gaining entry to secondary state school on short notice

[cpb0001]

My family is moving to the E. Midlands this summer (from the USA). I'm finding that most of the state schools where we hope to buy property are oversubscribed at this point. If you live within close proximity to a school, do they have to admit your child? From what I am reading, that doesn't appear to be the case. In the US, your child is only assigned an alternative school if it falls within same district and is located within close proximity to your home. I'm wondering how things work in the UK - is it possible your child may be assigned a school that is located in another district (i.e., far away)? Thank you in advance for your response.

Your dc will allocated a school place that is nearest to the postcode of the house you live in but it may be a distance away from your home, ie 30 min drive.
You may want to consider a private school where you can secure a place whilst currently abroad.

Hi OP and welcome to the East Midlands! It's lovely here :) might I ask whereabouts you are planning to be (only bc I may be able to give you some on-the-ground school gen).

How it works is that the local authority has to offer you a school place; if it id further than three miles from your home they must also offer transport. If the desired schools are full (they will be if they are perceived to be good) then you will be offered a school that has spaces. This may be somewhere you would not be keen on. You can accept the place or decline it; but if you decline it you will either have to home educate or go private.

You can go on the waiting list for any schools you prefer, and if you are close then you may get a place but if the school is full, that means waiting for a student in that year to move away. Some areas have more movement of population that others.

The chances are that you will be allocated a school reasonably near if you are moving to (say) Derby or Nottingham - ie within the city. But it may be several miles from your home. HTH.

You can apply to any school as an in-year admission (ie outside of the normal entry points). You'll be assigned a priority on their waiting list if they don't have a space which is decided in accordance with their admissions criteria. Generally the closer you are to a school the more likely you'll get in but not always. So always worth reading the admissions policy of a school - it will be on their website.

No, schools don't have to admit your child if there are no spaces in the relevant year group. Schools have a published number to admit (PAN) and don't have to take children in excess of this number.

The relevant local authority (council) has a responsibility to provide your child with a secondary school place. However, this doesn't have to be at the school closest to your home, or a school that you like, just a school that has places in the relevant year group. If the journey is more than three miles between your home and the school, they also have a responsibility to provide transport to the school.

In practice, over-subscribed schools will maintain a waiting list, as some students will leave during the year. This waiting list may well be in order of their admissions criteria (e.g. someone who lives closer to the school may be higher up the list than someone who lives further away but joined the list earlier). If you move close to your school of choice, you may get lucky. However, you may not.

You can accept a place at the school you're offered while also going on the waiting lists for any over-subscribed school you'd prefer. You'd be wise to call any over-subscribed schools that you're thinking of targeting, to find out exactly what their waiting list policy is and who they give priority to. Different schools (particularly those that are "academies") can have their own waiting lists, while others might be working with waiting lists held by the council.

Just to clarify, the waiting lists are always held in order of admissions criteria, and the length of time you have been on it has no bearing at all.

Thank you for all of the responses. We are hoping to move to Derby. Unfortunately, I submitted an application to the local council mid-April and still have not received a response. Of course, I don't have an address in the UK yet so I am wondering if that may be part of the issue. I've tried calling but haven't been able to get through to anyone. The private schools we've contacted also have waiting lists.

It's really hard when moving to the UK from overseas to secure a good state school place. Usually you need to have a UK address when you apply for the place, which of course lots of people don't have until they actually arrive. As a PP said, this is why many apply for private schools who have no such stipulations.

Thanks @ChildOfFriday, you did a much better job of saying what I was trying to say about time of joining the waiting list not making a difference!

@cpb0001 - here's the official guidance on schools applications from overseas: www.gov.uk/guidance/schools-admissions-applications-from-overseas-children

it says,
"Establishing ‘home’ address
It is common for admission arrangements to give some degree of priority based on where an applicant lives – for example, where a school has a catchment area or uses distance from home to school as a means of allocating the final available places. In these cases, admission authorities will need an address in order to fully apply their admission arrangements and rank applicants for their oversubscription criteria. However, not every family returning to England from another country will be able to provide this at the point they apply for a school and the application should be processed whether or not the family is able to provide a permanent address.
Admission authorities could ask prospective movers or returners where they will be living (see paragraph 2.5 of the school admissions code). This might include whether parents:
> own or rent a property in the area to which they intend to return or move
> are UK crown servants or are in the UK military and are returning or moving to the area
> live in temporary hotel or other accommodation in the UK
> have provided other compelling evidence that they are returning or moving to the area"

If you don't have an address in the UK ( and don't work for the crown) schools won't usually look spaces for you until you are in UK.
We were returning to a house we owned and still couldn't secure school places until we were living in the house again.
Many people I know pay for private schools for at least the first year while sorting school places out.

It is unlikely they will process any applications until your child is resident in UK. Even then, if local schools are full in the year group, a school further away may be offered. It is possible there would be transport included if the offered place is 3+ miles away, but that may be a pass for public transport rather than a dedicated bus.

How old is/are your dc? Be prepared that if you have more than one they may not be placed at same school. If for year 7 entry in September there may still be some movement on waiting lists over the summer.

Hey again OP I am in Derby! Which schools are you considering? Also yy how old is/are your children as that will make a big difference?

If you want the lowdown on Derby secondaries I can help; but bear in mind that some are better than their reputation (and one or two may be less good).

Clary, I'd love to connect via email re: Derby schools.

Thanks to all of you for the info you've shared. I appreciate your comments and advice very much.

@cpb0001 you can send me a private message via MN 😀

Our local authority will let you know where spaces are available. If you accept the nearest school they offer then they will also fund transport (if further than 3 miles). You can also choose a further away state school, but they won't pay transport. This isn't necessarily a big deal if you're in a city where there are suitable buses.

An extra factor at the moment is that even oversubscribed schools may be taking Ukrainian refugees, even if they are full and have a waiting list. The norm is that when a child leaves an oversized year, they will not accept a new child from the waiting list. The result might be that there is very little movement from waiting lists in the near future. Waiting lists are unpredictable things, but it would be prudent not to rely on them, especially at the moment.

This info is very helpful; thank you!

Hi @cpb0001 one thing you need to bare in mind in Derby is that there are 2 local authorities involved with education

Derby city deals with all schools within the city boundary but Derbyshire county deal with admissions in the wider county.

you should check on the relevant council website for the admitting authority, some schools less than 3 miles from the city centre are under county not city