School hunting - Market Harborough/Desborough/Fleckney/Loughborough

[NCembarassed]

Moving house during school hols next year. DC currently in Year 6.

We are visiting schools in Kettering, in case of a Desborough move, or if the sale falls through. Also because I believe you have to live within catchment before you can apply. We can't move before Easter (and that's if we get a quick sale).

However, move will be dictated by property prices, as I can't afford to borrow much. Most affordable properties are by auction, which I can't do.

I've been looking around Harborough/Oadby/ Fleckney - even Loughborough.

If your child is at school in these areas, and you're happy, please post - also any to avoid (pm if you'd prefer it not to be public).

You have to apply through the LA where you are living at the time, and its only lthat LA which has an obligation to offer the nearest undersubscribed school, if none of your preferences can be met. So if, e.g. you live in Essex as at 31st October, your CAF has to go in through Essex CC. But you can apply for any state school on your CAF, so if the move was definitely going to happen, you could name all schools in the new area if you wanted to, and the request for a place would be passed by Essex, as your home LA, to the maintaining LA for each school you applied to.

If you hadn't moved into that area by whatever the cut-off is (some LAs allow a short grace period after the 31st October deadline for 'movers in' or other changes of address to be counted as on time, if they had made their original submission on time), you current address would be used when ranking your application.

So unless a school you'd applied for was undersubscribed, you wouldn't get an offer on March 1st, but you would be on the waiting list from the off, and once your move was confirmed , would move up the list, assuming in / out catchment or distance is relevant, plus the new LA would then be obliged to offer the nearest school with a place in the meantime.

For Oadby/Fleckney even Harborough I'd be looking at Beauchamp college;it has a fabulous reputation and good GSCE/A-level results;my children didn't go to Beauchamp but went to another school in the same academy trust as them.

For Loughborough;I couldn't advise on Schools but in terms of affordability in Leicestershire this is your best bet.