Moving across the country - school change

[ELMummio]

Hi! We’re planning on moving from Essex to Somerset in the next year, but have got a 4yo currently in reception. We won’t know exactly what the move date is until very close to the time, so what happens with schools? Will there be a big gap between him leaving our local school here & starting his new one?
If we can move in the holidays, great, but that’s not really within our control.
Anyone got any experience?

You can usually speak to the in year admissions team at the area you are moving to and they will explain how it all works. Usually in year places are immediate start but you have to be living there to get the place.

Definitely a situation where you need to talk to the Local Authority. They can confirm what arrangements will be made as to when you can apply for a school place and what is the likelihood of immediately getting a place at the nearest schools.
If you have an idea of the local area where you will be moving to then I suggest that you research where the local schools are and see which would be most suitable. The LA will have a guidance booklet on their website , which will help as they will detail all schools in the area, whether they are LA maintained schools or academies.
The way that you talk about the move being at short notice I wonder whether you are in the military. If you are then the rules around getting children into schools are slightly different. Normally your child has got to have moved or be on the verge of moving before the LA will accept an admission application. However for military personnel the need for an absolute address is usually waved and the LA will work on the basis of where the military person will be based. Usually there is also a liaison officer who will help in such moves.

I will check in with the local authority, thanks.
Definitely not military! When I said we don’t have control over timing it’s because there is some complexity with selling a property like ours (it has a unique feature), when we bought it the process took 6 months, but we didn’t know until that sixth month that that was when everything would be resolved.