Admissions question- how do I do this ethically

[southeastlondonmum]

My daughter attends a great school with a very high FSM in take. She's currently in year 2. My DH wants to move out of London but we have agreed that the best time to do this is at the end of Year 6. Allowing my eldest to complete schooling and enter secondary from year 7. I am keen that if SATS are still around, my eldest sits them at current school. She's bright and they have really challenged her and their results are variable. I am well aware that lots of people rent in catchment to get a good place but our genuine intention would be to live in new area from summer of year 6/7 and we would likely keep London property for business and buy somewhere else. But we wouldn't actually be living there at application deadline. How do I do this?? I am aware it's someway off but I am not sure of how to do this without being unethical

I am well aware of the fab secondary schools in London ( through work) and they set a high bar for rest of country. The move isn't motivated by school more DH. He really wants to move, I don't. He wants it more than me and I don't think it's worth breaking up an otherwise happy marriage for. I was brought up in commuterville and hated it. I guess Brighton / Hove or nearby is an op

Option. Q

I've never understood the ethical argument here. How does living at a certain address make you more entitled to a place than an other child? Do people somehow become more deserving each year they live there? Can you really call dibs on state services?

Because living at address A for the sole purpose gaining a school place is cheating. All children are of course entitled to a state education, but no child is entitled to a state education AT A SCHOOL OF THEIR PARENTS CHOICE.

You need to have the secondary in mind, DCs secondary does not rarely get to the catchment admissions alone as the feeder schools rank higher in the criteria. Even with buying a property it would be irrelevant unless there is an opening in a feeder primary. A few homeschool primary children whose parents wanted secondary school have found themselves having to travel.

Sounds like your options are:

Move at the end of Y6 and take a risk doing late or in Year admissions.

Move earlier

Use a private school, possibly selling the old house if necessary to fund it.

Ttbb Wed I've never understood the ethical argument here

It is quite unusual to find parents like yourself, who are happy to see their children placed in a school they don't know, have never see, is RI/special measures and will be pita to travel to because another family were able to afford to buy/rent a property closer to the school the week before the CAF form was submitted.

I think it is even more unusual to find parents like yourself, who are also happy to see that same family move back to their family home X miles away at the beginning of the second school term. After all, their DC has just as much right to a place at that school as yours, Right?

I think we will move before year 6. My personal preference is against private education. Which means we need to look in Year 4/5. Which feels quite soon!

I am in the move sooner than you think you need to camp. You cannot guarantee you will find a house you want, in the area you want if you only give yourselves a short opportunity to look. And as PP have said moving and starting secondary in one massive change is a big ask of any 11 year old.

Start looking now. You don't need to move now, even if you do buy now. But I would really recommend trying to move your DD before Yr6 starts.

And really, really, SATs be dammed. It is very lovely of you to wish your DD's good score on the school - but if this would be at the expense of an easier transition to secondary then don't do it. (School Governor and Business Manager speaking here)

I've done this this year.

I decided to get out of London early Yr 5. Literally decided overnight it was the right thing. I managed to get out to the town I planned moving to and saw a couple of secondary schools. Check the admissions criteria stringently including asking for any planned changes. The one I wanted changed their admission code a year ago and it has huge implications for the address I needed to move to.

I then looked for and got a job. I left DC in London school and commuted outwards.
I kept enquiringly for primary places and I found one I was content with for older DC y5 and moved DC with a day notice to the London school. So two of us commuted
The other stayed in London!

I also kept hunting for a rental in new town.
Once I'd got a rental sorted, I moved younger DC to new (different) school and three of us commuted. A month later we moved house.

I'm about to take now y6 DC to look at the school I already selected for an open day and the CAF form goes in from the rental address late October.

I did try to sell London house but market is flat so it's currently rented out.
There is no way I am playing any systems or games. I have an owned property 40 miles away. (I have two actually!) I have moved lock stock and barrel to a new town where DC attend primary.

I will rent for another year and try to sell London again before finalising my move completely.

DC should get the secondary school I want. Younger DC should then get a sibling link in a few years as long as I only move within a certain distance of the rental original address.

Your DH dream is possible! You just need to do a lot of planning. A lot! Plus have a really good understanding of admission rules and preferably move to an area where there is some movement at primary level. I have sacrificed a lot of my time though driving across town endlessly between two schools and work.

Older DC has made new friends from mid Y5. I doubt any of them will go to (my choice) secondary as they live on the other side of town.

SATS and friends were of zero importance to me in making my choices.

PS - I was in SE London. Zone 4.

In our area once you have been offered and accepted your secondary place, your chosen secondary visits your primary school to speak to said child and teacher......that could be a little bit awkward if your miles away in London!

Dungandbother, very interesting and enlightening.

Just shows what is possible if you are single minded and have a clarity of thought, which isn't waylaid by 'side issues' like SATS or friendships.
Shows the timescales needed, the sacrifices and determination.

Most people won't have these. They will either be more woolly in their goals, including issues such as friendship or SATs and so looking to achieve too many things which will lead to significant compromises, or they won't think far ahead enough and get on task soon enough to make it happen with the timescales involved, or they will fall foul of the rules and be in breach of the perfectly reasonable checks which councils have in place to make sure people don't still own a nearby commutable property.

Dungs post just confirms to me why it is the middle classes who manage to escape the schools they don't like.....the planning, time and money involved are all pretty hefty and simply not possible for lots of people. Of course, lots of people aren't exercised sufficiently by the current options either to put themesleves through all the efforts mentioned by Dung.

OP, I would say that your issue currently is that you and DH are not in the same page on this whole issue. To pull off something like Dung mentions would be virtually impossible if you weren't both committed to the idea and effort involved. So I would say that the first thing is to reach unity about the next steps. Once you have done that, then you can plan. And if you do want to move, sooner will be better than later. The issues of current primary friendships are a bit of a red herring and the longer term goals are the ones to focus on.

Thanks for comments. The thing is we are not on same page although I have accepted that this will mean I will have to go it 'full barrels ' from
Year 4, looking at areas and schools. The thread has been useful because it means that I have two years left to fully enjoy what London has to offer before we need to focus on looking.

Chocolate it took so much planning but I'm lucky in that I'm fairly organised naturally.

The middle class thing I only sort of agree with. I'm not flush and I'm currently practically on my knees financially. Rent is extortionate and I'm living beyond my means until the house sells.

I got a redundancy payout. That facilitated it but as a homeowner, I do have options. In practical terms it cost me £3k deposit / tenancy stuff on the rental and £1k for a removal company. Plus £300 for a years landlord insurance on my house.

Something else to consider...
We moved in the summer holiday between Yr6 and Yr7. It is possible to apply for secondaries from out of area, and DD got her first choice.
She has done well.
But she has missed having no mates from primary around. All her local friends are those she made in secondary - she has no old friends to veg about with. It would have helped during the difficult year 8 and 9 to have more non-school friends.
If I had to do it over again, I'd move in yr 5.

We moved summer of y5.
Ds1 did y6 in a new school but he moved up with many of his classmates at the new school so it wasn’t so bad as starting secondary school knowing nobody.

I think your loyalty to your DD's current school is lovely but you may find an equally great school somewhere else if you start researching. In a rough area

I have had two DCs move school. One moved at a natural movement point ( year 4 - 5 in my area) and was fie. never really made friends in the way those who have been together since 4 years old have but settled in. The other moved when he was older (year 7) and found it much tougher. Kids are more resilient and social the younger they are, I general. I speak as someone who was moved school six times!!

The later you leave it, the more resistant your DD will be to changing or moving. Older DS just had a meltdown about moving school at age 16!

Start looking for a lovely house and school in the burbs : honestly, they do exist!

If you choose your location carefully you don't have to be giving up "all that London has to offer". I can be on Oxford St in 35 minutes from my local station. When I lived in S London it would probably have taken double that time!

Look carefully at the admissions criteria for secondary. My local one has changed from catchment to feeder schools+catchment, due to people moving temporarily to the area to get their children into the school.

This means you might need your DC to be attending a feeder school in order to get a place, so you'd need to move them soon to be sure of getting them in by year 6 (we don't have much movement at all in our school - a few leave in year 3 for indies, the rest stay on)

I would move over the summer before she starts Yr 5 if possible, so she gets the final two years in the new school before progressing onto another one