UK schools
 

We live abroad but are returning to the UK next summer with a child who needs a year 7 place at a state secondary school. We will rent a house n our return. How do we apply for a state school place at the school of our choice through he LEA when we don't yet have a UK permanent address?

Re: UK schools
 

I guess you start by contacting the local education authority.
By the way, you say the "U.K." but you should understand that in Scotland and Northern Ireland - if that's where you are planning to move - things may be quite different to England and Wales.

And within England and Wales, policies may vary widely as well.

Re: UK schools
 

You usually can't. Most councils require either a signed rental contract or proof of exchange of contracts before they'll allocate a place.

But really you need to speak to the local council and see what their requirements are, as each will vary slightly.

Re: UK schools
 

I am having the same dilema as you and I have three children who need school places. Positives are that I have my mother who lives in the área where we will move back to. I didnt realise that my oldest would have to be in Year 11 although he has finished his secondary education by the time we return. My middle child would be Year 8 and the área we will move to there are two schools where they start at Year 8 and not Year 7 so as I want her to start with all the other children that narrowed my options. The youngest would be Year 1. I contacted the local authority and now have a contact who has been very helpful. I cant apply for the oldest and youngest until beginning of June when hopefully we have an address in the UK. The middle child I applied via my mothers address at end October. I also chose her school which has now gone into special measures. This panicked me as some "friends" said thats a terrible school. However I met with the Head and she was so positive and helpful and as this school allows you to deal with them direct she offered me a place. I still had to apply via the Local Auhtority but she will go there. As far as the special measures situation I have been told that this eventually can be a good thing as the school will be monitored closely and hopefully the only way is up!! Its a smaller school which I wanted as my children are coming from a very small country and my daughter's primary school is very small. I believe very much that contacting the department and people direct is the best way forward. The oldest will hopefully go straight to college but they have a meeting to discuss this in June and then it will be decided whether he has to do the last GSCE year or not. Hopefully he wont have to but then it may be a good adjustment for him as English isnt their first language as they have been schooled in Catalan, French and Spanish. The youngest is going to be more problematic as all primary schools are completely full so until I have an address there is no way I can even choose his school as he may be sent to a primary quite a way from our home due to them all being so full. All that said I am so glad that I've not had the last 15 years of the worry of which is the best school in the área as people seem to believe that if they dont get the choice of their school their children will suffer. I have not had the choice here so I am very much going on the feeling of the school and the people that I have met and their attitude towards my problem. Of course i want them to go to a good school but I loved the Head's attitude when I discussed my daughters needs. She also said that if my oldest had to do a year in secondary they would support him to get through. I have found that although the system isnt always flexible it does seem fair and my children will be considered once I have a rented house the same way as all the other children applying in that catchment área. Its all quite unsettling but they have no idea of what life will be like in the UK and both myself and my husband have been away for more than 25 years. We are leaving due to financial strains living where we are and the lack of oppportunities for us. I don't like everything about the UK but it is our home and before we end up with one child staying put and one wanting to leave we are deciding right now that its now or never. We have given them a worry free childhood up until now in a very small, safe place where they have been able to almost run free so hopefully this new chapter will be a positive for all of us but I am very, very nervous about what will come over the next few months with moving, leaving our unsold apartment, spending money that we don't have, looking for Jobs, adjusting to a life where I've never really lived as a adult etc etc People here think we are mad but then we all earn a mínimum wage, work 48 hour weeks as the norm and have no way of moving up the ladder here. Also they still advertise Jobs here with age limits so over 50 your options are limited whereas the UK dont even legally need your age on a CV, here they want a photo, date of birth and three languages even for a job as a waiter...! Good luck on your research and I'll be looking for your updates!

Re: UK schools
 

Could you have your Mum write a letter saying that you will be staying with her initially until you find somewhere to move to in the same location and with this you will be able to go ahead and register your children for school and ensure their places.

Re: UK schools
 

When we moved to the village we live in we went along to the primary school which was tight behind the house and asked about enrolling our 2 and we just had to fill in a form directly with the school. Because of the timing they were only there about a month before going up to secondary school. The lady at the school suggested a good local secondary and even got the boys enrolled there. Going only by my own experience it seems to be very easy and straightforward but as with everything it probably depends on the area. We are rural and sparsely populated.

Re: UK schools
 

That was similar to our experience.
The next door neighbor brought home the forms when she picked her two children up the day after we arrived, and told me the head would be there to see me after school once I had the forms filled out. I dropped them to the head after school and made an appointment for Dd and me to tour the school a day later. Dd started the following Monday. year 4.
Everyone is so darn friendly and helpful (except for Estate agents, I have only met two nice ones and a whole host of snobby pains in the arse while looking to buy a house)

Re: UK schools
 

It really does depend entirely on the area. In some places it can be like pulling teeth to get a place for your child, even for parents who have lived in the area for years. Anyone who's bringing children back to the UK should start contacting schools and education authorities early on to find the lie of the land.

Re: UK schools
 

Others have mentioned what you need to do, which is actually be here in the UK. Once you have an address though you can apply to the school, so if you can find a rental before you return you can submit your application.
Also email the school, let them know who you are, ask if there are any places at the school etc.
Good Luck

Re: UK schools
 

This is my understanding based on my LEA. Other areas may be more flexible so I don't want to start a panic.
When we came back we couldn't apply for places without an address. Although the school that we wanted had told us that they had places we had to wait for the LEA to confirm the places at end of August. Nowonplan54 can apply for a place for the middle child because it is for the lowest year group in the school and all children have to apply about now. Although I'm not sure if they will allocate a place as you are not actually living at the address that you have used. The other two are mid cycle and you can only apply six weeks before you need the place. They won't put a child onto the roll if it can't attend the school - even if you have an address - and the school won't reserve a place in case someone arrives who needs it before you.

Our only back up plan was to choose a house that had four good schools nearby, so if we couldn't have the one that we could walk to the alternatives were still good.

Re: UK schools
 

I am very interested by these posts... There simply seems to be no solution to the problem of relocating to the UK whilst securing places in a good school. Councils don't seem at all sensitive to the problems raised for families moving in or back in from overseas. The logistics are horrendous really.

We are relocating to the UK with our two children who will need spaces (not reception) in a Primary school next September. Council has indicated we must be UK residents before we can apply to schools, and that spaces for September are allocated as early as April/May. So if we want to maximize our chances of getting spaces we'd need to have our applications in by then, but since our children need to finish their school year we can't actually move before the summer so we wouldn't be able to prove that we're UK residents come April/May and therefore cannot apply ... This is so frustrating! regardless what we do we'll be taking such a chance with schools ...

Re: UK schools
 

I am in the same boat. I have two kids who will also need places in primary school. One in reception and one in year 2. We are planning on moving in March 2015 just so we can have a chance at getting schools we'd prefer for Aug/Sept 2015 start, rather than what we end up with.

But like you our issue is finding a place to live in a town we want to live in. My Mum lives in one town and my sister in the other and there's about five miles between them. So we're going to try and figure the best schools and concentration of them and then focus on finding somewhere to live... then schools will be first priority afterwards. It's all very worrying.

Re: UK schools
 

We are moving back in May 2014. My kids will go into Year 4 and Year 9. I contacted LEA and they said unless kids are going into 1st year of primary and secondary then you contact the school directly. Haven't got any further than that though.

Re: UK schools
 

You might want to check the application dates in the area you're planning to move to. When I applied for a reception place for my daughter (before we moved overseas), I think the cut-off for applying was early January. We left the UK in mid-March, and I got confirmation a couple of weeks before we left that she'd got a place at our chosen, very over-subscribed school; the parents of the next child down the wait list was delighted when we rescinded it!

This was Cheshire; it might vary by LEA.

Re: UK schools
 

I have put my mum's address for the placement of our Year 8 child as that had to be done before October but we have decided not to live near her as there are no Year 1 places in the few primary schools in that área. The local authority more or less said that Reception is full so my Year 1 would have to go a lot further away. Therefore as we have to rent anyway we are looking at the larger town 15 minutes or so away from mum, where the two other children would be in secondary as then they would be nearer to their school and there is a more chance of a place in the primary schools. Until we have a UK address we can´t apply for the other two places but the high school have accepted our Year 8 as they control to a degree the admissions although I had to apply via the local authority. As the school is in special measures I believe that no one wants to apply there at the moment so I am taking a chance that after a year of special measures it will be on the road to improvement for September 2014. The only other school that takes Year 8 with this middle school system is a good school and is very difficult to get into. The oldest child where we live now, will be completing his GSCE year here which is more like a leavers certificate (June 2014) but legally in the UK as the cut off is different he should do Year 11 (Sept 2014) which no school advises as they miss the coursework in Year 10. The local authority has to hold a panel meeting to see whether he can go straight to college. He doesn´t have a good level of English so wouldn´t be able to study Year 11. I am hoping that they put him into college so that he can study A level French and Spanish and then get his English up to scratch in order to take GCSE after the first year in the UK. We have had a lot of negativitiy regarding rental as well. Even paying six months upfront not all landlords are interested in this as it can void their insurance if we stopped paying rent. The other way is to get a guarantor who earns at least 30K a year and that way we can rent on a yearly contract. Where we are going its a least 850pcm for a three bed flat and we are five so thats the smallest accom we could get really. My husband will have to go in spring and find a job and I can´t leave until end June when all their schooling is finished otherwise they won't complete their secondary and primary education in any country! This is the first thing I think about every day when I wake up and the last thing I think about at night. We can stay where we are but financially and careerwise its hard to stay put. My husband is 52 and if we stay another 4 years to get the middle child through secondary, she has already said that she might not want to leave. Also in two years the oldest would have to study either in France or Spain so then our finances will take a bit hit. We aren't entitled to any help here and pay for all books, transport and meals for the children. Basic wages are about 1.200 euros per month and its just not adding up. Its easy to stay as we have a flat but I can see us really struggling in the future. So we are taking a huge gamble with leaving a flat we can't sell, taking our children from a tiny place with no great level of English, paying a huge rental, looking for Jobs etc etc. The reason to leave means that hopefully in five years time we will both have some kind of career and the children will settle but right now its easier to stay put but every time I feel like thats the final decisión it still doesn´t give me any peace of mind. We have had over five years of bad luck financially with various ventures. Negative feedback from either friends here or in the UK makes it hard as they can't put themselves in our shoes but most of them have younger children and haven't got to our stage and ages. Everyone in the UK says,why come back its awful, your children will lose their languages etc etc but working seasonally with no guarantee of income and growing old here makes me uneasy. We might only be a few hours away from the UK but it feels a million miles away..... I see the positives and the system may seem hard for us trying to get back but its fair. Here its who you know, whether you are a foreigner or a local etc. that seems to determine how you get on. Perhaps there is never a right place but I hope that in my own country if I work hard we will eventually get back into the life and system before its too late!!!! Trying to be objective, positive and work out the best options long term but its beginning to wear me down. We have to decide this spring after the winter as I can't take my middle child from secondary here after Sept 2014. She already has lost Year 7 in the UK and any later she would have the same problem as the oldest one and end up in Year 10 without English. If you have no choice you wouldn't worry but we have so we must do the right thing by her and educate her properly in one country or the other. I need to climb out of this now almost depression but its getting harder and I still haven't had that lightbulb moment!!