Can children transfer to a primary school near their father’s home?

[Crazycatladyh97]

My ex husband is moving about half an hour away, he takes the children to school and does the afternoon school run usually as I can't due to work commitments.
We've discussed the children going to a school close to him and he will drop them off just before dinner but I believe they wouldn't get into a school unless in catchment area?
The children are down as living with me and 2 are his step children so we couldn't even put them down at his address

Assuming they are already at school, this is an in-year application so yes, if a space is available it makes no difference where they live.

In fact that’s true at the normal application times too - I could live in Cornwall and list a school in York. But in that case a place is less likely as you are up against all the others seeking a place.

You can apply for any school anywhere (assuming that you are in England here btw) and if a place is available and there is no other applicant, or none ranking higher on a waiting list, you must be allocated the place. If there are more applicants than places available, the school's publshed oversubscription criteria will be used to rank them.

Bear in mind that there is no obligation to offer places as a 'family group', if places are not available in both / all relevant year groups; one getting a place and starting at the school may move siblings up their own year group waiting lists (depending on the oversubscription criteria), but won't create a place where one doesn't exist.

I would also think about the bigger picture, their friends at school would be local to him, then secondary school is local go him as their friends go there. You are setting yourself up as the non resident parent.

How old are the children and do they want to move schools?

If the school has space, it sounds like a few children requiring space in different year groups so it's not a given, they can take a child no matter where they live. Catchment in only a thing if there's not enough places for everyone who wants one.
You'd easily be able to ring the school, list off the year groups you need, and they'll tell you if they have any space. They won't create a space they don't have.
Be careful though, they'll make friends who are 30 mins away, there'll be parties and playdates you need to drive to. What if the arrangement changes and you need to get them to school.... Also is it a good school, will your children be happy there, is it worth the upheaval of a move for 30 mins travel. It feels like moving their schools just to be slightly more convenient for the non resident parent is a bit of a big decision you might want to think through.

What’s the current contact split? There does seem to be a risk that if he does all drop off and pick up and they are at school near him that he becomes resident parent and gets majority contact. I’m not saying that’s wrong if he’s a great dad, I’m just pointing that out.

It absolutely does make a difference where you live if the school is usually full and has a waiting list for in year transfers.

When a place becomes available, the school will use their normal admission criteria to decide which order to offer the place to the DC on the waiting list. Distance is a factor for most schools, so if you live a long way away, you will be at the bottom of the list.

You could be on the list for years, someone could move nearer than you a week before the place becomes available and put their DC's name on the list, and they'd get offered the place before you.

If, on the other hand, the school is under subscribed and has plenty of places (as is happening more often these days to be fair, as the number of places needed is declining) then yes, you can get a place without distance being a barrier. Only way to find out is to speak to the school.

That’s why I said “if a space is available”. Obviously if there is a WL (there isn’t always for in-year spaces) then the usual admission criteria will apply.

But the OP was concerned that being out of catchment meant they were excluded from getting a space at all which is not the case. But yes, if spaces come up rarely and there is a WL then the OP’s dc will be a long way down it.

What about their friends? Any friends they make will live away from them.

Just contact the local authority admissions team and ask about a mid year transfer. We can all give you advice but realistically each school sets there own admissions criteria, each one will have its PAN and own class room limit. Find out if the school have space in each relevant year group and go from there

I would 100% make sure you’ve thought this through, especially for his step children. Are they moving away from friends? How will
playdates be facilitated?

I don’t think I would move my child’s school for the sake of a parent living only half an hour away. It’s not just about school. They’ll make friends in a different local area to where they live and that will become an even bigger factor as they get older. And what about high school when they won’t be able to make their own way there with friends which is what most teenagers do?

Will they have places, is the main question.
There’s the added factor at the moment of a lot of small private prep schools closing. A relative of dh has to find places for four primary age children before September!

You seem to have discussed practicalities but not considered whether this is something the children themselves want, or taken their wishes into account. I would very much involve the children.

Personally, I would not move a child going into Y5 or Y6 unless they are very unhappy or not progressing. Secondary, they can get there and back without Dad anyway. My son had a classmate who moved a similar distance going into the end of Y5. Her parents kept her at the school until the end of Y6 when they all went to different secondary schools anyway. It was a long year for them but one of the parents kept a job locally until she finished.

Younger kids will adapt more readily but only you know your kids. They may not want to leave a close friend behind. Or they may just love the school! I went on a Governor visit before the Easter holidays and one of the girls taking us on a tour told us she really didn’t want to leave the school as she loved it so much. It is their world for a big part of their childhood and it can be a wrench.

Sorry haven’t read all the replies but they can do an in year transfer as long as there are spaces in their year group. I moved 30 miles away within the school year and there was only a place for one of my sons at the nearest primary school. They couldn’t accommodate both even though we live so close to it that we share a fence with the playground!
The only school that had space for both was a bit further away. Annoying as we have to drive past 2 other schools to get to it and I frequently see other families who live directly opposite DS’s school on the school run to go to the school we live behind!
Overall it worked out ok as the school they went to had far better wraparound care, which as a single parent was vital for me as ex-husband does no school runs due to work.
Just wanted to say don’t take it for granted that they will get a place even if he lives directly next to the school (which we do!) - they can’t create places that aren’t there mid year. This all happened during Covid too so I couldn’t even set foot inside any of the schools. I never even got to go inside until they’d been at school almost a year

Just wanted to add that my DS was added to the waitlist for the closest school when I initially enquired in April 2021 when he was in year R. They just phoned me a few weeks ago to say a place had become available and did I still want it! 5 years on the waitlist!
He’s now coming to the end of year 5 so I politely declined 😂

There is nothing to stop you going to a school wherever you want, IF there if the school you want has

• spaces in the year groups you want to go into
• no-one on the waiting list who meets the criteria for those places better than you do.

So If there is a school near him that has spaces in the year groups the children need, and there is no-one on the school's waiting list for those year groups that lives nearer than your house, the school would likely give your children places. However if they had no space in the right year groups, obviously they couldn't give your children spaces, and if your children were still registered at your address and there were children living nearer their dad's who wanted spaces in the same year groups as you, they would give any spaces that came up in those year groups to those children before yours.

Lots of good advice here. Just don’t try and say it is their perm address now unless he gets the child benefit payments and the current school have his home as their primary address. They will check with them.

As others have said
Make an in year admission application for each child with your address on it. If there are spaces then you'll be given the places. On the schools paperwork you'd list your address as main address and dad's details as the other contact.

If no spaces they'll be placed on the waiting list and stay where they are until a space becomes available. Sometimes you'll be offered a school that you haven't listed on the form that is considered to be within reasonable distance.
Wouldn't worry about resident parent etc as that term isn't used anymore particularly with so many child arrangement orders being 50/50. When you make the application, use your address.

They wont be offered the 'nearest undersubscribed' school as a result of a mid-year application from an address close to the school that they currently attend. If the DC's main address were to be changed to the father's, then that may or may not happen, depending on how far the current school actually is from there.

'Half an hour'on foot, unlikely. 'Half an hour' driving on national speed limit roads, almost certainly yes. But irrelevant if the main address given remains the mother's.

You can apply out of catchment area- my son and step daughter both did in-yese transfers to neighbouring authorities. When you apply, there is a space to give reasons for wanting that school. Children in catchment, with siblings in the school etc will take priority but it is possible if there is space.

How does / would this benefit the children?

assuming you are in England (rules vary across UK)
then catchments don't really exist.
You can apply to any school, and if there is a space you get it.

The trouble will be if they have space in one class eg year 4 and not the other eg year 1.

Schools can choose to be flexible over Key Stage 2 numbers, so if you got a place for a younger child they might offer a place to the older one as well even though it takes them over 30 in the class. That is at their discretion.

BUT they have very little flexibility over class sizes in key stage 1. So if their class already has 30, they are not allowed to take it to 31.