The School Dilemma
One the tasks I frequently
have as a relocation agent is to help clients find schools for their kids. I,
myself, took the whole school search aspect of my job as pretty
straightforward- how wrong was I!
Never in my wildest dreams did I have any idea of how difficult it can
be to match a rental property with a state school for children to attend. Many
clients come to me tearing their hair out at what they consider the injustice
of it all. And here’s why….
When a client comes over to
live in London, they typically have an idea of where they would like to live.
Usually they have friends or friends of friends who recommend a certain area
over another. The client will ask me to first explore their accommodation
options in that particular area. I then have to remind them that if they plan
to send their kids to state funded schools – i.e free to attend and not paying
schools- there are certain requirements that are cast in stone.
Firstly, the parents need an
address. In other words, they need to prove that they do indeed qualify for
their children to attend a state school as they need to live within the
catchment area for that school. Proof consists of utility bills. The parents
usually cannot do this as they are moving into the area and will have no tenure
to show. The school will therefore reject them outright.
Secondly, the waiting list
for performing and high-end state schools is several miles long. So even if the
parents manage to scrape together
the required proof of address, they will probably end up at the bottom of the
waiting list- behind those with a longer tenure in the area.
Thirdly, siblings are given
preference. If a sibling is already attending the school, their sibling will
move up the waiting list. So the parents who have just moved into the area
slide further down the waiting list.
Fourthly, it is pretty
pointless moving into an area in the hope that the child(ren) will
automatically qualify to attend the preferred school. The nightmare
chicken-and-egg scenario is a costly mistake to make- there are zero guarantees
that once the family moves into the home in their preferred location that the
children will qualify to attend a
nearby state school.
Fifthly, parents should be
aware that places only become available towards or at the end of each term when
families move out of the area and kids change schools. But by that time, the family hoping for
a place will have had to abandon their quest altogether as again, there are no
guarantees and waiting lists typically get longer, not drastically shorter.
The best time to stand any
chance of securing a place is to keep in constant contact with the registrar at
the schools- an exhausting and time-consuming task.
Failing that, I typically
advise families to give up on their preferred location and I find them an
alternative area where with any luck, they will be just as happy and their
children will settle into a great school.
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