Mid Term Primary School Enrolments-Please Help

We are planning to come to the SE of England around Feb/Mar
from Australia. My son would be starting Year-1. Will I have any difficulty enrolling him in the year-1 (Primary School) in the middle of the session. I know that the School Session begins in September in the UK.

Please advice. I don't want him to lose any time at school!

do you already have a primary school picked out?

i didnt think we were going to have any problems but....  while making a brief visit to the UK prior to our move.  my husband suggested that we should visit a couple of the local schools.  unfortunately they were booked for the upcoming school year.  we had to broaden our search for a school a lil further away from where we were going to live.  after making a choice (unfortunately solely on availability) we asked for a written acceptance letter for the kids, that way we knew we had a place for them once we moved over.  we had to drive them to school every morning BUT luckily it turned out for the best...it was a wonderful school.

so my recommendation would be to visit the school (if possible) and have constant communication with them until your enrolment date.  if a school has a waiting list..that might work to your advantage.

GOOD LUCK!!  

Where in the SE are you moving to?  We're in Rochester, Kent, and my 14-year old is STILL waiting for placement in school (we've been here 5 weeks).  Since all the Secondary schools are full up in Year 10, we have to wait for a Placement Board to meet, and they had too many to consider at their October meeting, he's been put off to their November meeting!!  In the meantime, we've hired a tutor for him to help him keep from losing any ground.

After about a week and a half, we placed my 8-year old (Year 4) son in a school a little further away (about a 25 minute walk) but we're very pleased with it.  The closest school was completely full for that year, which was a shame because it's so close I can hear the kids at recess time from my garden.

If you know the postcode of where you're going to be living, you can plug it into www.upmystreet.co.uk and they'll give you listings of all the primary schools and their proximity to your location.  Also will give you their test scores and percentages as well.

Good luck, and hope we can be of help!

We couldn't look at schools until we knew where we would be living, but once we settled that we contacted the local Infant School, as per instructions from the Surrey County Council.  The school was delighted to have us and had no problem with Cole starting after half-term break.  He is in Reception class and after just one day is loving it!  So, if you know where you'll be living contact the school(s) directly.  I was very nervous about there not being a place for Cole, coming in halfway through the term, etc., but the school could not have been more welcoming.  It's quite a small school, only 65 pupils in Yrs R, 1 & 2, so that may have had something to do with it being so easy to enroll Cole.

Good luck!

Stephanie