremeEggs]

I am so so stressed.

Have child starting reception this year. We're buying a house and moving out of current area about 2-3 weeks before term starts. LA says I can't apply for a school place until contracts exchanged, and also by the way the schools manage their own admissions and they're all on holiday until the start of term so child won't get place allocated until after term starts.

Gahh!! Why isn't someone working during the holidays? Or why aren't the lists managed by the LA who aren't on holidays?

Anyway - I would really love to hear positive stories of moving at the worst possible time like this! If you moved in summer how easily did you get a place in reception?

Are they really? Lots of us are going in this week to set up for next year. Everyone will be in for training days before the kids. We are in from September 1st. Secretaries will be too. They may be in before that too.
Send an email to the school with all your child's details. They will check them whenever they are in.
We often have kids we weren't expecting. So much so that I always put three extra sets of books in the pile.

Thank you Ditsy - that's made me feel a bit more hopeful! Perhaps the LA were just giving me the worst case. It did seem a bit strange that no one would be in any of the schools at all until 5 September. Fingers crossed

Office staff are in at my school throughout the hols. Email and arrive on the first day.

We've had children turn up with no prior notice at all if parents don't understand the system (usually new to Britain). We cope! If there's room, they stay :-)

We are moving at the same time as you and I was told I could email the head over the holidays once we had exchanged.

Are the schools in the new area all over subscribed ?
I guess that would make it harder as the school we are moving to had space .
But they will obviously find you a place !

Even if it is all quite last minute you may find it gets sorted extremely quickly as the schools start to reopen - a lot of schools stagger reception starters anyway. Last year at DD school they were still starting about 10 days into the new term - so your DD wouldn't miss out ( though I totally understand the uncertainty being stressful !)

In some schools, there may well be kids on roll who don't turn up as they have moved/gone private so it could be a good time!

Historic info for allocations and which schools are undersubscribed may help your choices - have you picked the schools you are targeting?

They were pretty much all oversubscribed last year. The council has given me the names of a couple that have spaces so that's a start. We want the one in the village though.. I know she won't get in straight away but I'm just impatient and want to get onto the waiting list ASAP so that we have more chance of something comes up at start of term with any no shows.

Thank you all for giving me a bit of hope!!

If there's a couple with spaces you should be able to apply now from your current address. You have to apply through your current LA but they can't refuse you the space because you live out of area.

As its reception, you need to think that your dd is not going to realise I f she starts on the first day or not. If she goes a couple weeks of weeks later or after half term she is not going to be aware.

Little children have very fluid friendships and they will welcome your dd with open arms.

With the places, I was told that you could apply for a place with any address. So if I was applying fromlondon to a school in Birmingham and there was a place in that school then I could have it. Nobody living closer is applying.

I work in a school office that manages its own admissions.

I would email ASAP and the chances are someone will pick it up soon.

Explain the situation, ask for relevant formats to complete etc and they may be able to offer you a place that is conditional on you exchanging - we have a family on hold like this over the summer.

As soon as you exchange, email them the evidence and you're sorted.

Obv this only works if they have places, but best to find this out sooner rather than later.
Definitely get the ball rolling now though, don't wait to exchange. Good luck.

That's a good point you all make about the schools having places and that I should be able to apply from our current address.

But - what would you do if you really want a place in the village school and want to be on the waiting list for it? Would you still apply for a place in another school that has spaces and then go on the waiting list for the village school? Is this even possible? I definitely can't even get on the waiting list for village school until exchange - they've told me this. I suppose I could still apply for a place there from our current address and be added to the waiting list, and then I'd go up the list at the point we move into the village. But what does that mean for the place we're holding for her here (in case the purchase goes pear shaped!)

It's so confusing...

You should be able to go on the list. You'll just be at the bottom so I don't think that's right.

Applying for spaces in other schools depends on what you want to do really and how fast a space in the village school comes up. There's no guarantee you will get a place in the school you want even once you have moved. How long would you be willing to keep her at home for?

Missed the bit about the place you are holding. I don't think you'll be able to hold that once you've been offered another place.

I think it is ok as long as you notify once a place has been offered and you have accepted. I don't work in the office but I am party to some conversations about possible new children arriving. I think we have had more than one child on more than one list because of house moves and other schools being tight for space. They have sometimes come to us until their catchment school has space but this has take 3 years in two cases. One child left the other stay as she was so embedded in friendship groups.
We have a double intake though so we can usually accommodate just a case of finding another chair even in the full classes. I would email them now in preparation. Go on the websites and find out as much as you can about the schools.

I'm in a similar boat for junior infants and senior infants, but in Ireland so the application procedure is different. I've contacted 4 schools in the new area; one hasn't replied, one has put us on the waiting list, one has said they'll put us on the waiting list on the 22nd of august when there's someone actually there, and the only one that has places available would be my last choice.

Tense, isn't it?!

Don't rely on e-mail though! DH e-mailed about 17 schools before we moved, it was term time and still only about half responded. I rang them all in the end. At least one said "just come in when you get here".

I rang them all, couldn't get an answer and none of them have answering machines!