Moving to prep school area without having received a place?

[Getmeouttaheree]

Hate where we live and desperate to move. Makes sense to take into consideration schools for DD. Have registered with a prep school in another area I like about an hour away where we have a provisional place based on assessment day at beginning of 2024. They’ve made it clear they’ve given out more places than they have spaces. The prep school is highly sought after and other independents and state schools in the area aren’t that great. The thought of waiting until 2024 to begin even looking for houses dependent on whether she gets a place feels really tough. Should I just chance it or will I regret it? Aside from the school, love the area, it’s location, ticks a lot of boxes but the school is also a major factor too. So if she didn’t get in I’m not sure I would be so desperate to be there. She’s only 1 right now and I have no idea what the school will be assessing on the day so I think it’s near impossible to assume whether she will or won’t get a place

Maybe sell and rent?

If state schools is a possibility if you don’t get in the prep I’d be looking to rent into a good area with good schools, with a view to buying near the eventual school you DD ends up in.

Does date of registration not carry any weight? Because they may be saying they've offered more provisional places than they have spaces for as at now, but given you've registered this early, the chances are a lot of people will move away etc.

If you want to say which school, some of us may know the likelihood of your DC securing a place with early registration. Although I understand if you didn’t want to say

Surely the school has the admission criteria on their web site? Ir in a brochure? I would just move. If they have a nursery, do they really select for that?

Date of registration determined if you received a provisional place. So those who registered not long after birth have received provisional places. I think if their intake is for example 75 places, they’ve probably given out 100 provisional places and then will select the best 75 on assessment. Assessment probably determining those who aren’t at minimum of an average ability in specific areas.

Don’t really want to rent. They don’t have a nursery, and would rather not say the schools name. It’s more towards the North though

Unless it's central London - and even then - I'd say you'll be fine. Very fee schools really need, or even allow you to register at birth and even the ones that waitlist you at birth (think Wetherby etc) will have places 3 years later because a) people move b) people register at several schools.

I did think that the expectation to register not long after birth was a bit ridiculous. Yes this is a sought after school but Wetherby it is not. That being said, I have heard from others that availability after initial intake is rare. I think I’ll just have to wait. After some thought, buying and selling houses is no small task and it doesn’t make sense to move before a confirmed place. Will just have to wait it out

Can the school give you some idea of where you are on the list? They ought to be able to give you a steer here.

When we applied for DS, we were way back, but were told that people can move up the list quickly, especially as parents usually make multiple applications. This was a school that accepted applications at birth and we were very late to the party as we didn't apply until DS had just turned 2. Although there weren't what we considered to be many decent schools in the immediate area of DS's prep school, many parents ahead of us on the list ultimately thought otherwise. Often parents are prepared to travel much further than for state schools as well, so they may well decide on another school several miles away from yours.

The list they have is for those who registered early enough to get a place for an assessment. We are on this list. So providing she passes the assessment, we will have a place. It’s just whether she will pass the assessment or not. And I think this will primarily be based around how she is in comparison to the others at the assessment. I think they will basically pick the cream of the crop and those who didn’t make the cut don’t get a place. But at this stage I have no idea how she will be in close to 3 years time

So you just have to take a chance and move! There must be plan B or C schools? If she doesn’t get in, where else could you register? What about a school with a nursery? Or a nursery “feeder” if it’s that competitive? My DD2 went to a top prep (lots of scholarships every year) - they didn’t select. So much easier! And pleasant.

Don’t worry - the reason they have given out more places than they have room for is because they know that many families will apply to multiple schools/move away/change their minds and as a result many won’t end up taking the place.

There are no UK prep schools which are over subscribed to the extent that a child offered a provisional place at age 1 will not end up getting a confirmed place, unless something really disastrous happens at assessment day, like attacking another child.

While there are a small handful of prepreps, mainly in the London area, which are super-over-subscribed, those tend not to offer provisional places at 1 - they either offer firm places on a first come first served basis (eg Wetherby pre-prep) or just take a registration fee and assess at 3 (eg Highgate pre prep).

@Getmeouttaheree

The list they have is for those who registered early enough to get a place for an assessment. We are on this list. So providing she passes the assessment, we will have a place. It’s just whether she will pass the assessment or not. And I think this will primarily be based around how she is in comparison to the others at the assessment. I think they will basically pick the cream of the crop and those who didn’t make the cut don’t get a place. But at this stage I have no idea how she will be in close to 3 years time

Our DD was registered at birth at a sought after Prep, and we had a few back ups in mind we applied for when registration opened.

Until you have in writing

'I am delighted to inform you that ___ has a place in Reception for....'

Your DC hasn't got a confirmed place and you can't really take it as a given.

All the preps we were looking at involved either a long commute (about an hour one way) , so realistically we'd had to think about moving, but we waited until we had the above before we started thinking about looking at the property websites and work on our place to get maximum sale price. We hate the place we are living in, it was a really drawn out purchase - the seller was a complete bastard and had covered up lots of work, which led to a long winding legal matter- we missed our old place terribly, we had perfect neighbours and lived next to a park ( we moved due to lockdown envy for a big garden, which we now don't even use much). So I know your pain.

So you can either look at it you don't like where you live and you're moving and have a list of local schools that are easy to get to, or do or die and move near the prep with a provisional place, but accept you'll have a commute to other schools as. a back up, if your DC doesn't get in.

A compromise might be to move somewhere that's not more than 30 mins one way to the prep you have registered and 30 minutes to a good back up.

As you're an hour away now, it may be worth to grin and bear it and keep applying to other schools that have a later cut off, so you have a number of options, once you have a secure place, then move accordingly - you'll know well in advance time to arrange selling and buying.

I know what it's like to hate where you live, it's not nice, but given the costs of moving and hassle, have a firm solid plan that includes all possibilities for your DC