Talk to me about relocating and school applications

[qwert987]

We are returning to the UK after living abroad for a decade. We will return in June with a view to our kids starting school in September ‘26. One going into Y7 and one going into Y10.

We know the area we want to live but don’t have a property there yet.

I understand you need to be resident in the borough/county before applying to schools. We will obviously miss the deadline for applying by October this year for our DD getting into her secondary school.

Is the only approach here to apply late in June and hope for the best? And just see which schools we are allocated?

If we don’t get one of the schools we hoped for, is it even worth going on a waiting list so close to the start of the school year?

We didn’t do primary application process as we were abroad so I’m really clueless as to how this works.

If it is Surrey LA (and bear in mind some Surrey addresses are actually in Croydon, Kingston or Sutton borough) they do process applications from overseas in advance of arrival.

Secondary school in-year admissions: step by step | Croydon Council https://share.google/z73UU3THHmVN4jagu

In-year admission - outside the normal admissions round - Surrey County Council https://share.google/6Dj1md3ppcQMEqC5R

In year admissions - Southwark Council https://share.google/C7tB3kiEZ5w22Sdi4 you can see from the wording that Southwark probably has more relevant experience.

They don’t need to for the main round application - as I posted above, they can apply from their current address. The rules changed a couple of years ago, as per the gov.uk document linked to. They may not get a place anywhere in the initial allocation, but will have an on-time application in the pipeline and in the event that they are at the top of the waiting list for any of their preferences if / when a place becomes available, it will be offered in the normal way. As both I and other ppl have pointed out, though, the mid-year application is the greater issue, for more than one reason, given the year group.

Thank you all. I really appreciate the all the wisdom.

I don’t teach a shortage subject sadly. But I hadn’t realised teachers in state schools (sometimes) get school places.

It’s time for us to come home for a number of reasons. But I realise it’s not ideal timing. If we leave it any longer we’re locked in for years as our eldest go into exam years.

Everything's a shortage subject potentially...

Yeh @qwert987 unless you teach PE you may well find your teaching skills are in high demand. It’s not just maths and science; there is a shortage of teachers of MFL, English, tech, geography, history... not everywhere tbf but I know ex-colleagues in (good) schools that cannot recruit anyone to roles in these subjects.

@qwert987 do neither of you teach a shortage subject? This graph shows the national shortages, but schools in London find it more difficult to recruit due to the higher cost of living. They just have to have a "demonstrable" shortage of applicants, so it is a school decision. You could live in Croydon/Surrey but commute to a school that needs your subject. The (Outstanding) state school where I work is actively recruiting teachers from international schools because it struggles to get enough high quality applicants in many subjects.

Otherwise, you will need to find the Secondary Admissions Brochure for your area and read what it says about summer applications. My area has a paragraph on it and applying in June is better than applying in July/Aug.

The graph shows the unfilled teacher training places (I'm on a Samsung and can't zoom in but generally graphs like that don't even show Psychology, Sociology, Economics etc - top 10 A level subjects, very few teachers). Shortages go further than just trainees and in fact compound because if you've no experienced staff, you're hardly going to take on a trainee...

The OP needs to do a lot more detailed research and ideally one or both of them needs to come over and see the lie of the land and talk to Heads in person. And read all the admissions details for lots of potential schools and make a spreadsheet. Bearing in mind some schools you apply to directly and some via the LA. And the falling birthrate since the peak of 2012-13 is complicating things (peak cohort just entered year 8). Covid seems to have created population drain out of inner Boroughs too.

I didn't even need to apply for my last job - I just mentioned to a few people I was looking! (Obviously I did need to apply before the formsl offer, but I certainly didn't need to bother looking for adverts). They didn't tell me about priority for children of staff though. It was mentioned to me in passing by another teacher.

@Needlenardlenoo yes, those other subjects you mention come under "others", and they are in short supply. Our school has unfortunately had to train a non-specialist to teach Economics A Level.

Well at least they got training! I've supported a number of people who've just been expected to do it...