Anybody have experience of relocation when kids starting primary school?

[amandanorgaard]

We’re starting to plan a relocation, currently live in our university city with our two young children, planning to move back closer to family (my side, currently they are about a hour away and DH’s family live abroad).

I'm currently on mat leave so will need to return to work in Feb 26, for at least a few months, just trying to work out our timing for everything!

My oldest will start school in Sept 27, in my head we would need jobs/house confirmed by Jan 27 latest in order to apply for a school in the new area, and if we missed this deadline we’d have a nightmare!

has anybody moved after the application closes and before their little one started school? Did you get in to your chosen school? Am I overthinking this completely and just need to focus on one thing at a time?

DH feels we definitely need to do it before she starts school, my argument is that I feel mean taking her out of her nursery where she’s been since 9mo, putting her in a new one and moving house, then starting school all in one year. Feels like a lot for a 4 year old. Equally if we put it off the baby will be in the same position when we come to move in a couple of years!

so stressful to think about what to do for the best.

I’d welcome anyone’s thoughts or experiences.

Not experienced it myself but all the good schools in my area are well over subscribed so it goes on distance to the school (after siblings etc). So if you moved after the deadline, they’ll offer you wherever there is space, which is not likely to be a good school.

We moved after the deadline for Primary school applications.

It was a nightmare. Remember it isn't only the school, it is setting up wraparound school provision too.

If you have the option, I'd definitely move asap - even if it means commuting back to old jobs for a while.

You might get lucky, if it is a low birth rate year, or if you are moving somewhere where the school doesn't tend to be full, but you might not.

I really would like her to go to my childhood school, which I loved and still has excellent recommendations and reports. It’s notoriously difficult to get into (although 20+ years ago I was a mid-year transfer from another school, which my mum got grief for from the other parents!!)

sounds like I have to bite the bullet and start to get things moving. How did your little one cope with the move @CarpetKnees?

It was dc2.
We had to move dc1 early in the Summer Term, which then made her a sibling and jumped her up the waiting list, and she did then get a place before the end of the Summer Term fortunately.
Then try and manage the logistics of getting dc1 to and from school and losing the wraparound care who obviously "wrapped around" his old school not his new one.
It was slightly easier in that we weren't moving as far as you, but it was a very, very stressful time.

It's a nightmare. Local authorities are not equipped to deal with applications outside the usual deadlines.

My experience was horrific, I encounted problems at every stage of the process including accusations of being an unfit parent as I had missed the original application deadline.

I eventually had to make a complaint to the LA just to stop these comments, as their staff really struggled to understand that I genuinely didn't know at the October application deadline that we would be relocating the following May. And maybe my snarky comments about my crystal ball not working as I seem to be having the same issues getting a school space in the areas we didn't relocate to didn't help either!

Anyway, you will be given a space in a school with spaces, which is unlikely to be any of your choice's but it will be within 1 mile of your new address.

Appeal, but get yourself onto the school transfer list immediately and apply to your preferred school every term.

My kids ended up staying at their allocated school because it was a decent school to be fair and they really like it and went on to make tons of friends.

Similar position here, but for 2026. ds in a fantastic nursery and don’t want to move too early and pull him out. We’re hedging our bets..council where we’re planning to move to gives lots of details re offer day allocation stats. This year there were reception places available at our 2nd and 3rd choice schools there. So we’re going to apply by Jan with our current address - which is 100 miles away btw but if they have spaces I believe they will allocate one although I do need to properly look into the details of this. We prob won’t get his first choice but if he gets the others at least it’s peace of mind. Then we plan to move spring/summer next year and my parent will look after him for a few months rather than starting him at a new nursery.

If you have your heart set on a specific school then you’d be foolish to delay and risk not getting in. If your happy with a place at any in the local area then it’s prob not so bad to wait.

It was 16 years ago, I finished training and we moved to be closer to my husband's family up north, when my 16yo DD started in Reception. My job finishing and starting date was out of sync with the school term. She went to a local primary school for a month, thankfully we managed to enrol her into a primary school up north in October when we moved. We applied way after allocation date in June, because that was when my job interviews were. We were in temporary hospital accommodation for 9 months after that, it was rather difficult to sell our house. It was a 280 miles move!

The sooner you move the better. Also look at nurseries and preschools in the new location, if they are also oversubscribed you may need to get your children on the waiting lists. If your oldest has to move house and nursery it will be a lot of change but then will probably be starting primary with some friends from nursery which will help a bit.

Yes you need to do it before the Jan application. We had to wait for a rental to become available in catchment (moving cross country, failing to sell house) and missed the deadline by 6 weeks. Now oldest is at preferred school and no space for youngest due to massive siblings year. people don't move here so not likely to be space before eldest not at school. It's okish, there's wrap-around for both. I'm a bit sad that they won't be together. But we did the best we could. If moving house plan more than a year in advance I think. So look Jan 1 year before application.

I would look at more schools in the area you want to live in though. There might be other schools in that area that are a better fit, may have an ethos that you identify with or may just be better schools.

As others have said, start thinking about moving now and don’t leave it anywhere close to the application date (November - Dec are dead months in terms of moving anyway, no-one is buying or selling then they are sorting out Xmas!).

You can easily change a nursery space for a bit or get a temporary nanny but your chosen school will affect all your lives for years and years, as will their friendship group, where they then go to secondary etc. Your whole life will revolve around drop-off and pickup and clubs and parties and play dates for years, it’s a big decision (and if you go to a nursery / preschool nearby the school or a feeder one the children might make friends that go up with them to school)

Also depends on the temperament of your child but my eldest is anxious and would find it much harder moving now that they are older than when 4 or below and weren’t too aware of what was happening. It would be hugely upsetting for them now as they are so attached to the house, area and school. My youngest would take a move easily though I think

We've just done this in May!
Bought a new house ,moved in over Easter.
Did the initial back and forth ( we moved from rented to bought, 5 miles away)
He started his new school right after the May half term so he had 6 weeks in his new school before the Summer holidays.

He's 8, so year 3, all went smoothly from start to finish tbh, 3 weeks in-between looking at the school and him joining it. ( its a small village school and we got the last year 2 place!)

It was a a bit hard going for him emotionally with a house and school move in the same 6 weeks period , so be prepared for a unsettled child but 3 months in, he's very happy in his new house and new school.

Good luck!

It all depends how over subscribed the schools are.

We moved in the September DD was supposed to start school. We moved Wednesday, had a meeting at the school on Friday, she started Monday. She was no.28... the only surprise for the school was they usually had about 15 children in catchment but they had known it was a big year as the preschool class had had 30 (all in catchment and outside the travel distance to the next nearest school). (That was peak baby boom!)

For DD2 we moved in August and the school only had 18 children registered

My friend got into a school 30 miles away as it was undersubscribed.

Many areas having falling rolls, its not as difficult as it used to be.

Anyway, you will be given a space in a school with spaces, which is unlikely to be any of your choice's but it will be within 1 mile of your new address.

@Momoftwoscallywags - there is absolutely NO guarantee of any allocated school being "within a mile of {their} new address". Where have you got that idea from ?

You’ve missed the possibility that a new nursery means making friends who will be in the same class for Reception which is a big plus.

I moved my son in year 6 and he benefitted from meeting people who moved up to year 7 (secondary)

Moving nursery/school is something that a lot of kids successfully experience. They will be fine with support and a positive attitude from you.

That's what I was told by my LA. As we had to drive past 3 oversubscribed schools which were nearer our new address to get my kids to their new school, I thought, if I am going to have to drive them to school anyway could I go further afield, like to one on my route to work?

So I asked the LA what other schools had places. Got shut down pretty quickly over that one, with one of the reasons that that information was not available to me was because of this 1 mile requirement they had and that I could only be told about spaces available in schools within 1 mile of our address??

I realised pretty quickly that my kids were only going to be able to go to this school regardless of the rules.

Thats just them being idiots, most places the nearest school is more than a mile away!

The Government legislation is 45 minutes travel time, with transport provided if the nearest school with space is over 2 miles.

It depends on where you move to. I live in a very popular family area and a MN favourite for suggestion of where to move to with kids. If you moved right now you would get your pick of outstanding primary schools due to falling birth rate. None of the local primaries have full classes for reception.

We moved in the late February before my DD started in reception. We had to wait until we’d actually moved to get a local address as when I originally applied they explained to me, in a voice reserved for idiots, that I was 164 miles outside the catchment. When we had moved it was plain sailing and she got in the local school, after spending 6 months in a nearby nursery where she made friends.

My LA makes it perfectly clear what happens with late applications and in year moves. There are legal constraints on what they can do. There can be legal challenges if admissions policies are not followed. It’s important to have proof of new address and in my LA you have 2 weeks beyond 15 Jan to be actually living there with the required evidence. Personally id want to have moved months earlier.

We moved just in time for the deadline and it was so stressful. I’d say get moving with it sll as soon as you can