Primary school application

[yuri46]

Hoping someone can help with this quick query! My DC will be going to school Sept 23 and we are thinking of moving house this year (not for school catchment, we just need more space as now have two DC). If application open Sept-Jan, will people who apply in Sept get their places first, or will the LA only give out places once applications close in the Jan? Reason I ask is because if we move I imagine our application will be made in Jan to allow for selling/buying/moving. TIA

On the closing date.

Its not first come first served. Applications close in Jan and then they start allocating places based on set criteria (looked after, siblings, cachment etc). The allocated places are announced in April so its quite a lengthy process.

If you apply after the cut off in January then your application is considered late. you will need to check with local authority what this involves but I suspect it means your application will be considered after the intial allocation process is done.

It doesn't matter when you apply before the closing date. Nothing is looked at until after the closing date so don't worry! We moved early January last year 4 days before closing date and put our application in as soon as we moved.

Thanks everyone! Had assumed this but didn't want to get caught out!

Good advice already on your original question OP. Not sure how far you are moving but don't leave viewing schools until after you move - open days can fill up fast so you may need to be out looking round schools before your purchase has completed.

We got caught out with this last year, we moved in October and lots of school open days then got cancelled due to Covid. We missed out on seeing a couple of schools that we could have visited in the September if we'd been more organised and booked to do it before we moved..

Your key date is January 16th 2023 because to make an on-time application you have to have moved in to your new house by that date. The rules say you have to apply for school places based on the address that child spends the majority of their sleeping time, hence the timing is critical.
Most LAs do allow a bit of leeway because they recognise that there are people moving address at that time, so you also need to check that out with the LA in which you will be resident. However past experience of far to many admission appeals says that relying on the extra time scale usually ends in disaster for the parents as they fail to have moved by the second cut off date.
In fact given the time of the year I would say you need to be aiming to have moved by December 31st 2022 just to give yourself some extra time for slippage. In other words how far along are you on any house move because you have only 6 months to make the move!