Sutton Primary Schools - In year Admissions

[DBhaskar]

Dear all,
Would love to get some advice regarding in-year school admissions and house moves.

We are looking to move to Sutton sometime next year (2022) from Ealing.

Our child will be in year 1 this Septemeber 2021.
So around the time of our move (tentatively April 2022), we are most likely looking for in-year admissions for year 1 in good Sutton schools (mainly Cheam Park Farm Primary Academy).

Going by the school vacany checker, we don't seem to have vacancies in the schools we are looking for (www.sutton.gov.uk/downloads/file/4865/schools_in_year_vacancy_checker)

This is our first experience of moving houses with a school going child , so any advice would be much appreciated :-)

Am very confused about how to plan the house move.

We do not want to move to Sutton if we don't get admission into a good school as the current school is really good and we don't want to compromise on that.
But to get admission into the schools we desire, do we need to move first?
It feels a bit chicken-egg kind of situtation to me, but I guess am missing some information.

Thank you in advance for helping out a mom

Kind Regards

If a school has a space, then you can technically apply from anywhere, but you would have to take up the place within about 3 weeks. So you would have to commit to a move and take a bit of a gamble. It doesn't really matter there are no spaces right now, as those spaces are likely to be filled well before you move.

Generally all the schools in Sutton are decent, even the less popular ones. Cheam Park Farm is very popular. You would probably have to move, be allocated wherever there is space and go on the waiting list. Being nearer the school will get you higher up the list, although siblings will be placed at the top.

Thank you for the response!
So it makes sense to move there and then apply and see I guess :)

Hi OP. Worth ringing the school(s) to check. I also know people who have moved and placed their children in an available school for a short time and then later changed to their preferred placement when a space became available. It is a wait and see sort of arrangement though.

I would suggest moving as close as possible to one of the larger sutton primary schools. They do seem to have some turnover, even if there is no space at first (I have y6 and y4 kids in one of them), but you need to target one and get very near.

If you are committed to getting your child into one particular school, you need to do your research.

If it’s a popular school, it’s probably full and they won’t have a vacant place to offer you. For Y1 and Y2, the infant class size rules apply and the LEA will not admit your child as an additional pupil. If you go to appeal, your chance of success is small, again because of the ICS rules. That would leave you having to home educate or accept a place at another school until such time as a place became available via the waiting list. So, speak to the school to find out whether it has a waiting list, how many people are likely to be on it ahead of you and then decide how to go forward. Bear in mind that waiting lists are held in admissions priority order, so if the main admissions category (usually after looked-after children and siblings) is based on distance from the school, the closer you live to the school, the higher your place on the waiting list.

Thank you all for the valuable inputs!

I have one DC at Cheam Park Farm, one who's finished and one who will start in a couple of years! It's a great school. Year 3 onwards is where it really comes into its own - DD's year had their own Chromebooks even before the pandemic and the music opportunities especially have been brilliant.

I would agree with others - move close to the school and take another school while on the waiting list. There are a few others that are very easy to get to from here. One of my DD's closest friends did this and joined in Year 4.

CPF is in Leo Academy Trust with 6 other schools, so if you can get one of those, the provision won't be dissimilar. Good luck!

And you never know, you might end up liking that first school so much you stay

Thank you so much for the suggestions. It really helps! :)