Moving area and therefore school before or after reception year...

[Cazzr]

We are currently trying to decide when to move areas (closer to family) and trade up to bigger house.
DS will be starting reception in Sept 2010 (may baby so probably half days till after Christmas) and we are also planning to try for dc2 next year too...

We'd really like to make the move next summer but it might be better financially to wait another year.

What are peoples thoughts on whether it would be detrimental to DS to move after the first year.
Desperately trying to do the best for all of us..

If your ds is due to start school in September 2010, you would need to be in your new house by approx November/December 2009 in order to meet the application deadline (this varies with different LEAs.

Ditto, if your DS is due to start school next sept then you need to be submitting your application any time from now until jan of next year (it differs depending on the LEA). You need to know now which area you are applying for.

If you were to move in to a new area next summer, the summer prior to your DS starting school in the sept, then you would quite possibly not have a place at any of the local schools as the application process would have been performed 6/9 months earlier.

I would say that moving next summer is quite ppossibly the worst time that you could. ever. decide. to. move. With schools in mind anyway.

The deadline will be anywhere from December to February but you need to know where you are moving down to the street if somewhere urban. DD1 is the same age and some of her friends are moving to the country. LEAs seem sympathetic but expect the purchase to be well on the way to put the address on the application. If you move next summer, DC1 could end up with no place.

Personally I wouldn't want to move him after the first year. He'll just have settled down and formed his friendship groups.

That being said, the comments are right about catchment areas etc so you would need to move quickly or make your applications based on the fact that you know you are moving to the area but this might leave you in a tricky position if the schools you are aiming for are oversubscribed.

We sold our house last year time deliberately so that we were in the right area by the time school applications were required. Could you sell and rent for a while to save up some more money? Given the predictions of further house price falls it could be a good move

It's a possibility to rent, and we are considering this..
I think someone said to me that I could transfer during the school year, is this the case? Othewise how do any people move area once their kids start school...?

Yes, you can transfer at any point in the school year, but only if there are places in the right school year. If the school is a popular one, it is highly likely that there will not be any spaces in the classes (unless a child happens to leave).

In which case you could end up moving him after reception and then moving and finding you don't have a place nearby and so you have to trek to the nearest school with a space and then move him again when a space becomes available in your area. Very unsettling for a little one.

I'd move now if possible.

or wait until after infant school so that he starts a new junior school in the new area?

You really need to check when the applications close in youir LEA - ours is 2 weeks today, so it would probably be too late to organise even renting in the new area...

As has been said moving later will depend on whether any of the schools you like have spaces in the relevant year. Very few areas see a lot of movement of kids between schools, most are a pretty static population once the kids start school & usually the only school(s) with places are the ones most people don't want!