How to relocate with kids in secondary?

[DinoEggs24]

We have 4 kids, each around 2 years apart, and we are hoping to relocate to a different part of the country within the next few years as we've both hit a career ceiling in our current location, and we just aren't happy here.

Our oldest 2 are very settled and we've decided it wouldn't be right to uproot them at least before the end of their GCSEs. There is no sixth form at their secondary so there's a potential window then, given that they'll be having a big change at that time too, but by then our youngest 2 (currently in the tail end of primary) will also be in secondary.

We get the impression the younger two will be more open to a big move (they have no memory of living anywhere else, and don't love it here, whereas the older two moved around a bit when they were young and got jaded by it, which is why we want that stability for them now). But if that's not the case by then, and we feel the younger two would be disadvantaged by a big move, then we will stay put until they're all through school.

However, if we do feel it would be ok for them to go sooner, then I can't figure out how we would go about making the move without completely disrupting their education? We'd have a child in college, one (probably) in uni, one thinking of GCSE choices, one just settling in, and so on. I should say this is state education, so at the mercy of local authority in year admissions processes. Has anyone made a big move before with kids in secondary & further education, and if so how did you physically make the transition with the schooling, and how did it all work?

By college if you mean 6th form, every 6th form teaches the syllabus in a different order so you can't move 6th form during the 2 years plus you need your teacher to know you so they can predict your a levels and write your reference for your UCAS form. It's very difficult to move schools after year 9 as a general rule of thumb without disrupting a dc's education.

We have just relocated 4 children from one side of a county to the other. What is the current year group of your children? Mine are: Y3, Y8, Y12 and Y13.

My priorities, in this order, were:

• Both eldest two are college, not sixth form. So they have stayed at same college, just travelling further. Hard line would be not moving school during Y12-13
• I'd prefer not moving during Y10 or Y11. That said, I would move in Y10 if I absolutely had to, defo not Y11.
• If moving with a child in Y6, you need to be in a new primary before the deadline for secondary applications.

Consider school places for where you move to. I knew that one particular town in the Borough I moved to had massively over subscribed schools, so didnt move there for that reason. I didn't realise the issue was Borough wide. We applied to all 8 secondaries in the Borough and all 8 over subscribed in Y8. He therefore has no school place for 5 weeks. After 4 weeks, Fair Access offered us a school 10 miles away and out of the Borough Council. We were also appealing all the other schools and thankfully got offered a local school on appeal. Stressful time though.

In summary, phone the council admissions team (and/or schools directly) before you offer on a house and ask about school places in specific year groups. With hindsight, we had viewed a house in the catchment for the out-of-borough school we were offered (which is s good school, just too far away and is rural). If I had my time again I'd have bought that house instead so we didn't have the school admissions stress.

You could have similar issues with primary schools, especially if they factor into the admission criteria for an over subscribed secondary. Our saying grace for primary was moving to a town with a just-opened new build primary.

Something else I've learnt - schools have the smallest in-year-transfer waiting list in Aug/Sep and the waiting list grows through the year. Then in July (round here at least) the window closes and the waiting list wiped, you then have to re-apply to go back on the waiting list for the next school year. We moved end Feb and lots of people advised us (too late) that we should have aimed to be move in by July so that we were applying as soon as the new window opens for in-year transfer.