Bournemouth Primary schools oversubscribed

[DilyteGelyte]

Hello,
I'm new here, so bear with me...
We are moving to Bournemouth and recently found out that every single school is oversubscribed for Year 3 start in September. The closest school to the house we'll be living in has 60 kids on waiting list, the other school which is our preferred school has 36 kids on waiting list, the proximity to school will put us No10 on the list. So we are not hopeful to get a place any time soon.
Council suggested some schools in Poole or Christchurch which have some places, but they are at least 25 minutes drive away, and at peak (school drop off ond pick up) times we imagine will be more like 30-40min drive away. So that's not an option for us.
I wonder if anybody here are living in Bournemouth and in a similar situation like us and what are your plans. Will you be homeschooling kids (at expense of you having to leave jobs or hire nannies) or travel to schools further away?
Or do you appeal to council and know any details if more spaces will be created.
I haven't thought we would have such a problem when we moved. Makes things rather difficult for us.
I am interested to hear what people in same area are planning to do in this situation.
Many thanks!

Have you spoken to the private prep schools to find out if they have space?

Have you asked the LA if they will provide transport to the nearest schools as they are so far away?

Private schools are too expensive for us I am afraid.

What transportation options have you been offered?

It's still too far, we may get our little one in the local school, so don't want the other one to go too far. Besides we don't want him to change school again before secondary school, leaving his friends behind and having to move once is difficult enough for him.

Also I can drive, but I still think travelling to school every day 25-35 minutes each way is a bit of a stretch. I'd rather home school if I have to, while we wait for a place.

I live in Bournemouth and I work in a school so I may be able to advise. Do you want to say roughly which area / postcode you will be living in? Feel free to PM me if it’s easier for you. There may be 60 names on the waiting list but that doesn’t mean that there are 60 kids without schools, or that all (if any) of those children would accept a place if it were offered to them. Also, depending on how close to your house the school is, your child may go quite high up the waiting list quite quickly. Come September, there will be a lot of movement both ways on the waiting lists as people (like you!) move house over the summer. Bournemouth council used to —delete— sanitise their waiting lists over the summer holidays but maybe they don’t do that any more (my own children fell foul of this back in 2010-ish).

You mentioned that you might get a place at a school for your younger child - this would mean that your older child would get sibling priority on the waiting list at the same school. Are you moving to an area of Bournemouth that has separate infant and junior schools, or all-through primary schools, or a mixture of both?

If you want to say which schools you are interested in, I am happy to give my informed opinion on them, although I totally understand that you may not wish to do this. Also happy to offer my very seasoned experience on travel times within BCP!

I don't know the situation in the local area; maybe join a local Facebook group to see what other parents there are doing? I would have thought that if all local schools were so badly oversubscribed, the council would be organising a bulge class somewhere, but perhaps they feel it is more viable to ship kids off to Poole or Christchurch. If they are unable to sort a local school for your child, they must provide transport, so you shouldn't have to be driving.

I guess you need to figure out whether there is actually a reasonable chance of your child being offered a local place in the foreseeable future so you can decide whether to home ed while waiting for a local place, or be prepared to home ed in the longer term, or accept a place at a more distant school.

Not a huge help but I think the LA has to provide paid transport for primary children if the school they're offering is more than 2 miles away. It would likely be a taxi.

Thank you @AnnoyingPopUp , I messaged you.

@fartfacenotfatface yes, you'd expect that. But I just don't think it's a good option. We have 2 kids, ideally we'd like them to go to the same school, and if not same, at least both to be close to home.
Spending half our each way is too expensive for the council to pay and too time consuming for a family.

I just don't understand, if there aren't enough spaced for Year 3 this year, they must have had similar situation for Year 2s last year. How come they didn't plan to create enough spaces?

@DilyteGelyte - they would only provide transport for the child(ren), not for you to travel with them. You'd need to meet the taxi in the morning and then be home when they're dropped off. It would possibly be shared with other children. It's not a great solution.

The lack of places I presume has come about due to migration (I don't necessarily mean IMmigration, but it's likely that many of the families that left London during the pandemic have settled in this area). Possibly some new builds too, although they usually have to make provision for school places as part of planning conditions.

Yes I agree re the migration issue post pandemic, I work in the sw London prep area that has been hit hard by families moving out of London and I've heard that Hampshire / Dorset are been areas where the prep schools have particularly gained.
Yes I agree with the suggestion to join local FB groups too.

I work in a Bournemouth Primary school, and I know this was a massive issue in Y2 last year. We have several children joining our school in Year 3 next year (Junior school) who have older siblings at our school, but couldn't get in to the linked infants, so had to go elsewhere. From Year 3 there's no legal class size limit, so schools might be persuaded to go over their published class size - I know we have. There tends to be a lot of movement in September, especially in more transient catchments - we have had lots of refugee families leave in the last three or four months as they are housed more permanently elsewhere. So depending on where in Bournemouth you are, there might be spaces coming available.

Feel free to PM me about the specific area, and I might be able to help/advise more.

Thank you @GetTheGoodLookingGuy , I will be calling the council to speak about schools today. I may PM you if I'll have any more questions.

Guess I can homeschool up to a year and hopefully some places will become available soon 🤞

Hi @DilyteGelyte just wondering how this went for you in the end? We're looking at a move early next year to Bournemouth/Christchurch, with eldest likely moving into yr3 Sep '25, so just wondering if the situation has improved and which areas we potentially target (currently looking at Christchurch & N/E side of Bournemouth) Thanks!

My Kid has EHCP and has speech delay, she is on ASD 5 spectrum. We live in London and its been 2 years she hasn't found a place in school as there are no places here. We are planning to move to Bournemouth Christ Church area, how are the schools here are they oversubscribed too? Its very sad our kid has to miss two academic school years.

Are you looking for a specialist place or a mainstream place? How old is your DC? I'm really surprised you can't get a place for 2 years in London. Generally numbers at schools in London are falling as people are priced out, plus there is usually a fair amount of movement.

Mainstream place with SRP provision. my kid is 7 years old. There are no places for special school or mainstream in London.