Secondary school - out of county applications

[DurbsMom76]

Just wondering if anyone had any experience with applying for a secondary school place in a county that you weren't living in. Situation is we currently live in Herts. Son goes into Y6 in September, we want to let him finish primary school where he is. We then have a planned move to Cambs next summer in time for him to start secondary school there. I'm concerned about making the school application. We have an address for where we will be living when we move just worried about the whole process. Any insight would be appreciated

You have to apply using the address you are currently at.
You may wish to consider moving for y6 so you are in place for applications and he can get to know people and the area before secondary.

You need to apply using your address at the time of application, not one you plan to be using next summer.

You can apply to any school, but unless the schools you apply for in cambs are undersubscribed, the most likely scenario is you will be allocated a school near where you live now and then you will need to make a late application in summer when you actually move.

I would move asap so that a) you can apply from your local address and b) he finishes primary with friends he will go to secondary with. Surely that’s much better?

Cambs is very over subscribed for secondary schools.

Papers last September were full of people travelling 20 miles to the school they'd been given.

I'd look into this very carefully,

Agree - very few schools had spaces after the allocations were done this year. Applying from an address outside the county, you'll be at the bottom of the list for any school you apply for, so you'd only have got into the schools that had spaces left over. (I'm assuming you're not just across the border and applying for a school that is actually quite near, and that you don't hit any criteria at the top such as looked-after child.)

You could go onto waiting lists, and once you do move, you would then jump up the waiting lists - so if your address is close to a school, you might jump to the top of the list once you move. There's often a bit of movement post-allocation, as people going private come off the lists, but those places would be gone by the time you move in the summer. There may then be the odd place in September if someone moves over the summer and doesn't turn up, but it might not be confirmed until a couple of weeks into term. Also, if the schools are very full and people get in on appeal, someone dropping out in September won't necessarily free up a space: if they are supposed to take 180 and took 4 extra on appeal, there won't be place to offer until they drop down to 179 again.

It may be safer to move before the application date, if that is an option. Although it might feel tidier to move between year 6 and 7, transferring for year 6 gives them a chance to make some friends before they're dealing with the challenges of secondary school as well. It means they'll have friends to meet up with over that summer before starting secondary, which may take the edge off any anxiety.