Lincolnshire schools: is it too late to apply for secondary school with an abroad address?

[GentleHiker]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this site just thought I'd ask you all for some general advice.

We are moving to Lincolnshire from abroad in August on work visas along with our two children. We're looking at places around the Grantham area and will try to secure a rental place for August when we arrive. We also want to apply for schools for the kids expecting to start in Year 9 and 10. We understand that places in schools are most likely oversubscribed since kids apply well in advance, but our visas only get approved a month or two before arriving in England, which makes things tricky.

I have heard that schools taking in-year applications rank from home distance to the school. I talked to staff in one of the schools in Grantham who advised that its best to apply after securing a home address in UK. Does anyone know if I should wait, as obviously I can only rent in August, so does anyone know if the Lincolnshire council lets you put in your abroad address and the address you're moving too at a later date and if the new address will be considered?

My apologies if this was a stupid question to ask, just thought I'd ask you all for advice. I do understand that school places are oversubscribed so I just want to fill in the school applications properly but don't know if schools/council consider that you're moving places from abroad in their oversubscription criteria for children living near schools.

Councils do not have to accept applications from abroad (unless military or other departments returning from a government posting overseas).

It sounds as if the council are unwilling to accept yours (having advised that you should apply once you have returned to the UK). They might however accept your rental address once you have a signed contract as evidence.

The council has to find you a place - and if there are no places at all, it will force a school to go over numbers (using the FAP - fair access protocol) but this will be at the school they think best able to cope and that might not match your preferences.

Grantham has grammar schools. Worth enquiring about whether (and how) your DC could be considered for those (2 schools, single sex)

if there is a waiting list already then the relevant selection criteria would still be applied. Usually one of the selection criteria is distance from home to school, so they can’t take that into consideration until you’ve moved. If the school isn’t oversubscribed there is less of a problem.

Not a stupid question as the system here really is complicated and often depends on the local council as well. I think you should contact Lincolnshire county council directly to find out what the rules are on applying from overseas, they may very well let you apply now for an in-year place. You may have already looked at this but there’s some basic info here:

https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/school-admissions/apply-move-school/2

If you are put on waiting lists, you can then update your address with the schools once you have it, which should improve your chances.

Yeah you will be an in-year application (ie outside the normal round, which happens in year 6 for secondary).

Once you have a home address in Lincs the LA has to find you a space. It is likely to be at a less popular school as the popular ones will be full. You can go on the waiting lists for schools you prefer tho, but a place will only come up if someone leaves, which is less likely in yr 9/10 (tho ofc it does happen).

However, with a DC starting in year 10, I would not myself be inclined to move them even if a space came up at a preferred school, unless their allocated school was in some way really terrible; the reason I suggest that is that year 10 is the start of work towards GCSEs which are key public exams sat in May-June of yr 11 (sorry not sure how much you know!) - so once started, it's a good idea to stay where you are rather than moving in, say, Feb of year 10, as another school may do different subjects, different syllabuses or even just study the topics or books in a different order.

Not such an issue for the year 9 tho. Also don't worry if they go to different schools; that's not unusual.

It’s worth contacting the school admissions team directly to check, but generally they won’t accept applications with an overseas address because only UK residents are eligible for a school place. Also if there is a waiting list they won’t know where to place you on it, as distance is one criteria.

Most kids will have entered the schools in year 7, so you’re reliant on them either having been undersubscribed since then, or having had kids leave and not be replaced. There’s no natural turnover in those years.

You can contact schools (this week, otherwise they’ll be out for summer holidays!) to check directly whether they have any places in the right year groups.

The admissions team might be able to tell you which schools (if any) have spaces - or they might tell you to contact each school. Although it's often the less popular schools that have spaces, more rural schools might have spaces just because of demographics. If there's a decent school with spaces, you might want to aim for that area - you want to get your year 10 into school as soon as you can. They will also have to make choices for GCSE subjects - their choice will be restricted a bit because the timetable will already be written and some subjects may be full, but there will be decisions to make. If you can establish with a school that yes, they currently have spaces, then they may be able to start the ball rolling on that sort of thing.

It will get difficult to communicate with schools once they break up for the summer. It might be useful to know that A-level results (in 11-18 schools) come out on 15th August and GCSE results on 22nd August - that means there are likely to be at least some staff in school on those days.