Moving schools during the holiday

[Mummy2AO2012]

Hi all. New here & looking for advice. We are moving home during the school holidays to an area 40 minutes away from where we currently live. My daughter is in year 2 and I’ve applied for a couple of schools near our new home. We haven’t been offered a place as the schools are all full. The admissions team can’t do anything about it until we send a contract in with our new address on. We won’t get that until half way through the summer holidays, so it’s unlikey that anything will be done until the September term. They have told me that it could take a couple of weeks come September to sort out a place for her. What do I do for those two weeks as it will be impossible for me to get my daughter to her current school from our new address. How badly will I be punished if she doesn’t go to school for those two weeks? It’s just more stress added to the move as I’m unsure on how to deal with it.

Surely there will be no sanctions on you? You have done the appropriate thing and followed the rules. You are just waiting for a place. Have you called the schools directly? My DD soon to be school seems to handle applications themselves except for the reception year? They're an academy.

You will be expected to keep her at her current school until she is enrolled at her new school. Her current school will chase you for unauthorised absence and you may be fined. It may take quite a while to get her into a new school if it's already full.

What if I can’t get her to her current school?

I doubt they are all full and there may be similar movement over the summer out of some of those schools. You could home educate in the meantime, assuming you are not working ft.

You’ll be “home schooling” until a place is allocated. Just buy a few bond books...

What do I have to do for ‘home schooling’ to be acceptable?

Soontobe60 how far would you have to move to not be expected to take a child to the old school???

Mummy we've just done this (except an 18hr journey - obviously completely unreasonable to take the kids to their old school). Once places had been found, everything moved really quickly, and we could have started a couple of days after the places were offered. We HAD to start within a couple of weeks of places being offered, so even if you got a place now, you couldn't accept it as you wouldnt be able to get to the new school for the remainder of the year.

Send in the address when you have exchanged, and hope that something turns up. There is nothing you can do now, unless remaining at her old school is feasible (and it sounds like it isnt).

Good luck with the house move.

I will be in the same boat OP except I am coming from abroad - they will be off rolled at their current school and I do not expect to be haranged in the UK while waiting for a place - the school they are going to has first term homework topics/schemes of work up so I was going to do some bits on that/take them swimming/do baking and gardening/reading and phonics and basically get them settled culturally as there will be reverse culture shock.
I was also going to nip into school and collect work if that was possible. Good luck

Oh, I was also told to send in transfer forms now (mid June) as the 15 day acceptance rule would not apply with the holidays coming up and they would process for the 5th September even though I am not in UK yet - someone on here thought admissions was being obtuse as even though my address is mine (rented out) I won't officially be in it at the time of application so I am expecting a scenario like yours.
It's a shame in terms of wanting DC to start with everyone else so less of 'new child' label even though most will already know each other...on the other hand, it gives them a couple of weeks breathing space I guess.

Rage we've come from abroad too. Kids started last week, so we have the last month of the school year in the new school before the summer holidays. (Weve finished the year at the old school - in effect they are getting 4 weeks extra in the current year groups). Our offer was very clear - we needed to have taken up the places by 1 July or loose them. Seems like the different councils all behave slightly differently!

I have heard that - that authorities have different protocol - you have done well there with your kiddies having a month now (especially as last month tends to be more relaxed) so nicely set up for September/can maybe meet a kid or two in the holidays. Are they pleased to be back?

That's was the plan - settle now, find some friends, and have one less thing to worry about, and break up the crazy long summer holiday they otherwise would have had.

Everything is new and great at the moment - scan and shop in Tesco is exciting!!! The weather is great, rain is novel. Sausages are available. I'm sure it will get more mundane with time!

In our LA, in that situation, the current school would do a 'child missing education' referral to ensure that the child is on the LA's radar so that they can do their own checks (to make sure that the parents haven't just stayed put but just stopped sending their child to school). These checks would probably involve a home visit to the old address and liaison with the new LA to check you've been in contact them. The old school would keep your child on roll but just code them as not currently attending but waiting to be off-rolled. This would carry on until a new school place is confirmed. They certainly wouldn't be fining you unless they suspected deceit on your part. If you're staying within the same LA it's even less of an issue, as the LA will know exactly what's going on with both the old and the new school. I wouldn't worry too much, though you could always phone the old LA to check their procedures.

I’m still unsure what to do! Who do I advise if I’m taking her out of her current school to be home schooled? They’ve told me they’d find a place at a local school once term starts up again so I’m hoping it’s pretty quick after she’s supposed to go back.

OK, you need to forget the home school thing - you're not home schooling. I think you should inform the current school in writing that your child will no longer be attending after x date (ie the last day of the summer term) because you will no longer be living within a distance that allows you to transport her to school. In your letter, inform them that you will be moving house and that you are waiting for your new LA to find you a school place. At the start of the new year, the old school will probably code her as N (no reason yet provided for absence) or C (authorised absence). They will either do a CME referral immediately, or they may wait, if it's likely that you will get a school place within a week or two. Once the new school have confirmed that she is on roll, the old school will be able to off-roll her from the date she last attended - so it won't hit their attendance figures. The key aim of this process is to ensure that children don't fall through the cracks - one school or another is always responsible for them. Above all, you are not doing anything wrong, so be totally open and honest with everyone, and contact the old school regularly until you get a new school place to keep them informed. Don't do a home ed notification as this is not what they're for - they should only be used where you are genuinely intending to home educate - not just because your child will be absent from school for a short period.

Oh, and give the old school your new address if you know it - the LA will want to know it if the school do a CME referral.

Thank you - that’s exactly what I needed explained to me! Fingers crossed!

Are you absolutely certain that the move will happen when it is planned to? I would be a bit circumspect about notifying anyone that I was taking my child off roll until I was actually at my new address (victim of four false starts in the process of one house move here, though fortunately before we had DC).

That's a good point Frogs. You could write and say you 'anticipate' removing her at the end if the summer, but ask them to please wait for confirmation of the move before they actually take her off roll. (As I say, they shouldn't take her off yet anyway, but it's true that some schools don't always do what they're supposed to!)

Hello, I'm moving to Great Orton over the summer (job change) with my ds 10 and dd 8. Can anyone recommend good primary school nearby? My ds is very anxious about the move so I need to get the school right first time. Thank you.

I wouldn’t say anything to your old school until you actually move schools. There is no reason the council can not arrange to you to start at a new school within a couple of days if there is a space. If the new council require you to attend the old school (or if there are no new schools within 3 miles) then they must provide transport. Certainly don’t homeschool as that takes you off everyone’s books.

Do you need to send anything before you have exchanged on the house???

But, yes, I'd say it's fine if you feel you need to send something now. Personally, I'd wait until after you have moved.

You realise you have left the school name, and your daughters name in the middle of that letter?

Depends on your relationship with the old school, but I think it's a bit mean not to say anything until after you've moved (unless it's still really up in the air whether you're moving). Why wouldn't you? They can't take your place away if you make it clear that you'll only actually withdraw your daughter once the move is confirmed. They won't be cross with you for moving house (as they might if you were going to the school down the road). And they'll probably want to do a nice end of year goodbye to your daughter. Why wouldn't you tell them?

Thanks everyone for your advice. I sent a letter to her current last week explained everything & this week we’ve been given potentially two places for a September start! I sent my draft contract and they actually accepted it. One thing less to stress about so all happy here! Thanks again for your help