Moving areas ahead of secondary school start but after secondary school application deadline STRESS

[NGBMAMA]

Hello!

I am looking to move in the summer of 2026 to a completely different area - leaving London to go live in the countryside to give our daughter more time and space to be young and free throughout secondary school.

I want whats best for her which would be to finish junior school which she loves dearly before making the big leap and the daunting fresh start of new school new friends etc...

But I have to have her secondary application in by end of October this year - but I wont be moving until next year.

Is there any way around this because I dont her to end up going to a school we woudlnt necesarily have chosen just because she will be waitlisted as we wernt living in the area soon enough.

I have spoken to some school admissions staff who say you can change your address by december on the application and carry it over but this is still 8 months ahead of me wanting to move.

Is there any way around this or can anybody please pacify me with their stories of doing the same as im incredibly stressed out about it and short of renting somewhere in the area by these dates I am unsure what other options there are and the likelyhood of her getting into a chosen school which i already know is oversubscribed?

SO many people leave london between primary and secondary so there must be a way???

Many Thanks in advance

All you can do is apply from your current address and hope for the best.

As a Londoner who has done I don't think there is a pain-free way, sorry. We moved year 3 but it's a big adjustment and does impact on the child. If you are buying it will be extremely difficult to align if with the summer holidays. Sorry not to be more help.

We moved - not London but to new area - before the secondary school deadline for eldest (just as took a year to sell house ) because of this issue.

We had to accept school places where they were for younger kids - not a school I would have chosen but actually worked out much better but applied to catchment secondary (which later went downhill).

Most switched on parents were trying to avoid first areas secondary catchment - and moves in Y5 and Y6 were common. Moving start if Y6 did mean DD1 made new friends she was moving up with (we also move Engalnd to Wales so avoided SATS and she had a very pleasant Y6 experience).

If area you are moving to isn't over subscribed you can apply from existing address and may stand a chance of getting the desired place - otherwise it moving after and getting on waiting list and hoping for a place at wanted secondary school.

Not what you asked - but living rurally does not mean your dd will have time and space to be young and free. Rural teens make their own fun (alcohol drugs sex) as there is little access to activities.

That aside, no there is no shortcut. Moving to a new area I would argue is better done late primary, so child has time to make new friends to go up to secondary with. Which would mean you moving in the next few weeks. Or risking being allocated a school you don’t want.

We managed a summer move - kids missed two weeks one end and just under two the other in new area - but that was pure chance and not plain sailing at all - we were focued more on deadline in autumn and getting there before.

DH and I grew up rural teens different parts of UK.

Dbrother and Dh did find trouble and own enterainment - me I was at mercy of parents driving me anywhere and they did get fed up with that.

One of the things we most like living in small city is kids can often get themselves places as they get older and develop that independence -getting on public transport getting round to things themsleves.

I don't think I'd like London for teens TBH too big but I'd be wary how rural you go TBH.

I do get the desire to let them finsish at same primary but honestly having Y6 in new place was best for DD1 - got her settled before next big changes.

This.if your preferred schools are undersubscribed you may get lucky with a place. If not you go on waiting lists and update address when you move.

We moved rurally while DD was at primary - and then she stayed at school in London and commuted with us.

Is that an option? Move now but leave her at current primary?

The local state secondaries were all a massive journey and not great, so she ended up commuting to London for that too.

Now at college in London as no local options that do her course.

She spends half her time on trains, and the rest fuming that we moved out of London.

Local teens seem to spend their free time smoking weed in the churchyard, setting fire to things and stealing from the Coop. But there are green fields and ducks I suppose.

Many parents who move out of London are doing so for grammar schools which have an examination based admissions policy (although some do have catchment criteria too). However, unless you are moving to be able to buy more space or for a selective school, I think your children will thank you for staying in London in the long term (unless this is about horses).

London teens have the best life; going to gigs, live recordings of TV shows, getting the latest fashions before they hit elsewhere and have excellent sports facilities nearby. They are savvy, comfortable travelling around on public transport and independent. London schools statistically get better GCSE results than schools in the provinces so there is an academic advantage to staying too.

People who have moved their Y5/6 child to get into a catchment of a particular secondary school have found it hard to make new friends as friendship groups are very fixed at this age. If you move after the applications deadline for Y7, you are classed as an in-year application and are offered waiting list and a place at an under-subscribed school while you wait for a place at a preferred school.

I am biased because I raised my kids in London and I think they had a great time in their teens. They are now early 20s, working and living at home - and totally appreciating they do not have to pay £££££ in rent like other young professionals do. They know they are very lucky to have a London home.

The good news is that birth rates in 2014-15ish when your child was born were significantly lower than the peak in 2011-12 so there'll be less chance of all the decent schools being oversubscribed.

You are not entitled to apply for school places on the basis of somewhere that you intend to move to in July, but any school that has a place available after giving places to those applicants whose circumstances put them as a higher priority to you must give you that place even if you live 300 miles away on Offer Day.

So just put in your application. Any school who ranks applications on distance will put you last on their list but if they have 360 places and only 354 applicants you will still get a place. If they have 380 applicants you won't in the first round but will likely have an appropriate place by September.

The only way to guarantee better chances would be to move before October and homeschool your child for y6 or put them in a new primary school. This is unlikely to be beneficial. Or you can opt out of the whole shebang by choosing a private school who have no distance criteria. Some state grammars also have no distance criteria.

We moved in Year 5 to be in place for secondary applications, and DD commuted back to her primary for a year. At times we'd stay at a relatives house overnight as she sometimes had later finish due to clubs. It was a busy year but we'd never have got into her current school otherwise, no in-year places have come up since she started.

It's not easy to move that late (after the deadline) and still get a space at your preferred school - even worse if you are moving areas/different local authorities.
we moved when my daughter was in year 6 - only just made the extended moving admissions deadline for our local authority - however we moved within the same county. In my daughters last year we commuted her back to her primary school so she could finish her last year with her friends.
good luck it's not an easy process

I agree with those who say the best thing would be to move in year 6 so that you can perhaps apply in time (actually unlikely with just a month to go), or if not, submit a late application but before allocation day.

Are you renting or selling, as the latter will take longer? I wouldn’t worry too much about year 6 at the same junior school – better surely to have year 6 or some of it with the new friends she will be moving up with?

But I would echo @titchy and @OhCrumbsWhereNow – are you sure rural life will be what you hope? You don’t say how rural and you may be thinking just of Surrey (!) – but if you are genuinely moving to a truly rural area, be sure it is for the best reasons and you know it will be successful (so say, for example, as @mugglewump says, this is for horse reasons).

IME pre-teens and teens especially do not want green fields and countryside. They want time with their friends, the chance to go to town for shops, cinema, gigs, decent sports facilities and the food places they like. Not usually found in rural areas IME.

I grew up very rurally and it was not good. No buses, parents not keen on driving me about, very little socialising for me. I am friendly with literally no one from my school – nor was I ever, once I left. Yes, comms are much better now, kids can stay in touch more easily, but still – do you want your DD signing up for several years of long bus journeys to school and you driving her to see friends?

London for a teen must be so marvellous. We live in a small city which has much less of an offer, obvs, but even here, from the age of about 10+, my DC were able to get the bus to town, walk over to friends’ houses, go shopping. They walked to school and walked home with mates. Very much not what I had but what I wanted for them.

After spending 2 hours today dealing with the CCTV download, police reports and talking to the neighbours about the 3rd arson attack in under a week, really check where you are thinking of moving to.

My village is chocolate box idyllic... and frankly I am GLAD my child has never gone to school in the area and knows nobody, as it's the same groups of marauding teens all the time.

None of my teen's friends in London are vaping, drinking, throwing rocks at cars, catapulting local wildlife and pets or setting fire to things... probably because they have things to do and places to go.

DH was desperate for the countryside dream and like an idiot I agreed to it. I really wish we had stayed in London even if we could never have afforded anything more than the flat we had.

Check the admissions policy of schools in the areas you want to move to. Where we are in Liverpool, it's unusual for distance to be a criteria. Our local schools are either:

• Religious and give places based on church attendance/baptism.
• Oversubscribed and use a lottery system.
• Undersubscribed.

A churchgoing parent in London could apply now and get a place at any of my local schools. Obviously, that's unusual, but it's worth checking the situation with local schools, especially if you're religious or any schools are likely to be undersubscribed on national offer day. You may be able to apply now using your current address and still get a place.

Thanks all for your feedback, I'm not going rural just greener than london and honestly there is trouble everywhere. A woman was shot outside the secondary school option in London this week and i live in a very nice part of london......There are some things you just don't need your children to hear or see or witness and after being here for 25 years myself know its not what i want for her full time.

We will still be less than an hour from London and keeping the london house so will be coming back often. And outside of london she will get a huge garden with plenty of animals and doting parents who will bring her back into london for all the fun to be had as she grows up

not that i needed to explain that 😆

That’s interesting about Liverpool @CheerfulMuddler – but tbf it’s unusual I think for distance not to be a criterion at all (for example after religious criteria have been applied) in the whole city. Most LAs have distance as the main criterion (after LAC, EHCP, DC of staff) IME. Agree tho it’s worth @NGBMAMA checking out.

@NGBMAMA ofc you don’t have to justify your decision or explain how it will work; I guess those of us who have moved or grew up in a rural area just want to flag the possible issues. Tbf tho if you will be less than an hour from central London you won’t be in the countryside in my “South Lincolnshire no other 16yos for five miles” manner! so I imagine your DD will be able to access the cultural offer as much as she might like. All the best to her.

In Liverpool it's because, historically, most of the good schools are in south Liverpool and they wanted to even the educational chances of children living in (usually more deprived) north Liverpool. Which of course I understand.
As a non-churchgoing parent in south Liverpool though, the whole situation is incredibly stressful!

FWIW I hated London as a teen as it looks like its all on your doorstep but the other dangers actually made it inaccessible (buses stopping at 7pm for example due to violencetowards bus drivers) . My teens get a lot more freedom in Yorkshire than I could.

But yes, do check admissions criteria. In our area its catchment not strict distance... moving into the catchment area late will put you practically at the top of the list, maybe in on appeal as there's no suitable alternative whereas school buses go to catchment school

Check the admissions policy of the LA you're moving to regarding keeping your current home. In my LA, if you own a property and rent/buy somewhere within a daily travelling distance, they treat the first owned property as your main address for admissions (because they assume you have just rented somewhere short term to get into catchment). That was why we had to sell our first home and commute back to DD's old primary, to make sure there were no ties back to our old area.

Good point! ⬆️

So you’re planning on ferrying her 2 hours whenever she wants to meet up with her friends from her old school?