Getting it right for your child

Profile Locations look at the options available for children of relocating parents and explain how to make changing schools as easy for them as possible.

Relocating with children is always a challenging experience. As parents we want to get it right for our child, but we also need to balance whole family issues, too. The need to find a school in which your child will be happy will almost certainly be one of your top priorities, influencing where you look for your new home and how far you’re prepared to travel to work.

In general, advance planning for a move is very important but when children are involved it becomes even more so. Certain questions immediately spring to mind and they all need answers: what is an appropriate school? How do we find an appropriate school? How do we secure places for our children?

Studying the statistics

An appropriate school for your children is first and foremost a school where he or she will be happy. Happy children are generally successful and there are times when a ‘good’ school may not be the best school for your own child.

When you are moving to a new area, a good starting place - whatever the age of your children - is to look at the secondary school results.

These will give you three valuable pieces of information:

Firstly, you will be able to see the balance of abilities in the school. A high percentage of children getting five or more GCSEs at the top grades tends to suggest bright, high achieving children. Lower grades could indicate a predominance of less able children.

Secondly, schools achieving high grades at GCSE are often situated in the type of socio-economic area where parents might feel comfortable setting up a new home

Thirdly, results for the secondary schools are usually a very good indicator of the standards in the primary ‘feeder’ schools. If primary schools are not preparing the children well, secondary schools have great difficulty in making good the shortfalls.

There is now a new factor to take into account when studying national league tables and this is the Value Added factor. This figure in the tables reflects the percentage of children who, at age 16, have achieved the potential they were showing at age eleven. Schools achieving over 100 in this area are schools where some pupils actually get better results than could have been expected, thus the ‘value added’ tag. No statistics are without fault, but these figures are worth considering as an indicator of the performance of a school.

Clear your mind

Before you look for a school it is a good idea to have a clear picture of what is really important to you. The first step is to prepare a ‘wish list’ of the ingredients that will make up your perfect school. Then you need to decide where you could compromise and where you could not. Sadly we do not live in an ideal world, and the occasional compromise is a necessity.

If you have more than one child it is important to consider the general needs of each one and then the more specific needs of the individual. Never be afraid of considering different schools for your children. It may not be logistically easy, especially for the person responsible for getting the children to school, but it can be a good idea if the children have different abilities and interests.

While it is useful to look at web sites, and indeed to speak to other parents, it is never sensible to rely on either of these sources. Any opinion given by a parent will be based on their own child’s experience but they will have a different personality and interests to your youngster. Comments from people who do not have children in a school will be based on hearsay and not concrete evidence. As parents, you are the people who know your children best and only you can decide.

So, once you’ve devised your ‘wish list’, look at the schools available and make a shortlist of those that seem to meet your requirements. If you have time, it is worth visiting all the schools on your list so you feel that you have taken the right decision on the basis of all the information on offer.

A place for your child

Getting a place at the school of your choice can be the most challenging part of the whole process, and it’s important that you know about the various categories because these will affect how you apply to each school. In the LEA lists, the letters following each school’s name reflects its status. These are:

This means that a string of letters, for example INM after a school’s name means that it is an independent, non selective, mixed school.

There are differences in the application procedure dictated both by the type of school and by your child’s age. Many people think that ‘catchment areas’ still have a great influence, but they are actually an obsolete concept. These days each school has a ‘priority admission zone’, and living within this zone may help your application – but it does not guarantee a place at the school. In addition, parents may ‘express a preference’ for a school other than the local school and, if there are places available, they will get one.

At the primary level, the applications for a child starting school in September or January may have to be sent to the LEA almost one year in advance. A final closing date can be as early as October. In some areas there are separate infant (five to seven years) and junior schools (seven to eleven years), and transfer from one to the other is not automatic. In this case you may find it necessary to make a first application for junior school.

At the secondary level (11+) the government has tried, quite successfully, to enforce a single date by which applications for secondary school must be submitted. In 2005, the date was between 21 & 31 October.

All LEAs are reluctant to accept school applications from a family without proof of address. They will accept exchange of contracts as proof where a family is moving into the area, a six-month rental lease or, occasionally, a letter from an employer confirming the relocation. Late applications are not considered until all the applicants who submitted on time have been allocated places.

The Governors of Voluntary Aided and Foundation Schools are responsible for the allocation of places in their schools, and therefore applications for places are usually made direct to the school.

Where a secondary school has a selective entry, the tests are usually taken in the autumn term prior to the September of entry. The dates and organisation of these tests can vary from year to year and it is important therefore that you seek clarification as early as possible in September.

On the waiting list

Many relocating parents do not get enough warning of a move to submit application forms to the LEA or schools a year in advance of their child’s starting date. Children may need to slot into a school in the middle years of a primary or secondary school, rather than starting neatly at the beginning. In these cases, speedy research needs to be done with both the LEA and with the schools that may have places.

If there are no immediate places, the waiting list scenario is complicated. Some schools will hold a waiting list and if a place becomes available will contact the person at the top of the list. In reality, the children at the top of the list have often found a place at another school and parents do not want to move them. This can be good news for a relocating parent who needs a place urgently.

Most schools will not hold a waiting list after the September term has started but, in some cases, the LEA holds a ‘continuing interest’ list, which can be useful. If a place comes up and you have found a prospective address you may well be offered the place.

If a school does have a place for your child, it can be allocated ahead of the move but you may need to move fast as a school will rarely hold a place for longer than six weeks.

If a school has already reached its PAN (planned admission number) and does not have a place, it must advise you of your right to appeal. Appeals are heard by an independent panel and usually the whole process is completed in four to six weeks. There are no guarantees of success, and it is important that you get proper guidance on how to proceed. Appeals for places for children in Key Stage 1 are rarely successful because of the government prescribed limit on class size.

Children with special educational needs

Statistics for 2004 show that one and a half million children across the UK have some degree of special educational need and every LEA has a responsibility to support the children living within its area.

If you have a child who is currently receiving assistance, it is important that you have documentation of everything that is being provided so that you can take it to the new school.

It is important to make contact with the Special Needs Department at the LEA to discuss your child with them. For children who already have a Statement of Need, a new LEA has to continue to meet the requirements of this statement, even if they wish to carry out their own assessment. A copy of the Statement and any IEP (Individual Education Plan) that has been prepared for your child, should be shown to the LEA. This will enable them to see exactly what the needs are and how they are currently being met.

Going independent

Applying for places at independent schools is very straightforward. Basically you ask if they have a place, what their entry requirements are, and for details of their fee structure. Armed with this information you either choose to register your child and arrange any entrance tests that are required, or you look elsewhere.