Moving to new area after school application cut off date

[sarah9858]

Hi all,

I am very uneducated around school admissions so I am hoping someone can give me some advice please!

We are in the processing of moving house and hope for a completion date of end of January/beginning of February. My son will be 4 in June and is due to start school in September.
We are moving 25 miles away to a different local authority, closest 2 schools are showing on the schoolchecker (Rightmove thing) as not oversubscribed in 2017.

When the applications opened for the area we currently live in, I put my application in for schools closest to the house we live in now, knowing that they may be a chance we would move but didn't think it would happen this quickly.

I am really not sure what I should do. Am I right in thinking that as we will most likely not get an application in before the cut off date for the new area, it will be classed as a late application or mid term transfer and we will be considered after on time applications?

Thanks in advance, very confused mummy here!

You'll likely be a late applicant thought worth phoning to check given that you won't be that late whether they'd take you in the normal round. You'll therefore get an undersubscribed school, but you can then go on the WL for those you want, at which point you're on the list in the position according to their entry criteria and at no disadvantage because you applied late.

If they are not oversubscribed why not include one (or two) as your top choices on your application and then local schools to where you live now. if you don't get one you can at least go on the continued interest list when you do move.

If the schools really are undersubscribed then you will be offered a place no matter where you live.

Don't be too disheartened if you end up on a waiting list I know several families that were but ended up being offered their first choice school over the summer.

Waiting list for preferred school i mean, the authority will have to offer you something

You probably could apply for a different area on the form, I wouldn't bank on moving until contracts have been exchanged though! Check the new Council's admissions website, some of them will accept address changes between application and allocation.

I moved after schools had been allocated (much further away than you did though) and had to put in a late application. I had to provide proof of my address and I think I had to give the details of the place that I had been allocated in a completely different area.

Good luck with the move OP!

My Local Authority has an exception to the late application rule for people who have moved into the area between closing date for applications (15th January 2018) and the date the decsions is made re allocation of places (28th February 2018). The application to the new authority has to be received before 28th February 2018. The dates might be slightly different for your area but they should have a similar provision. If you comply with this condition your application will then be treated as an application made in time. My LA is in England, obviously other countries within the UK make have different rules altogether.
The admissions booklet for your new authority should be online together with contact numbers for the admissions office. My daughter moved house last year during the admissions process just like you and she found that phoning the admissions office was really useful, they deal with situations like yours (and hers) regularly and were able to give her specific advise.

The most important thing is that if you have applied to your current authority for a place, and you will be advised to do so in case you house move falls through for whatever reason, is that you formally withdraw that application before you make the an application to your new LA as if they deem you to have made two applications (fraud) you will be put right to the bottom of the list and will only be allocated a place right at the end. However my daughter's local authority accepted the withdrawal of the application by email and sent her confirmation that her application had been withdrawn within minutes.