Please help me understand UK education system

izoomzoom

Hiya

Having moved country a number of years ago, I have to say it was the most stressful thing that we have ever done (and we stayed with family to start with and my children were too young to worry about schooling - so none of those added worries that you yourself are going to have).

I don't know how to warn you about being naive, but we were. We rented our own place after a couple of weeks, and it was a lovely town. However, after we had lived there a few months we realised, that we were very lucky we had not made a big mistake by renting a house on the other side of the stream. This area and school and people were not so nice - not bad, but not as nice as our area. I became aware of this after my son had been in the nursery class (in that area - which was only 15 mins walk away) for a couple of months. Fortunately he moved to Reception class (at another school, which happened to be across the road from where we rented) in two terms, so it was a long term thing. Incidentally I did let me second son go to the same nursery, as I thought the nursery class was wonderful, even if I didn't like much outside of it.

Another thing you will need to be aware of (we have subsequently moved house and county) but the school(s) you choose for your child will probably not take your 'application for a place' until you have proof of residence - ie that means your tenancy agreement (or as in our case evidence from our solicitor that we had exchanged). This is incredibly frustrating if you earlier learn there is a school place, which is no longer free when you are in a position to hand in your application. Also try and deal with the school direct, rather than the country education department, as the school will have more ready information about its admission numbers. The downside is that the schools will be closed for six weeks of wonderful summer holidays from mid next month.

If there is any other advice you want (about schools / moving country) feel free to ask. It is wonderful that you have found this forum before you have even got here.

Justie

at least being around Northampton you should have less pressure on schools than in the SE although it'll depend on whether it's a village (in which case your choices will be more limited) a town in which case you'll probably have 2-3 choices or Northampton itself. I live not far away from there but don't know the town well enough to be able to give you advice but if you want to PM me locations I can ask my mate who's an estate agent if it's a good area of town etc which usually gives a good indication of what the schools will generally be like.

Sunny_Angel

izoomzoom- yes i too know how stressful it can be, only this time last year did i move home to Ireland after 11 years in the uk, on my own with 2 young children 3.4yrs and 1yr old. I thought at that time it would be for good but life sometimes throws you a chaos ball and so i am now moving back. I met my DP just 11 days before i moved and we developed a strong relationship, he followed in December but just cant settle so it seems we are on our way back, with a "bump" though so just a little extra bit of stress!!!

On one hand i think it will be easier this time as i have an NI number, bank accounts, etc etc,my partner (luckily) can walk straight back into his job, and has all these kind of thing set up too. He knows Northampton very well, he lived there for 20 odd years, but knows nothing of the current admissions process for schools. Between us hopefully we will manage without undue stress! (She says doubtfully:rolleyes: )

It never occured to me that we would need proof of residence:eek: so i would therefore guess that we need to find house before school, but then the schools will be closed so how do i get around that one????

With regards to finding this forum, it is definetly one of the plus sides of moving back, so much of the info is not relevant in Ireland and it certainly is not cheap out here!!!

Sunny_Angel

:beer: Thanks for the offer Justie but as i said my DP is from there and knows the "good/bad" areas well.

Spendless

Sunny_Angel wrote: »

It never occured to me that we would need proof of residence:eek: so i would therefore guess that we need to find house before school, but then the schools will be closed so how do i get around that one????

Ring the school admissions dept of the local council and explain your problem to them.

izoomzoom

My honest advise would be to find a place to stay first. Obviously you can chose this in relationship to the school(s) you want your child to go to. If it is holidays when you finally get your tenancy agreement, just ring the county education office, and they will be able to tell you if there are places, and where you can apply.

You can in the interim call the school(s) to get a feel of the admission levels.

We offerred on our house last August, but only exchanged in November. I was frequently on the phone to the education board / school and the my experience was the school told it like it was - the county education office used to change what they told you. They would say there are places, and you would ask how many, and then they would say sorry there are none. Call next day, and all of a sudden there are places again. It was frustrating so hopefully that was just Bedfordshire !

flossy_splodge

Although school children have long holidays, school staff (as opposed to teachers) do not! Certainly round here most schools have some admin staff at work throughout the summer. That could also give you a useful guideline as to the true ethos of the school - if they put themselves out for you rather than just direct you to the "procedures" for applying then it probably indicates how much they will care for your child. I have also found that a huge huge factor is the Head teacher. This person inevitably affects the whole ambience and ethos of the school. if you like them and feel they understand and share your values then thats a large part of the jigsaw in place. Unfortunately there are most definitely "good" and "not good" heads. Go with your instincts. When my younger daughter was in year 8 of secondary school she asked her Maths teacher what she needed to do to come top. Thjis was not undue competitiveness on her part, just that she constantly had her elder sisters abilities shoved down her throat and she knew she was good at Maths and wanted to be seen to shine in just ONE area. Her teacher replied by saying " there's nothing you can do, you'll never be top". My younger daughter is a natural and talented Mathematician -she simply never got over being crushed like this . I made a formal complaint to the head about it to be told "there's no way that teacher would ever say something like that". I asked if she was calling me or my daughter liars and she just shrugged her shoulders!! That was at the end of the summer term. During the summer I was in contact with an alternative school, viewed by many as "OK " rather than "good". The head came into school on a couple of occasions to see us, talked to my daughter about her hopes and expectations and then jumped through hoops for us such that we were able to start there in the September. My daughter never looked back. The school had an ethos of love and support. Even to this day - 6 years on from leaving school- my younger daughter's face always lights up when we go past her old school and she says "hello school". What more to ask for? My older daughter stayed at the other school, at her request, got into Oxbridge and has NO fond memories of her school days. How sad. Good luck. :rolleyes:

the_other_mce

Hi - getting a good school for your child can be a nightmare. I live in Buckinghamshire and your daughter would be a 'rising 5 ' which means that you have to apply through the county council. Most parents of 'rising 5 's ' have already been through the allocation process and have been allocated schools already. In Bucks they have a strict admissions policy, you need to provide evidence that you live where you say you do! and some of the more popular schools can't admit all the children living in the catchment area. There are also different criteria for some schools - such as catholic/c of E - you need to provide evidence that the child has been christened and that the family attend church. Your best bet is to phone the admissions department of the county council and ask for an admissions booklet. In Bucks you can see this online by looking on the council website, you can also find your catchment school by using the postcode checker. I would imagine Northamptonshire do something similar. Good Luck

Sunny_Angel

Please can someone clarify if there is just one intake during the school year, or is there a second intake?,

can she start school mid term if that is when we move??(providing there is a place available obviously).

Or does it vary from school to school???

TIA
Sunny Angel

the_other_mce

Hi - me again. I've just looked on the Northamptonshire Council website and it looks like you need to make a late transfer request to the council. Their website seems quite informative
Not sure how to do links but the web address for late transfers is : https://www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/Learning/Parents/Primary/late.htm

Hope that helps.

Edted to say : WOW I think the link worked!!