Help! Moving to Pembrokeshire

[Drinkingtrifle]

DH has just been offered a job near Haverfordwest. I'm thrilled for him but confused what this means for school places - we have DS due to start Reception and DD who will be going into year 4. Is there any chance of getting them both into a half decent school by September. Typically he was offered this evening and I now have the weekend to get through before I can contact anyon e.

I also will be the one taking them to school so worried about having to take them to 2 different schools every morning.

First things first - contact the local council & find out which schools have space in the years you need. They should willingly & quickly give you this info. Then you can spend sometime looking at the school websites etc. Also, really handy to join local Facebook groups & ask for opinions (or search the group to see if previous posters have asked opinions on schools). And consider high schools for your Yr4.

I assume you’ll initially rent? In which case, it’d make sense to maybe choose a school with space & move to that area. But also, bear in mind if you could afford to buy in that area long term..

It’ll all be OK. My house buyers went through this last year & sadly couldn’t get into the local school but between us, she got both her kids into a good, not too far away school. I helped with my local knowledge on the schools etc and routes to get there, what traffic was like etc!

I’m just back from holiday not a million miles from HaverfordWest - really lovely part of the world! Your kids will love Folly Farm. My 4 year old cried when I said we didn’t live nearby 😂

If you are living in Haverfordwest there are several primary schools
St Marks, Mary Immaculate (Catholic), Waldo Williams, Prendergast and Fenton. They are all primary - the only one with a split site is Waldo Williams.
There is also Carr Elen which is a Welsh Medium 3-16

You apply via the council - the Catholic school manage their own admissions as they are a VA.- I believe the others are done by PCC.

If you are living outside Haverfordwest depending where you are the other options would include Johnston, Broad Haven, Cleddau Reach, Neyland and Spittal.

We will be living in Haverfordwest itself. Just worried about what will happen if all the schools are oversubscribed. I don't drive so getting them to schools far from home could be a nightmare. And yes we are going to rent at first. That is another job for tomorrow.

Sorry. @Siddleficks is me with a name change.

@Siddleficks

You'd be best checking this page if you click on each school it shows you the catchment area so where you rent/buy will be a factor. It's a little out of date as Mount Airey has amalgamated with Waldo Williams

The biggest schools and therefore those with the largest catchment are Fenton and Prendegast.
I don't know if they are oversubscribed - the Catholic School usual is but am assuming you are not RC as you haven't mentioned it.

I know a previous poster said consider High Schools - there is only one English Medium High School in the town, the other is a 3-16 Welsh school so all the schools feed to the same place.

Should have said on the site I linked to it gives the admission number and the current number on role

If you multiply the admissions number by 7 for a 4-11 school or by 8 for a 3-11 you should get an idea of whether they are oversubscribed - however, they may still admit even if they are oversubscribed so don't take that as a definite indicator

@BoutrosBoutrosGhali

Should have said on the site I linked to it gives the admission number and the current number on role

If you multiply the admissions number by 7 for a 4-11 school or by 8 for a 3-11 you should get an idea of whether they are oversubscribed - however, they may still admit even if they are oversubscribed so don't take that as a definite indicator

Thank you for this. So if the multiplied number is less than the number on the roll would this mean it might not be oversubscribed?

Yes - but it's a very rough measure as
a) the numbers are out of date
b) I'm not 100% sure how they calculate part time nursery pupils when they have them
c) Lots of schools can take more than the advised number and do so by adding an extra class for a year.