Moving & changing primary schools - what was it like?

[Sherbet99]

Hello,

My partner and I are looking to move house for a home that works better for our family of four. We live in the London suburbs, and hopefully we will be able to afford what we want here.

However, it may be the case that we have to move out so that we can get a bigger place. This would mean moving my son from his current primary school where he is happy. My son has ADHD but doesn't receive any additional support other than the occasional intervention group such as with his handwriting.

Has anyone moved their child to another school at around the age of 7? How did it go? Did your child settle quickly? I would be interested to hear others' experiences.

Many thanks in advance!
x

We moved in September, with a 6yo and 8yo.

6yo, it was reasonably smooth. She got a school place very quickly, made friends within days.

8yo.. not so good. She originally had no school place for several weeks, then given a place in a unsuitable school, which is attended for a couple of weeks, with a council taxi, before we won her appeal to join her sisters school. She started that school in November, and it's only the last few weeks I would say she was 'settled'.

We moved youngest DD at 6 from a small village Primary to a large mixed (years) class Primary in a town. The first six months weren’t great, they were only 5 other Year 2 girls in her class, one of whom decided that the others weren’t playing with her. She did miss her friends hugely too. By Year 3 though, she’d settled, made friends and all was well.

You obviously have the additional consideration re SEN so personally I’d be looking at schools with strong SEN teams. He might as you say not need much support at the moment but I’d want educated and available additional support available should you want it at some point in the future. Good luck OP - if it’s not initially a success it does within a couple of terms get a lot better!

We've moved both our children from private to state. Moved our daughter age 7 in year 3. She was fully ensconced within 3 days and has never looked back.
Our soon moved last Monday age 6. He is loving it too and not looked back.
All cases are different but fingers crossed I would say both our children settled within 3 weeks.

Sorry other way state to private...

We moved Dd at beginning yr2 due to house move. She's very confident and bright, so I was surprised that it took her as long to settle as it did. No major issues, she just missed her old school and friends a lot more than I expected her to.