Potential change of primary twice

[Doubleistrouble]

We’ve recently moved houses and DS(6) has been offered a space in a primary that’s our 4rd option. We’re currently driving him to his old school which is really hard as it’s a 1.5 hour round trip . We’ll take up the offered primary but want to remain on the waitlist for out first and second choice. We’re in WL 1 for the first and 4th for the second school. While the offered school is a good one it’s still a drive away for us. My question is will this have a negative impact on DS in terms of settling in and making friends, learning etc? He’s doing very well in his current school and am feeling super guilty about all these changes he has to go through.

In your position I'd stay at the current school and hope a place comes up quickly at one of the preferred schools. Is he in yr 1 or yr 2? Only asking as there is often quite a lot of movement at the start of yr 3 (at some schools anyway).

@RandomUsernameHere he’s in year 1. We’re struggling with the long journey as both DH and I work full time plus have a younger toddler who needs to be dropped and picked up from nursery as well. It’s a difficult choice as DS is also knackered from the long day as he goes to breakfast and After school club as well.

Such a tough one in that case, sorry not to be of more help!

It all depends on where you live and the mobility in the area. I work in a Trust where, for some of our schools, 4th on the waiting list wouldn't be much help because you'd still never get a place because we have almost nil mobility in them and they are 30 or 15 PAN schools. Others in our Trust may expect a small or moderate amount of movement or are bigger schools, so 4th is reasonably hopeful.

You should also consider that where you are on the waiting list can change depending on who else applies.