In year admissions

[somanymiles]

Cut a long story short - I am returning to the UK from abroad in July 2013 with DS 13 and DD 10 (they will be 14 and 11 when we return). Croydon Council say we cannot go the ordinary admissions route and will have to do an in year admission process when we arrive. DS is gifted in Maths just to complicate matters. Has anyone had experience with the in year admissions process? I fear they will end up in the schools no one wants to go to...

You need to get hold of someone in Croydon area, you need local info.
Else try to bump this up in UK daylight hours. Officially G in anything doesn't matter, but you may find it relevant if you want to take the offer to appeal.

You need to look at all the Croydon area schools via the Internet. Are you Catholic?
You could also look at the Sutton grammars and email them incase they will be able to take your children.

However unless the school has a long waiting list your distance from it will only matter to you, not in terms of admission.
I would also suggest you learn about the schools appeals process (there is a lot of information on Mumsnet or you could read something like How to win your schools appeal ).

I would also strongly suggest you move at the beginning of July or earlier, as year 10 is the year when most schools start their "options" and GCSE courses, and you really want to have things sorted by September (some schools will have started this in year 9 already).