MagsB

Hi, I'm new to the forum. We are dual British/South African citizens in our early 40's, with a 5-year old daughter. Grew up in SA, moved to the UK in 2001 and came back to SA in 2007. Both my hubby and I are extremely homesick for England. There is just so much we miss, especially the countryside (and this is silly I know, as we are living in the Garden Route which is probably one of the most beautiful parts in the world! ) Also considering our daughter's future and the current political climate in SA with no end in sight for crime and corruption. I've always been the eternal optimist about SA, but lately I've been very disillusioned and I've come to the conclusion that we've done our child a disservice by moving back.

Anyway, we are at this crossroads now where we need to decide where we want to spend the rest of our lives - my daughter is 5, so if we want to move back it would be best to do that asap. We are looking at Ashford, Kent, for various reasons: We know the area very well, one of the most affordable areas in the South East, beautiful countryside, close to Europe, easy access to London for work, friends in the area (we're from Canterbury).

I've got lots of questions, but I promise not to ask them all at once!

1st Question: How do I find out which schools are best for my daughter? Are league tables and Ofsted reports a good indication? It seems kind of logical to me that this needs to be our first point of concern. How do I reserve a place in a school if I'm not actually already living in the area, and what happens if the school is oversubscribed - does that mean we don't stand any chance of getting in?

Thanks, I'm so grateful for founding this forum, hope to spend a lot of time on here in future!

pommybird

Although league tables are often bemoaned, I would say league tables and OFSTED reports ARE a good indication of the quality of school - certainly in my area the good schools are the ones with good league results and an OSFTED of 'good' or 'outstanding'.

Most schools will not consider an application until you are resident in the UK but that is not true of all schools, so it is worth contacting each school direct once you have an idea of which schools you would like to apply to.

As your daughter is 5 she would be in an 'infant' class - infant class sizes are resricted by law to a maximum of 30 children - although it is possible to appeal to get your child into an over subscribed school in juniors or secondary, because of the legal cap on 30 children it is nigh on impossible to win an appeal for an infant class. However all schools keep waiting lists and children do move on from time to time - my children go to an 'over subscribed' school but one or two children are admitted each year from the waiting list into infant classes due to kids leaving.

Hope that helps good luck with it all!

MagsB

Many thanks Pommybird! I don't think we'll be moving anytime soon, probably only within the next 18-24 months. We have a business to sell here.

LisaP

We're returning on Monday, and my daughter (7) is enrolled in a lovely, high-performing, well-resourced village school in Essex. They had spaces because it's a mainly rural area with a relatively small populataion. Perhaps if you look around the rural areas of Kent, you might find something similar.

Another thing to think about is secondary school. It's not difficult to find a good primary that will suit your child, but most people would say that the choice of secondary is more important. In that case, you would need to search secondary schools as well, and don't forget to search (google) for 'selective schools kent', or 'grammar schools kent'. Once you find a school that looks good for your daughter, you should be looking to move VERY CLOSE to that school in order to be well-placed when the time comes.

There's a lot of information to trawl through, but I managed it and narrowed it down to one preferred secondary school, which we will be well-placed to apply to when the time comes.

Good luck!