Being abroad and school change

[nasrinconfused]

We are confused about how to approach our DD's 7+ transfer to a new pvt school (she has already secured a 7+ place in the pvt school). She is currently in state. We are at our second home and don't wish to come back to UK till about May. (pls don't be critical while replying as every1 has their own reasons).

Anyway we weren't regularly sending her to school when it was on as we were worried about her carrying home the infection. She has been doing home learning when the other students have been away from school (she has missed a few weeks of regular schooling in 2020 due to our covid concerns).

Question -

1. if we don't come back till May, will my DD's pvt school admission which is confimed for 7+ get into trouble? Can the state school meddle in it?
2. We are concerned about sending her to school till we are vacinated. Can we get away without sending her till late Apr (assuming that we will then get vacinated)

Tx

I'm confused. If you are abroad how would you be vaccinated in April and send her back to school? You may lose her state school place in the meantime though, if there is a waiting list. Private school admissions are entirely separate so as long as you have sent paperwork and paid the deposit etc the place should be secure. However your best bet is to keep in touch regularly and attend any inductions.

2 things -

• the admission to private school has nothing to do with the state school. Assuming she has a confirmed place for Sept for the new school, that is fine.

• if she is technically still on role at a state school here, she will be expected back on March 8. Unless she herself is classified CEV, she will be expected back in person then. You need to talk to the school if you plan not to do that, but she is expected back then; it is entirely possible that they will request you deregister her (officially take her out of school) if you do not intend to send her back for an undetermined time.

We would probably be back if we are eligible for vacination. Tbh would prefer to have vacination and travel as the flight itself is a risk. Might be a good idea as suggested to talk to the school. They won't be very happy but we have been consistent with them about our reservation that schools can be a source of infection.

So you are not yet eligible for vaccination so assume you are not in one of the “at risk” categories and neither is your daughter? Yet you have chosen to get on a plane to go to your second home abroad as it’s safer? So you are saying that school isn’t safe but getting on a place with a couple of hundred strangers was?

Meanwhile, whilst abroad, you are using a state school place that another child who is actually in the U.K. might need on 8th March? Is the school oversubscribed? If so, it seems rather selfish to do anything other than deregister her from the state school and home educate until you feel ready to come back to the U.K. and take up the independent place. Does the state school actually know you’re not in the country?

Unless you or your dh are cev (in which case travel itself was unwise) you are no more at risk here than travelling wherever you are. Nor will you be eligible for a vaccine in April. Would you need to quarantine on return? If the state school has a waiting list it may not have discretion to hold a place for your dc.

@Zodiebud. Thanks for the utterly unnecesary and unwarranted comments around my personal circumstance. I did request not to have such comments directed at me as it's too easy to judge people and be rude but you still couldn't control yourself. Must be hard for you, I understand. Btw, don't assume that everyone flies commercial with 100s of other passengers.

@LIZS Thanks for the advice. No, I wouldn't need to quarantine on return. There aren't any spaces in her class but I don't think anyone would want to get into year 2 at the fag end of the term. The school does know of our intention to move on in year 3 as they wrote the recommendation letters for the test. I don't mind de-registering her and then sending her to the pre-arranged pvt in 7+ but I am unaware if de-registering is possible without facing the wrath of the council/education services/the new pvt school. I am not native to the UK and I don't have many friends with whom I can discuss and find out. Always a bit aprehensive to speak to the autorities.

OP you currently have to self-isolate at your UK address on return from any country not on the red-list. Your dd would not be allowed out to go to school and neither would you be able to be vaccinated until after the isolation period is complete.
In normal circumstances, I have been aware of pupils going abroad for periods longer than a month having their state school places taken away. So it's possible that this could happen if your daughter is unable to restart school after the Easter holidays.

@nasrinconfused There may well be a child waiting for your child’s school place who needs it. It is wrong of you to assume that nobody is likely to want it as it’s midway through the academic year. In fact, my friend has been on the waiting list for her eldest child for two years and has twin siblings in the year below so is top of the list for a Year 2 place (they moved to the village when her eldest was in reception). Infant class size rules apply up to Year 2 so she still doesn’t have a place despite two appeals. She would move her child instantly if a place came up as she’s currently shuttling three kids between two village schools down country lanes as well as trying to work.

So forgive me if you thought my tone was a little off when you describe being in your second home abroad which you got to by private yet, wanting to know if YOUR child’s school place could be messed up because of the very privileged position and decisions you have made.

Your child should be at school on 8th March unless they, or you, are required to shield. If you don’t plan on coming back then you should deregister them so someone who NEEDS the school place can take it. This was the message I was trying to get across.

I'd just deregister her and then return home as and when you feel ready. Tell her current school that you've decided to to home school for a bit. They could off-roll you and that would look worse.

If you've already been accepted for a place for 7+ and paid the deposit, it shouldn't be a problem, although you may want to find out when the settling in day is so that you're around.

You could easily homeschool a year 2 using twinkle resources and iXL.

@nasrinconfused de registering is a simple letter and won’t make any difference to a private place.

If she's leaving at the end of the year anyway, why not just de-register her and home-educate for the rest of the year? Then you're under no pressure to return ahead of when you're happy to. I think the school can take her off their roll after a certain length of absence, and might do so if there is a waiting list, especially as they know she's going soon anyway.

I doubt the private school will care - unless you make no effort to educate her and she arrives with them knowing less than they might have expected from whatever entrance tests she did. Even then, I doubt the place is conditional on where she attended school this year or how much she learned.

thank you all, much appreciated it has helped me decide. I will go ahead and de-register her.

Good decision OP. I have been waiting for months for a year 2 place to come up for my younger DC after moving into a new area, so there certainly are families who would take up the place.