Child 11, coming back to the UK

[Seeyousoon80]

Hi,
My son has been outside the British education system for the last 3 years continuing school in another EU country (he's bilingual).
We look for a place to settle, but can't decide where and that really depends on the secondary school location. We do consider North London and areas with up to 1h commute to London like Cambridge, St Albans, Guildford (too far I think ?). My son is very good at science, math related and IT subjects. State schools preferred but would consider good independent ones as well.
Would you advice on any schools and family friendly places we could consider ?
We have to have close proximity to good hospital as well due to allergic problems of our daughter.

Where did you live before you went abroad? Can you move back there and do you still have an address there?
For state school applications you need to have an address in the UK before you can apply. If your son is due to start secondary school in September 2021 then you have already missed the application deadline which was 31st October and would be considered as a late application.
If you 11 year old would be first year of secondary school now then you would need to make an in-year application for Y7. However in some areas schools are oversubscribed so you would be unlikely to receive your first preference.
Ability at subjects isn't usually considered for state school applications.

When was he 11? Should he be year 6 or 7 equivalent now? For year 7 entry in 2021 (turn 11 after September1st 2020) the deadline to apply was October so you are already likely to be fitted in wherever there is a space after on-time applications are processed, if he is already year 7 age (11 before end of August 2920) you are looking for an In Year place which again will be a vacancy , so your “choice” may well be limited whereever you decide. What area of London do you need access to?

My son is 11 this coming January, so equivalent to Y6 now. I know we missed the deadline for applications, but this year was too unpredictable to rush back.
Surrey council already refused to process the school application as the late one as we do not have the address in the UK. We used to live in London Docklands but prefer more suburb locations now.
My partner works remotely, myself as well for another 6 months, but then central London close to UCL.
We are Catholics so I've been thinking about catholic schools as well, but my boy prefers STEM school.
Do you know how the birth year 2010 looks like in numbers? London is probably oversubscribed anyway... Oh.

Hi op, the best thing you can do is pick an area with a reasonable commute and ask (on here by all means) about secondary schools there.

Tbh you are going to be at the bottom of the pile and good schools are always popular. I wouldn't worry about a STEM school, all schools offer science and maths and there are no longer specialisms in schools like that (in the state sector).

I don't know the area but I believe areas such as Berkhamstead and St Albans are popular as they gave a decent commute to north London (UCL is near Euston) and good schools.

Some of the catholic schools in Surrey and outer London, Twickenham for example, are superb. I'm talking top schools in the whole country. Worth considering possibly.

Oxford.

My brother and family live near Cambridge. There are outstanding state schools in many satellite villages in the commuting area of Cambridge. Look for schools in the Cambridge Area Partnership as these greed into the top state sixth forms in Cambridge. These then also feed into Cambridge University (Ie Hills Sixth Form)
Don’t worry about application deadlines, the county councils there have a separate process for in-year transfer applications. You apply as soon as you have an address (signed tenancy agreement or house contract). If you contact the different councils they can advise you which schools have spaces in the year your child will go into so you can actually plan to find an address by a school with a place.

Cambridge also has Addenbrookes hospital one of the best in the U.K.

Here is a link
www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/children-and-families/schools-learning/apply-for-a-school-place/in-year-admissions

See here as well.
www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/asset-library/Schools-with-places-remaining-16-Dec2020.pdf

Thank you very much. Will have a close look at this table and call the council as well.

In some ways it’s easier to get a school place by moving in-year than between school years. My brother deliberately moved back to U.K. over Easter so his children went from school in France straight to school in U.K. after Easter break.

You can only get into any school mid year or between years if there is a space. No space = no admission. So getting an address here and seeing which schools have spaces is paramount. If a school is full they don’t have to admit.

@PlanDeRaccordement

In some ways it’s easier to get a school place by moving in-year than between school years. My brother deliberately moved back to U.K. over Easter so his children went from school in France straight to school in U.K. after Easter break.

Did your brother know about the places in particular school(s) when was coming back to the UK? I do not want to move my son to year 6 for a couple of months and then transfer to secondary school. He changed schools to often already.

Yes. He worked with council to identify schools with places and then did his house hunting in the catchment areas for those schools. He decided to rent for a year and applied the day he signed a tenancy agreement. So many good schools are over subscribed so it really made sense for him to pick where to live based on where there were school places for my two nieces.
The year 6 primary and then going up to secondary is a wrinkle he didn’t have to deal with as one was going into year 7 and the other year 10. But several primaries all feed into secondaries. If your child joins end of year 6, he’ll have a chance to make friends with children from that primary instead of arriving at secondary in September with no familiar faces at all. Also most primaries do “moving up” days where they go for a day at the secondary school they will attend. Of course this is all precovid. No idea whether that still happens.
I understand about children changing schools a lot. Mine did too. They’ve been to four different primaries in three different countries, and three different secondaries in two different countries. But unlike when I grew up and went to eleven different schools as a child, they can keep in touch with friends online. It’s made them more adventurous as two of them decided to go to university abroad.

Say, for example Melbourn primary and college are both rated Good and both currently have spaces. These are located in Royston which has its own train station and a direct line train to London that gets you to Kings Cross in 56minutes.

Guildford is about 1 hour to London - and not too bad to UCL - and the Catholic secondary used to be a STEM specialist. On the other hand it is very over-subscribed and you will need to appeal to get him in.
Woking is even faster 9and more trains) into London has an even more desirable Catholic school - but not sure you will get him in.

St Albans seems the right side of London for UCL, so might be a better bet and direction to look in.

I have talked to admission team in St Peter's in Guildford, but we do not have the UK address so they can't process our application. We'll see how long is the waiting list.

No local authority is going to process an application until you have an address here, I'm afraid. What they define as an address may differ in terms of what you need to prove - though in your case it will probably be a year long rental contract - but none will process an application until you have a provable address here (unless you are a returning crown servant!).

You can go on multiple waiting lists once you have an address, and they have to find you a place somewhere. It may not be in a school of your choice however.

The waiting list is irrelevant until you have an address. Even if they were willing to add you, the fact that your dc is not yet local will mean others can be placed above and offered a place before him, even if they are added later. SCC hold the list for state schools and process applications centrally.

And there won't be a waiting list until March 2021 at earliest, once the main application process is completed.

I would try contacting a few independent schools as well. They have different application criteria and the lack of UK address shouldn't be an issue.

@MollyButton

Guildford is about 1 hour to London - and not too bad to UCL - and the Catholic secondary used to be a STEM specialist. On the other hand it is very over-subscribed and you will need to appeal to get him in. Woking is even faster 9and more trains) into London has an even more desirable Catholic school - but not sure you will get him in.

St Albans seems the right side of London for UCL, so might be a better bet and direction to look in.

The slow trains between Guildford and Waterloo do take about an hour, but the fast ones are only about 35 minutes.

Cambridge to Kings Cross is 45 minutes. As others have said until you have a UK address they won't process a state school application. You may find you will need to go to an independent.

Thank you everyone for your advice. We will finally rent a house, just a matter of months now, but have to decide on the location first.
Any recommendations on the independent schools in Cambridge or what to avoid ?

If you wanted Guildford then you should aim to have a house rented by 31st March, ideally in Guildford. Then asssuming you fulfill all the Catholic categories you would jump to the top of the waiting list, and have strong grounds for appeal.
The order of the waiting list is based on the admission criteria, and a new applicant who is a Baptised Catholic, Baptised early on (I can't remember the time frame), etc. will jump ahead of all the non Catholics on the waiting list.

MollyButton, thanks a lot for your comment, that's very helpful.
We do fulfil the faith criteria for St' Peters and for most catholic schools. However, we have never been to Guildford before (2 close friends recommend it and school itself), but we know Cambridge very well and love it. Also, Cambridge hospital provides outstanding care, which is very important as my younger one has severe food allergies.