Moving school

[Ianula]

Hi everyone,

We have 2 girls, Y2, and reception, attending a very nice school, but we are considering moving. We want to buy a home but our current area, Barnet, is way above our budget, so we need to consider moving somewhere outside London.

I would like to ask you to share some similar experiences to help us with the moving school process. Like what is the best time of the year to move, what steps to follow, how to make sure that we can get a place to a good school even we move during the school year, etc.

Thank you so much,
Keep safe,
Ianula

Moving to tie in with a new academic year is better timing. Getting into good schools can be challenging due to waiting lists. Some schools have lots of movement whereas others will take years.

Hey!
I have moved my son schools as we moved house.
He is 6. We live in the next town to our old house, around a 10 minute drive.

I thought moving him school would be best for him as it’s closer and he can make friends from this town.

However he is hating it, he is already missing his old house and cries to go back to his old school. He has been in his new school a term and still asks to go back to his old school.

I get photos from his old school and I’m just gutted for him. I feel so full of guilt and I don’t know what to do.

Do I move him back and drive him there every day? I don’t want to be causing him any trauma.
I cry also everyday as I just don’t know what the right thing to do is.
Please any advice would be helpful, I am crying as I type this.
I just want him to be happy and to do what is best for him.
I was never moved school at a young age so I don’t know what he is feeling inside?

I’m a teacher but I know my views are different to others.

I think moving a primary school child is much better to do when they’re in the younger school years but ultimately moving in primary is much better than secondary as they’re more likely to make more friends/ settle easier etc.

Starting at the beginning of a new school year can be ok but honestly it’s not a deal breaker and there are so many different advantages to starting mid school year anyway.

The one thing I would say is make sure you’re certain that the school your choosing is the right one; you don’t want to move to one school in a new town and then decide it’s wrong and find another one.

Much better to take a little longer to decide on one you like and stick with it.

Depending on the time you have before you move, go and take a tour/ walk around the school on various days at different times to see if your view changes. You also get to see the school more than once and get to ask different things you might not have thought of the first time you went!

Good luck in your search

@JoJoRobbo
Sorry your son is having a hard time 😢

First of all - have you had a really good chat about what he is feeling and why?
It would be best to do this when he isn’t upset. (If you talk about it when he is sad it will be harder for him to think reasonably about why he’s sad).

Also it’s hard but it might not be helping if he is seeing you upset. If he knows you’re finding it hard too he will play off your emotions.

Try and get up a good relationship with some of his classmates - maybe start by meeting a few people at the playground, where he knows you’ll be just close by or where he can safely play but not ‘alone’.
This could be a good thing to try and arrange this holiday if you can, so he’s seeing some of his new class mates and not having a whole 2/3 weeks without talking to or seeing any of them.

It might be worth arranging a meeting with his teacher to see how he is getting on and reacting in class/ social situations at school. This should help you with your next step in regards to how to support him.

I don’t think that moving him back to his old school would be helpful at the moment. He is still quite little and it’s a big change to go somewhere new and could take a while for him to settle which is sooo hard for you but he will get there eventually.
Sending positive vibes your way