Have you ever relocated in time for secondary school?

[piggypigpigpigpigpig123]

Just that really. I don’t mean moving at the end of primary school - I mean staying for the whole of primary school and timing things for a move into year 7.
if you did this, how did your kids find the experience and did they miss old friends? how did you find the experience ?

@HollyIvie thank you so much for sharing your experience. This does certainly give me some hope to know it is possible to do it this way. I absolute love the primary school we are in right now and i don’t feel like I could change her at the end of primary knowing how much she loves it . There’s a few areas we could move to in the direction back “home” and a commute would be absolutely doable. Obviously it’s not ideal, but it is possible .

This is such a tough one. I can see why PPS are saying it is best to move at the start of Y6 so you’re in the right place for applications but I would find it very hard to remove my child from the primary they love for the final year and have them miss all the “lasts” with their friends. They will likely make new friends at secondary either way so from the child’s perspective being the new kid in Y6 in the new area is pretty rubbish, unless they hate their current primary and want a change.

Is it possible to move and commute back to the old primary for nine months? That would probably be the best option if it’s feasible for you with school runs etc.

Yes it’s not easy but I was really wanted her to have her last year with her primary friends.
It may be helpful for you to read all the info on your local admissions council website around secondary school applications and key dates. some local authorities allow an extended move date if you are moving house. E.g. Usual secondary school applications date is 31 Oct. Extended house move date may be early December. However I don’t think this applies in all areas but may be something worth looking into. Also will depend on if you are buying or renting in terms of when you could make the move.

Faffing around making the decision is going to make it much worse than just decisively doing it. I say this with kindness and as a fellow indecisive faffer. Statistically people are happier if they make the change.

Sorry I meant to add a link about the statistics but it didn't work! https://academic.oup.com/restud/article-abstract/88/1/378/5834495?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false

It's going to be much easier for your child not to have to cope with a house move and a school move at the same time.

I think if you stay to the end of Year 6 you are making your secondary school applications and transitions complicated for no particularly good reason.

Bluntly, if you move to a different area your child is not going to stay in touch with her primary school friends, unless you are also good enough friends with their parents that you organise regular catchups. Staying until the end of Year 6 will make no difference to this.

We moved in the summer term of yr5 although we had started looking from the September of yr5. It took a few months to find the right property as we knew we wouldn't want to move again for 15+ years, and we were in a chain. We knew we wanted to have completed by end of October of Year 6 to get our secondary application in, and ideally a bit earlier so we'd have all the right addresses on everything.

DD stayed in her primary school through year 6 and we commuted an hour each way. That was always the plan, as it was a great school and we didn't want to gamble by starting in a new school which might not be as good, and we wanted her to have the leaver's production, residential and celebrations with the friends she'd known for years (since nursery).

Starting secondary with a new cohort wasn't a big deal as we're in London and people tend to scatter all over for secondary; there are never more than a couple of dcs from the same primary anyway, and they might end up in another class. In the end there were a couple of kids dd knew who did go on to the same school as it has some music/academic places where distance doesn't matter. DD also made some friends in the new area through extracurriculars and sports, and a couple of them went to her secondary school. The school she went to is really sought-after and places don't come up in Yr 7, once people get in they tend to stay, so moving in Yr 7 (or too late in Yr6) wouldn't have worked at all.

@piggypigpigpigpigpig123 on your “halfway move” plan, where your would your DC go to secondary school? In the halfway town? Would that be a good solution though – doesn't feel like where you actually want to live?

Is the situation in your desired home area as a PP says, with many secondaries being under subscribed? Where I live, even with a falling birthrate, there is no way you would get a place at any of the secondaries people traditionally want their DC to go to unless you lived in the immediate area. If that's also the case in your home area I advise you seriously to consider this move carefully (and basically do it sooner than you are suggesting tbh)

We did this last year. It was so very stressful. We put offer in and was accepted but the agonising wait to sell and make sure we completed in time for the application deadline (31st Oct). We ended up getting keys 6 days before the deadline. Then we proceeded with 7 and half months of commute to the old primary school so as not to disrupt SATS. My son hasn’t thanked me, he’s in the new area school now. It’s strict, unfortunately he seems to be picking up the naughty kids as friends, and it’s been really tricky. BUT, all that said, the school he’s at is an excellent school so I’m hoping that once he finds a calmer crew, he will settle in more. It’s hard OP. Don’t go into this with eyes shut.

We moved in the summer of Y6 just a couple of weeks before DC started senior school. DC moved from a prep school to an independent senior school so we didn't need to worry about catchments although we did like a state school in the area we moved to and may possibly have got a last minute place but DC had, at this point, their heart set on the independent senior school and had attended some settling in sessions. DC didn't want to continue onto the senior school attached to their prep school and it was the absolute right choice as DC settled in and thrived from day 1, a marked difference from their time in prep school. We all missed the area we moved from as we loved living there and had lived there for over a decade but it was really important that DC attended a senior school where they would be happy and thrive. We do occasionally visit the previous area as it's not too far away and I meet up with friends who I've known for several years. It wouldn't be too difficult to maintain some of DC's previous friendships but DC has moved on and matured a lot and their current friendships are more aligned with their personality; there were constant friendship dramas at the prep school - it had a different ethos and encouraged competition between the students. The downside is that over a year in, we are still renting as we have been unable to find a property we want to buy but we remain optimistic.