Applied for primary schools, now DH wants to move area. Help!

[emdude]

Help!! My heads all over the place and I don't know what to do for the best.

We live in a nice area, near 3 very good primary schools. We have applied to them and find out where DS1 will be going in the next few weeks.

Last year something very traumatic happened to my DH's family quite close to here and my DH has said today he thinks he wants to move away from the area. I totally see his point, and if it were a year ago would move like a shot! I want him to be happy, and he wants to feel his family is safe and secure.

My question is, I guess, what would happen about getting DS1 into a primary school if

1/ we moved before September
2/ we moved middle of his first year

Also if anyone has had experience of this and how it affected their children I'd love to hear about it. We also have a DS2 in nursery, but I think he would cope fine with moving nurseries - he's v confident. DS1 however is more shy and sensitive.

That's tricky. Could you move right next to a good primary as soon as possible so you'd be top of the waiting list for it

Wait until allocations are out then call the LEA where you are looking to move. There may be spaces available.

@HangingRock that’s not how it works, they wouldn’t go above children on the waiting list who applied in the original application process

@kirstenraymond that isn't right. Waiting lists arent kept in order of when a child was added but in order of the admissions criteria.

I would wait until places are given in a couple of weeks, then you'll know firstly if your child has got into where you want (which could change things if not) and also you'd be able to find out what other schools have places still available. It also gives a few weeks for the dust to settle with what's been going on in your life.
If possible I would personally try and move before September if I was going to. You can apply for a late place if you can prove you've moved house but I'm not sure what the deadline is for late applications, you can find this out with your local council. Otherwise it would be a case of having to find a school that wasn't oversubscribed.
After your child has started school you would have to apply for an in-year school place, which again would depend on if he school had an available place.

I think once the allocations are made, the waiting list is then ordered according to who is highest in the criteria eg. Distance, including late entrants

This is my worry. From a quick look on Rightmove, all of the schools in the area we want to move to are oversubscribed. He would probably get into one in an adjacent area, which requires improvement. I really don't want that, the schools where we are now are all lovely.

Would he be allowed to keep his place at the school he initially gets into whilst being on the waiting list for a school in the new area? I think I'd rather have a extra 15 miles commute than send him to a school that's not very good.

Yes, he would be able to keep the place he is initially allocated even if you move later.

I think that it is april now.. enrol him in one near you. Then hold off on moving straightaway. Until DC settles. Move mid year

Once your child starts the school you can move
You could move once the allocation has been done and you would probably be ok but if the school you get is oversubscribed it might look dodgy and in some circumstances the LEA could remove the place - but if you applied honestly shouldn’t be a problem
Don’t underestimate a longer drive though, they are very tired when they start school and later when activities and friends visiting kick in it could be a pain, especially if you have to drag a younger child along too
If the raging happened to your DH family so recently will things calm down and this is a knee jerk reaction or do you really need to move?

@Hoppinggreen I don't think it'll calm down. It's been two years, and I think now DS is going to school the thought that he might end up in the same school as the relatives of the perpetrators is just too much for him. The likelihood of this happening in primary is small, secondary much more likely.

I'm so torn. I love our house and the area. I always believed it was our 'forever house'. The area we would move to is more expensive as it's currently one of the more fashionable areas to live in, even though I'm not convinced it's any nicer than where we live now. We definitely would have to down size. I feel so sad at the thought of having to leave.

Sorry @Hoppinggreen just realised my initial posy was a bit misleading. The incident happened nearly two years ago, the investigation (finding out who did it etc) and subsequent trial happened last year

It’ll be fine. People move house and switch schools all the time for all sorts of reasons. They also don’t take up places, even once they’ve accepted them.

Snookie is right - I remember my primary school years as a time when no-one moved in or out of my life but actually (having seen DS through primary) people move in and out of schools all the time.

"Requires improvement" used to be "satisfactory". I'd go and look at the school before writing it off. Moving in early infants is so easy, lots of children do it and the DC will settle really quickly.

Depending on how long the commute back to your old area will take you (in rush hour) you might want to consider that the downside of this might well outweigh any perceived shortcomings in the local school.

Thanks everyone. All good advice. I think we probably need to look into local schools, and maybe consider other areas too.

After the allocation (April?) would it be worth ringing round LEA's to see what schools have places?