Moving house - can we enrol DD at new school before we confirm new address?

[ClaireLou86]

Hi all, we are planning a family move from the south of England up to Scotland some time in the next year. Our plan was to stay with OH's parents temporarily while we look for a house to buy, as obviously viewings etc will be a lot easier once we're living up there, rather than 400 miles away.

Our only concern is finding a new school for our six year old. She is in year 1 (P2 in Scotland) and will be in year 2 (P3) by the time we move. The area we want to ultimately move to is about half an hours drive away from the in-laws where we will be staying temporarily, so obviously completely different school catchment areas. I really don't want to move her to a new primary school near the in-laws and then have to move her again once we buy a house.

Does anyone know if we can enrol her at the primary school near where we plan to end up, even though we wouldn't be in that catchment area for the first few months of living up there? I'm guessing the answer is no but just wondering if anyone has any experience of moving without knowing exactly what their permanent address will be? Thanks x

Am in England but I know here the process is that you can’t enrol until you have proof of address. That said, if the school has spaces they might be happy to give your dd a place even though she lives half an hour away.

I’d move to PIL, then apply to schools in your intended area and see what happens. Half an hr away is not so far (I commuted an hr to school), the intended house move may be a bit of a red herring.

I think 'in year' admissions is different to applying for reception or secondary so it is all about whether they have space rather than how close you are.

Worth chatting to the local authority admissions team. Our local one is always very helpful.

Try asking on the Scotsnet pages on here, education can be a bit England centric. Scotland has fixed catchment areas but you can request another school.

In our area, no. We rented to begin with and they would only hold the place once they had seen our rental agreement. We also moved from England to Scotland.

You could ask about a non catchment place though.

So you’re planning to travel the distance to school every day until you move?
I think it will depend on if they have spaces available. If they do then you can apply out of catchment and you will probably take you.
They won’t hold a place for you if she’s not going to attend though.

This is not correct. In England, if a school has places, they are required by law to offer them to anyone who applies regardless of where they live.

Hi. Did you move to Scotland? What was the outcome? I'm moving soon but we don't have a set date yet and I need to know if they will accept my kids before I have proof.