School help

[aka210]

Hi there,

We will be moving from the US to Cambridge this Summer with two kids (7yo and 5yo) and are finding it hard to navigate the school admissions process. So we would appreciate any help. Specifically, we can get University offered accommodation in Eddington or close to the City center (Chesterton or Newnham) but it appears that all the schools in those catchment area are already full. We will be working in West Cambridge site, and ideally, do not prefer to have a car initially.

We would appreciate any suggestions on:
(a) where should we target accommodation so as to not have to drive and still have a decent shot at getting a neighborhood school.
(b) If all three priority schools (based on distance) are showing full in the council website, does one still list those and the county assigns a random school until a place opens in one of the three? Until then you suck it up and drive your kids to school.
(c) Finally, timing of it all especially given one needs an address to apply. Do people moving from abroad also need to have a signed lease to apply? While I can presumably move sooner (if necessary, for "getting a place in a school" purpose), the family would not move until the school ends here (end of June). So signing a lease just for applying to schools seems ridiculous.

I am assuming others have gone through this same dilemma and navigated it successfully, so we would appreciate any guidance.

Best wishes,
AA

You will need to make a late application as the initial application round has already closed. More details here:

Moving at the end of June will be fine with the kids. If you get offered a place you will need to take it up pretty soon (different area, but we had 2 weeks from offer to being in school). So if kids move over early July, that's about right to start the new school year.

It really is a lottery. And just because a school is showing full (or having spaces) right now doesn't mean it will have spaces come September. Also consider the kids might get offered different schools if that's where the spaces are.

I'd have thought near the uni would be quite a good base, as it is the sort of place people are more likely to move from - and so might free up school places.

Honestly, you cant really do much yet about schools. Unless you can find an area that has a seriously under subscribed school, it really will be a case of turning up and applying with fingers crossed.

PS in year applications - which yours will be, even if you want to start in September - are always open. Application windows only close if you want to start at the beginning of a school - ie Reception for primary, y7 for start of secondary (or other years if a middle school area - but I don't think either if your kids will be at any of these school change over points).

Schools in the Uk don’t finish for the summer until the last week or so in July , which would give you a short window to check out possible schools and make applications for September entry. You might even get lucky and find a school with spaces who would be happy for your children to join for the last week.

What you could fall foul of is the “infant class size” rule , which means that state schools with full classes of 30 in the first three years of school ( called in the Uk Reception, Year 1 , Year 2) can not legally accept additional children. You are therefore ( depending on your 7 year olds birthdate) looking for a school with vacant spaces in two infant class years, which might be an issue. In Year 3 and above it is possible to appeal for an additional place, but it is not a guarantee.

There is a get out of dilemma free card which you might need to keep up your sleeves, if none of the local to home schools have a suitable place, and the nearest school with a space is a certain distance away ( I think three miles) then the Local Authority administering the school places can apply something called Fair Access Protocol and offer a place at a full school.

Otherwise it will be a question of accepting a place and putting your childrens name on a waiting list for a preferred school. The goodish news is that if only one place is offered in a preferred school then the other child will be placed high on the waiting list as a sibling. There is often a bit of movement between July and September, so you are at least applying at the right time of year.

The other good news is that primary school numbers have eased a little in the last few years due to a falling birth rate, so things are a little easier than they were a few years ago.

The local authority will have a lot of information about local schools, and the process of making in year applications, which will be worth reading, as will schools own websites.

Newnham primary is a very international primary and has a lot of children of academics.

Because of this places do become available as people move on to other universities.

Chesterton primaries have less movement. It's a less nice area to live in.

If you are hoping for place at the University of Cambridge Primary School, you probably know it's often oversubscribed. Catchment area details here https://universityprimaryschool.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Over-Subscription-Criteria-for-Entry-in-2024.pdf

good advice above, but would additionally note that many school offices close shortly after term ends in mid July, meaning no one there to deal with applications. I would definitely aim to have all paperwork in by end of June. You will need a rental agreement to make an application, but in advance of that it is still worth calling school offices to get a sense of whether there or spaces, or if not how long the waitlist is. As others mention, there can be a fair amount of movement in both directions towards the end of year, so wouldn’t make my living decision based on school availability now.

Eddington is quite a good place to get accommodation if you can get it via the university - reasonable quality and price for what it is, compared to private renting, very university based, not tons of other facilities - and it is very close to the West Cambridge site. There is a reasonable chance that places could come available at some of the schools, because there is high turnover in the academic community. Also there are various other primary schools that would be accessible from there, though not without a bit of travel!) Girton, Mayfield, Milton Roaad, Arbury, etc.
The other areas areas are also lovely and close to the city centre and other facilities, but less close to the west cambridge site (well Newnham isn't far, Chesterton a bit further). There is a bus that goes to both Eddington and West Cambridge site, via Newnham, and the south of the city centre, and the rail station and hospital, so that's an option if you don't want to cycle to work. There are not that many primary schools very near Newnham, other than the one right there. Chesterton is closer to others that might end up having places. Overall there is a fair bit of churn in Cambridge, and most of the schools are good.

Thanks a lot everyone for the detailed response and guidance - we really appreciate it. This definitely alleviated some of our concerns about accommodation and schools - and hopefully others will find it helpful as they are trying to navigate this complex interconnected and interdependent system. Best wishes! AA