Moving around June time

[Mamachats]

Hi everyone,

We are anticipating a move though we hope we don’t have to move to another area - BUT we are open to the idea. How does it work with in school applications for primary schools?! Are you expected to have already moved house before applying to schools with I imagine, space? Or should you do it within the school deadlines the year before? Has anyone gone through this before i.e moved house the summer before starting school and if so how was the process? Completely stressful??? Any reassurance or guidance would be great 👍

I assume your kids are preschoolers? You could only apply the year before the move from by using your old address on the application and applying to your old LA, but you can list schools anywhere in the country, so that could work if the school you wanted was undersubscribed, but you would have to be very certain you were going to move near that school. Otherwise apply after you move from the new address. You would need to look at information on the local schools and gauge whether places left in June would be desirable. Having moved primary school twice in year I was pleasantly surprised the choice we had, in this area there are several undersubscribed primary schools that are still considered desirable. Don't let mumsnetters tell you 'there won't be any places left' the LA still have to provide for your child just would be less choice.
If you are prepared to keep your child in nursery in September while you are on a waiting list because you want a particular school, that is an option.

Thanks so much for your message! Super helpful. Is reviewing places something that could be done before moving?! I guess it’s a silly question as maybe it’s just a matter of calling up the school? I’m under the impression that this must happen all the time whereby people move in the summer before a school start or even later the year?! Is moving before June I.e between April and June and applying via local authority a smoother process than doing an in school after june?! Guess I’m also looking for reassurance that like you say there will always be an option.

Hi, yes we did actually visit a couple of schools while waiting to move last time (was in a chain all lined up to buy in the area). Also you can look at websites and ofsted although I appreciate that is not the main thing. Local mums groups are good, either on facebook or whatsapp I had this silly thing about holding off from joining because I hadn't actually moved yet, but the earlier you can get schools advice the better :-)

Oh sorry just saw your other question. I am not sure if you are trying to move now and if your child is due to start in September? But anyway
For a September new starter- the national offers day for primary is 17th April, but applying now would already mean being considered after the other applicants. If you have a 4 year old I wouldn't worry too much about the timing, except ideally if you can get them a place so they can start with the others in September (so by end of summer term, but even then places may be allocated over summer). I don't think a September start is crucial though as you have a right to insist they start part-time anyway for settling, provided they aren't compulsory school age yet.

We did this, only moved into new home late August a couple of weeks before school started. Massively stressful for me, but worked out fine in the end.

you apply for a place in your current location (even if you know you will be moving). You will then ask for a place once you have a rental agreement or exchange contracts if buying.

if you are moving to a place where schools are oversubscribed, you may have some difficult options, as effectively end of the queue. If not routinely oversubscribed, then no problem. You can call schools after places have been allocated to understand space availability and let them know you are likely interested. Our school were very helpful advising us on how to navigate the process.

would recommend a short subscription to locrating.com as has good data on historic places taken (among other helpful data points).

Would add that there is a dead zone between mid July and mid August when school offices effectively closed, so try and get things locked down before then for peace of mind if possible

We moved the July/August before DD1 was due to start school. We didn’t make the decision to move until after school applications had closed. Even though we were moving 30 miles away we couldn’t change the application as we were within the same county. We had to wait for our allocated school then go on waiting lists or appeal for a place at our new choices.

For appeals we needed to make sure we had completed on the house purchase before the appeals hearing date to have our new address considered as a factor in our appeal.

We were lucky and got a place at one of our choices through the waiting list. Even though at the time our address was 30 miles from the school we got in on faith, bypassing other children who lived locally.

I would check with individual schools what the best course of action is. One school we wanted would not put children on the waiting list until after a certain date, they wanted to wait to see who accepted offers and how many appeals were coming in. This school was very oversubscribed and the waiting list can run for years. The other school, the one we got into accepted our request to go on the waiting list on offer day. We didn’t even get a chance to start the appeals process before we were offered a place.

I found talking to the schools and LA very helpful.