Suggestions desperately needed on school application for overseas family during relocation

[Fanatron]

Hi all,

Our family recently relocated to London from overseas due to the change of the societal situation back home. Our 4-year-old DS (DoB Oct 2016) is still back home attending an international kindergarten at the moment, and our plan is to bring him over later this year to start Reception in September 2021, and I'm in the process of searching for school options for him, which kind of puts me into despair the more I look into it, I'm new to the education system and naturally this community but have recently spent a lot of time on here and have probably built a fair amount of trust for your inputs, more than any other sources, so I finally decided to put my concerns up here and any opinion is truly appreciated for my 2 questions,

1. We prefer to send DD to the private section -- I'm fully aware of the extremely late timing for applying for private schools, especially we're in the process of purchasing a property in central London as our permanent address (currently renting nearby), and private schools in the area are probably oversubscribed a long time ago from what I find in research. Would there still be any chance for DS to get into a private school in central London by any alternative means? Would consultancy services like Gabbitas and GSG help in this case, maybe with their own contacts with the schools that sort of thing? I got in touch with them and they both offered services charging 3k+, and yet I'm still not fully convinced after the short chats with them, wondering if anyone knows whether they'd be legit helpful?

1. We obviously plan to apply for state schools as a backup, also there are great schools in the area that we'd be happy to send DS to if offered a place, however I found ourselves in a bit of a tricky place - 2.1)the purchase of the property is still ongoing and estimated completion is at the end of Jan, which is after the deadline of 15th Jan for school application, I read through the council guide thoroughly and have also phoned the local council staff, it seems quite clear that we shouldn't be applying for schools with this address that's not strictly ours at the time of application, but in reality would it cause any serious problem if we obtain the place literally 15 days after the submission? 2.2) Moreover, according to the official code, the address used to apply for schools not only needs to be owned by us, but will also the child's permanent address at the time of application, but as I mentioned above, we don't plan to bring DS over until maybe Jun when his current school term finishes, not to mention the difficulty to travel and the unoptimistic situation with Covid here in the UK make no sense to bring him over early. If I strictly follow the rules, I won't be able to apply for state schools for him until midyear, which I believe will hardly leave us with any good choices, so I'm wondering if you guys know if it's gonna be okay to do the application with our permanent address after we purchased it, but without DS actually living in it? How could the council find out whether the child lives in an address other than paying a visit? How likely would they do that?

If you've read all the way till here thank you so much for your time and patience, again I will so grateful for any input, wish everyone and your family a smooth and healthy new year ahead!

Fan

Contact the private schools, they may have places.

State schools will ask for evidence that he lives there such as GP registration, if there is a child benefit application (you can apply but not receive any money). They might also ask for bills for previous months for you to prove you were living at that address. If suspicion is raised- for example if your neighbour's best friend doesn't get a place for the school but you do they might report you and you would be investigated for fraud. Your child’s place can be taken away.

1. I would just contact private schools yourself to ask if there are places available. With the economic situation in the Uk as it is, you might find there are more places available than in a normal year

2.1 Yes it would cause a serious problem to use a false address to apply for a state school place! 2.2 Yes, they can and do check particularly for highly sought after schools.

When you think about it, you’re asking for a school place to be reserved at an address the family doesn’t live or own and for a child who isn’t even in the country. So you’d need to accept that you might have to take whatever place is left when your child arrives in the country and go on waiting lists for schools you do like. There is often movement on waiting lists.

1. It will depend on individual schools, some you register at birth others are much later. Agencies can do the groundwork but not magic up spaces. There will be some movement over the interim especially as families reconsider their need to live in central London if they can wfh or are expats.
2. You could apply for a state place now using an overseas address and there is often a short window where you can amend it to a new address and it still be treated as "on time". Otherwise it will be a late application which will be reviewed after Easter when first allocations are made and vacancies/waiting lists available.

I think people misunderstand. You are already here renting locally right and are going to buy locally too?

Apply with your current rental address in London and then when you move later this month call the council to update your address immediately.

Many councils allow application updates for movers if it’s before allocations have been made. The application won’t be considered late this way but you need to accurate at each stage.

Regarding a private reception place, it will be difficult to get a place at a popular private school. I know of favours being done for people relocating who know a parent at the school with pull but it wasn’t for reception which is a tricky point to try for that.

There are good non-selective preps across London that often have space and feed into prestigious secondary independent schools but you might prefer to get a state place and wait for a place to open up at your preferred private school. People move all the time so vacancies di come up regularly in higher years or after September.

Hello LondonGirl83, thanks so much for your reply! I guess I didn't make it perfectly clear - my DH and I have moved over first to relocate our business and to purchase a property to settle in, while our DS is still back home temporarily with our parents, and our plan is for him to finish this school term at the current kindergarten and come over around Jun to start reception in Sep.
I have considered what you suggested before, but the problem is that 1.)if I apply with our current rental place, which is not in the same council as the target permanent property we're buying, the school choices would be totally different. When I contact the council to change my address, do I get to make a new set of school choices?
2.)the same question with 2.2 in the original post, even after we've officially purchased the permanent address in Jan/Feb, DS probably won't be living in there until he comes over in Jun, would that be a problem if I change the address before the child actually moves in?

Pick the schools you want now based on your future address if you are 100 percent certain you are moving - ie pick ones that are convenient and realistic based on that location.

It doesn’t matter which council you apply in. Admissions in London is managed across all of London so it will still be fine. It’s a pan-London allocation process.

Good luck with the move!

1, contact private schools directly school by school and ask them. Eveyr school will have its own process, and they can tell you how oversubscribed.

1. You must apply for the address you are at at the time of application, but you can apply for any school from there. So if you are in council A and the school you want, next to your new house is in council B. You apply to council A, and put down the school in council B.

You must always apply from your current address. If you use the new one and they find out, you can lose your place due to fraud.

As you will complete so soon after the deadline, and you are talking about 2 councils, it would be worth phoning them and asking. Council B may allow you to put in an application from your new address, or either of them may allow you to change address as it is so soon.

The fact that he isn't here yet but will be in June, should be OK.

@LondonGirl83 I don’t think people are misunderstanding. A big issue is that the child doesn’t live here and school places are allocated on the child’s address.

@Fanatron there are some admissions experts who are kind enough to lend their time who may come along and advise about whether there is any way round this.

I am completely not an expert but didn't think you could apply whilst child was not in the country.

Talk to admissions

If you are near completion. Ask your solicitor to provide a letter with the agreed completion date and forward it with your application

For state schools you can use your rental address if you are living there, not sure though if him being overseas would prevent it though

Ps when we moved from oversea we applied in July and got the nearest school

you can definitley apply before the child is here.
The question is, form which address.

If you must apply from the address that the child is living at, you can apply from overseas, from his current address. The trouble is, it won't help, as he will be too far away to get a place.

It would be fraudulent to apply before he is in the country. You probably would not get found out, as I think they mostly check council tax records, but if did they would likely remove the place.

Definitely give a genuine address with schools near your new address and change addresses when you can. They are likely to find out if you use a fraudulent address.

Private schools will be much more open to you applying whilst he is abroad, but it will be a case of ringing round to see who will allow a later application.

It would be fraudulent to apply before he is in the country.

no, it would be fraudulent to say he is living at the address when he isn't.

I think you really need to contact the admissions officer at the council and ask if you can apply from the address you are living at before he arrives. I think if his parents are at the address, then you may be able to apply.

Cross post with steppemum who is correct. You can apply now, but you need to give his residential address, which is currently abroad. That's tricky if schools are oversubscribed.