Moving house - we will miss the October cut off -what happens

[Jonsa]

We have been trying to move to the catchment area of a better school.

We have had an offer accepted on our house but our seller pulled out when we were close to exchanging. This is the second time this has happened to us. We have been looking but nothing has come on the market and it’s looking unlikely we will move before October.

What happens if we miss the October cut off and move in November or December.

Well you can update the council after you move and then join the waiting list. If you move closer to the school than others on the waiting list, you will move to the top. If it is anything like my area, you will very quickly get offered a waiting list place.

In my local authority area, they allow you to submit evidence of your new address up to 1st December, so if it's the same in your area, you might be ok. You'd still have nearly 5 months to find a new property and exchange contracts. I'm looking for a house atm and the market seems to have gone dead over the last few weeks - probably because of the election - but I'm hoping it will pick up again now. Worst case scenario it'll be quiet over the summer and pick up again in September.

If I were you I'd submit the school application with the school you want (wherever you are moving to) as first choice, and your catchment school in your current location as second choice - that way your child will get a place at your catchment school but will automatically join the waiting list for the school you want - and as soon as you've exchanged contracts you can submit evidence of the new address, and you'll move up the waiting list.

This. Except - if you are definitely moving before next September (even if you have to rent for a while if your house sells sooner than you can find somwhere to buy) and can identify more than one school that would be okay for you in the new area, name as many of these as you can on your current LA's CAF, just leave one fall-back school in your current area at the bottom. You may get lucky with a school in the new area straight off, but if not, you will be on level waiting lists from the outset. Unless, of course, it's a case of That school, or we'll stay put...