How much extra would you to be in the catchment area?

mummyplus3

I am moving up north in about 6 weeks and have found a lovely perfect house in the catchment area for the school I want my children in but it is £90 a month more than I wanted to spend on rent because of low income I get some HB, but will have to pay £190 a month out of my income for the rent!! I mean I can afford it I wont be able to save anything up I dont think. but its got to be worth it to get them in the best school?

I will have £1651 a month for all of us.

£590 will be rent, I will get £90 a week LHA and have to top up the rest.

so £1061 to live on, I have a DMP of £100, car finance £113, Car insurance £120, TC overpayment £200 Gas/Elec/Water £80ish Mobiles/landline/internet/tv £100 and god knows what else I cant think off the top of my head lol

I do need to have a rejig of my deals on ultititles and will do when we move out in the countryside i've been abit stuck with BT!

Nicki

How old are your children. Ime catchment area is only important in the entry level form, when children will be allocated places based (amongst other criteria) on how close they are to the school gate. If your children are older than 5 or 11, then whether they get a place in the school you want will only be a question of whether or not the school has a place in their year group, and it won't matter where you live.

If your children are younger than 5 or 11, there is no guarantee you will still be in the rented house by the time they are due to start school. The guaranteed part of most tenancies is usually 6 months (sometimes 12) after which the landlord could give you notice if for example he wanted to sell the house, or move into it himself, or if he didn't like you as tenants for whatever reason.

happy_but_skint

Personally I think £90 is worth it.
We have recently moved to an area and can only get our son into the poor performing school which is not close I tried to appeal but didnt win :-( Im not giving up though a good education is important my son is brighter than I ever was I dont want it wasted.

mummyplus3

she is 3 and a half so will start in the mornings in january. Even if we just moved in for 6 months we would be there untill december and we apply for school spaces in November I believe?

balletshoes

Is the school you want your DD to go to oversubscribed? I'm not in the catchment area for my DD's primary school (we are 2 streets and half a street outside it), but had no problem getting her a place there in her reception year.

milliebear00001

mummyplus3 wrote: »

she is 3 and a half so will start in the mornings in january. Even if we just moved in for 6 months we would be there untill december and we apply for school spaces in November I believe?

Technicially, you should be living in catchment up until they actually start school in Sept. Although they are unlikely to check after you've been offered a place, they could still withdraw their offer if they find out you've moved out.

mummyplus3

Yes its the best school in the town, there is 3 we would be happy for her to go to, but this one is the best and the house is inside the catchment area, they have a Nursery school there too which I hope to put her in straight away when we move wherever we are living.

Nicki

In our local authority, getting a place at nursery age has no bearing on whether you get a reception place. You apply at 3 for the nursery place, and again at 4 for the reception place, and are reassessed for eligibility. We had a worrying time when DS looked like he wouldn't get a place at the school he was in the nursery class for, as although we hadn't moved house, children living closer to the school applied for the reception place having not gone to nursery and it was oversubscribed. Thankfully he ended up with a place in the end, and is now just about to finish year 6. So assuming it is the same up nor, you'd need to be in the house for at least 18 months to be eligible.

peachyprice

mummyplus3 wrote: »

she is 3 and a half so will start in the mornings in january. Even if we just moved in for 6 months we would be there untill december and we apply for school spaces in November I believe?

For me the £90 would be worth it, as long as there was a good chance that the tenancy wouldn't end after just 6 months.

However, even if you did move there and had to move on after 6 months you would have to tell the LEA, they'd send the acceptance to the old address and you may have to take in proof of address before start.

mummyplus3

Well I was hoping to perhaps try and get a discount on the rent by maybe £20 a month if we signed a 12 month lease or something but we'll have a chat to the estate agent and see!

She is 4 in december so will she start fulltime in september 2012?

go_cat

Just be careful of playing the system to get a school place ... a lot of authorities are wise to this and evn in catchement you are not guaranteed a place

Have you checked the admission criteria?