[Closed] Relocation - school nightmare

Rent near the one you want, apply immediately and see what happens? If it falls through them just leave the kids where they are until you find the next school? Probably rules to stop it happening but... Have you spoken to the schools direct? Can the heads fill you in on your questions?

Cheap flat in the week and leave the family where they are?

I am not being flippant here. This is something we have discussed as a family and if I got asked to work elsewhere I would seriously consider doing a year without uprooting them to make sure it all worked. Yes it might mean only two days a week of family time but as I only get 40 minutes tops a day in the week with the boys anyway it's not quite as mad as it might first seem.

We haven't had to test this and off course I don't know enough about your circumstances or your plans and family to say is the right thing, just something to think about maybe.

When we moved we looked at the two schools in the area (very rural) and decided to send my son to the one that wasn't his designated one.

For this we needed the Headmistress to agree (we'd already met her) and accept that we couldn't use the school buses (not that one came near us).

Not sure if any help, except you probably are facing the same issue that folk who already live in area have to cope with already - if it is over-subscribed.

Have done a move recently with change of primary and similarly, can't get a place at the local one. That said, we were able to discuss if and get on the waiting list before we moved and luckily while the place we got isn't at the local school, the one we got is decent and not too far.

In the OP's situation, it's tricky - LA have their rules and they tend to stick to them...

Mumsnet is worth checking on - there are often many threads on their about similar and at the specific LA you're under.

{quote]2 different councils have declined to discuss which schools are "generally" over subscribed or under subscribed due to year on year variation, do we can't even concentrate our efforts on the best chance. freedom of information request to the council for number of applications, and places for all schools in the area(s) for the last 10 years. Its what I did when the rumour here was people were regularly not getting into local schools - it turned out to be 1 school, once in the last 10 yrs - and the rest were "out of area" people who were declined.

You may also want to ask about their forecasts going forward too.

Take a deep breath.
Why should your kids get preferred access to a specific school over and above the kids who already live in the area you move to? If the local school is full then it's full,as it should be.If kids leave that school and places become available then all local authorities have an admissions policy for kids moving into the area which is pretty much universal and akin to their general admissions policy afaik.Check their websites. And the LA sending them to the " 2 worst schools" if the nearest school is already full is overdramatising your situation a little.If you already lived there and your kids didn't get in then you get offerred your second or third alternatives.

The most important factor in educational outcomes for kids (after their academic ability, obvs) is the engagement of their parents/carers in their education.

It sounds like you are engaged. Do not worry about 'bad' schools. Hope your kids get teachers that they like and engage with.

Bad schools should be improving schools. Good schools can be complacent schools.

Why should your kids get preferred access to a specific school over and above the kids who already live in the area you move to?

I didn't say they should. Why put words in my mouth?

And the LA sending them to the " 2 worst schools" if the nearest school is already full is overdramatising your situation a little.If you already lived there and your kids didn't get in then you get offerred your second or third alternatives.

You don't get multiple choices for in-year transfers. If you don't get your first choice, you get a place at the next nearest school [b]with places[/b]. Which in this case is classified as "requires improvement".

Don't talk to the Councils; talk to the head teachers direct.
We moved house when my daughter was in the final year of infant school. We weren't sure where we were moving to (Surrey/Sussex/Hants borders) and TBH it didn't really matter. The only real criteria was that the local school should be able to take my daughter. Every school we approached had a place for her if needed. We were very surprised.
I would imagine finding a place at the beginning of infant school, junior or secondary might be harder. There's more chaotic demand in the first year of each, but in later years things are more settled.

Have a lot of knowledge of this situation from 7 years in this line of work, which LA are you moving to?

There is a lot of BS advice handed around that needs to be ignored, I know what I am on about having just won an appeal for my nephew in the local impossible to get into school following their location.

Mark - do you have pm details?

Why should your kids get preferred access to a specific school over and above the kids who already live in the area you move to?

I didn't say they should. Why put words in my mouth?

Basically, if we buy a house where we want to and the local village school is oversubscribed, they will farm out our kids to two of the worst schools in the borough but "help with transport".

Sounds to me like you want your kids to go to the the local (good/better?)village school or am I missing something? It's unfortunate that the potential alternatives aren't doing as well in the ratings but that's the way it is for all the kids who can't get into their first choice school.

You don't get multiple choices for in-year transfers

Yes I know and that's not what I said,so don't put words in my mouth 😉
That's what happens when you move into a new area as we did.We didn't expect our kids to get priority over others who had moved there before us and/or who lived there already and had requests to get into schools before we did or were a higher priority in the LA rating system(which is national I think).Our chosen school was undersubscribed two years ago so we got in but massively oversubscribed this year so we probably wouldn't have now.If you have three kids to place then getting them all into the same already full/oversubscribed school will be very difficult but ask mj27 he obviously knows his way round the system,whether it be fair or not.
Anyway,stuff with your kids gets you stressed and I do know how stressful this situation can be but as others have said not getting your preferred choice school is not the end of the world.My eldest got her 4th choice secondary school and is now well on her way to qualifying as a teacher after getting her degree.Good luck!

The "best" school this year may not be the "best" school in the future if you are going by the Ofsted reports, as my daughter has found out.
Basically she moved to get son into the "best" school, at the time she was training to be a teacher. Last year after inspection that school is no longer the "best" in town. The school she now works at is, previously on the "requires" improvement" list and in an underprivileged area of town compared to her kids school!!!

The most important factor in educational outcomes for kids (after their academic ability, obvs) is the engagement of their parents/carers in their education.
It sounds like you are engaged. Do not worry about 'bad' schools. Hope your kids get teachers that they like and engage with.
Bad schools should be improving schools. Good schools can be complacent schools.

Brilliant piece of advice. My lads school (he's 9) was always highly thought of, however over the last 2 years his education has been rubbish due to poor teachers and huge class sizes. However the school has employed new teachers and he's started back this September with a new male teacher and has gained a huge thirst for knowledge and even an eagerness to go to school.

The most important factor in educational outcomes for kids [s](after their academic ability, obvs)[/s] is the engagement of their parents/carers in their education.

It sounds like you are engaged. Do not worry about 'bad' schools. Hope your kids get teachers that they like and engage with.

Fixed that for you, if you're going by research findings...

For me, with the need to get up and leave home ever earlier to beat the traffic then the time it takes to get home, work now stretches from 7 AM to 6.30 PM and in the evenings I'm too knackered to do more than eat a meal and watch some TV then go to bed at 9.30. So to be honest it wouldn't matter if I lived Monday to Friday in a small flat with a comfortable bed, shower, microwave and a TV then went home on Friday nights. If the flat was within walking or cycling distance of work that would give me an extra 2 hours 30 of relaxation time a day and I could even keep a bike there in summer. If the flat was in a building owned, maintained, cleaned and managed by somebody else it would free even more of my time.

Roll on retirement.

For me, with the need to get up and leave home ever earlier to beat the traffic then the time it takes to get home, work now stretches from 7 AM to 6.30 PM and in the evenings I'm too knackered to do more than eat a meal and watch some TV then go to bed at 9.30. So to be honest it wouldn't matter if I lived Monday to Friday in a small flat with a comfortable bed, shower, microwave and a TV then went home on Friday nights. If the flat was within walking or cycling distance of work that would give me an extra 2 hours 30 of relaxation time a day and I could even keep a bike there in summer. If the flat was in a building owned, maintained, cleaned and managed by somebody else it would free even more of my time.

I've worked away like that before, thankfuly work was paying for accomodation so I got a terraced house, I'd go stir crazy in a multi storey rabbit hutch. Don't forget to add in the weekend commute too, mine was 4 hours each way, 8 hours a week, another working day, and after 18 months it felt like it.

I don't have kids though so that's at least one less thing to worry about.

@plums - you cannot force your way into the school, this is one of the side effects of parental choice, parents chose the best school even if it means a longer drive and once the school is full its full. If the job is the right one then rent a place in catchment (if you can financially) and get kids on the waiting list and leave where they are. Or move everyone and put kids on waiting list and in short term send them to the other school. Understand also that school is likely to be able to offer kids a place only "one at a time" as year places come up. IME there is no magic bullet which is going to give your kids a place in a full school even if you live next door.

Am happy to offer advice (email in profile) from an admissions/apppeals perspective. Fwiw, I spent Monday afternoon re wording our policy surrounding movement into catchment.

Your LA name and the schools names would be helpful, also the children's ncy.

Steve

Troutwrestler talks a lot of sense.

Rather wondering why you take a job and decide to relocate without getting the school problem checked out first? Must have been a hell of a job!

Have you checked the 'selection' criteria for the school(s) you want - may be something useful there. Troutwrestler is correct to a big degree. as a teacher for over 20 years with a brother teaching in Primary Schools, there are crap teachers in good schools and vice versa. Visit each and meet the teachers who would be involved - though I presume you've done this to judge the best/worst in the Borough.............or are you going on tables?
My latest school will not be high in tables for years/generations because of it's intake, but it's one of the nicest, friendliest, bully-free schools in the area, with a sustained upward trend to results telling you that good teaching is improving outcomes for all. Even in Special Measures we had kids with 10+ A/A* at GCSE and 4 A/A*s at A Level. For some kids it's better to be a 'big fish in a small pond'
If you visit schools and talk to Heads, you'll find out which are full etc.
On OfSted etc the reports tell you the number of students there should be when full, so not hard to work out which are oversubscribed.
If you're new to school data etc, ask someone who knows to look at the schools you're interested/involved in.
EDIT - aa above is your man

Don't stress too much about Ofsted levels - one of our local schools just went from "requires improvement" to "good with outstanding features" in two years. "Requires improvement" was "satisfactory" until recently, so it doesn't mean there are kids hanging out the windows... We're much happier with our kids' "good" school than we would have been in the "outstanding" schools locally, which can just mean they're exam factories.

As people above have said, research shows that wanting your kids to go to a decent school is more important than getting them into a good school, and often kids are better off in the top set of a weaker school than middle set of a better one.

If all the kids are in-year admissions then the chances of them all ending up at the good school i.e. the good school has a vacancy in each of the years that your kids would be joining, are 2/3 of SFA.

It's difficult when the LEA don't publish data- we're lucky enough that there's a full breakdown of application numbers, and successes by each of the acceptance criteria available online.
Both our kids were in-year admissions, due to not being sent to school til 7, and the LEA gave us waiting list numbers for each school in the years we were interested in, which helped us plan our application.

As others have said, don't discount the other schools- while we waitlisted our kids at the closest, and highest rated, school when we were eventually offered places there we ended up turning them down because we felt that the school just wasn't as nice a place to be as the current one.