Essential Tips for Starting a New School When Moving Home

If you’re moving home and have a young family, one of the biggest things on your To Do list is “Find a new school”. Choosing the right school, then helping prepare your child or children for this change, can feel like quite a task. Our guide to starting a new school gives families handy tips and suggestions for managing the transition to a new school.

Why Preparing for a New School is Crucial

Starting a new school can be daunting for children at any age. There are new teachers, possibly new subjects, a new building to navigate – and most crucially, a new peer group. As parents and carers, our role is to make this move as smooth as possible.

Finding the Right School

If you’re moving to a new area, how do you go about finding the right school?

Researching Schools Near Your New Home

Feedback from your new colleagues and neighbours is an excellent place to start, and from then on, it’s desktop research into class sizes, specialist subjects and exam grades. Are you looking for a particular faith school or one that caters for additional needs? Do you need a school that offers wraparound care or after-school clubs? Don’t forget practical considerations such as feasible school runs and bus routes.

When you’re researching schools, involve your children (although below KS2, desk-based research isn’t always easy). Look at maps and pictures together, and older children can take a look at the curriculum, facilities and extracurricular activities.

Understanding Catchment Areas and Admission Criteria

You also need to take the school catchment area into account. If it’s an oversubscribed school, priority will be given to pupils from the local area. When you’ve found a few potential schools, find out more about their admission criteria. This can vary from school to school, although catchment area is usually an important factor.

Visiting Schools and Open Days

Drawn up a shortlist? It’s time to make a visit. If the timing and logistics are possible, it can be best to visit one of the school open days, where your child(ren) can meet other future pupils. Get in touch with the school to find out dates.

If you can’t make the pre-arranged open days or if you’re moving part-way through the school year, contact the school and arrange a tour for your family. For children with any additional needs, a tailored tour is really important, giving both your family and the school a chance to discuss options and opportunities.

Navigating the Enrolment Process

You’ve found a new school that you’re all happy with – now what?

Timelines for Applications

Again, the enrolment process can vary across the country, although it’s broadly similar. As an example, here’s a look at the application timelines for schools in one of Hopkins Homes’ counties, Norfolk.

Handling In-Year Admissions

In an ideal world, moving house with children happens during the long summer holiday. However, if this isn’t possible, you’ll need to apply for an in-year transfer (again, here’s Norfolk’s in-year school application process as an example). The process can be different if you’re moving from a different area or from within the same local authority area. Make sure you have a back-up school in case your first choice is oversubscribed and not accepting any in-year transfers.

Documents and Information Required

You’ll need to provide your child’s birth certificate (leave this somewhere handy when you’re packing), proof of your new address and proof of parental responsibility. If you’re already registered with a GP in the area, have these details handy, too.

Preparing Your Child Emotionally

New school transition paperwork can seem easy compared with helping your child mentally prepare for the move. How can you support them?

Discussing the Move and New School Positively

It’s a tricky balance: you need to be positive about the move while not dismissing their fears. As with so many other issues, familiarity, knowledge and understanding are essential. Answer questions honestly and openly. Explore the school as much as you can, online and in real life, and don’t be afraid to ask for additional tours or useful information such as timetables and site maps.

Addressing Their Concerns and Anxiety

How you manage this depends very much on your own child and your family’s way of handling worries. Some children like to ask lots of questions, while others prefer quiet time to work things through themselves. Older kids may be happier discussing their worries with peers rather than parents. As with any other worry, always listen and never dismiss their fears with a breezy “Don’t worry” – at least, not without backing it up with good reasons why they shouldn’t worry.

Childline has a helpful guide to moving schools. It’s aimed at children, but it’s a good one for parents to read, too. Apps like Kooth give older children a safe and helpful forum to voice their concerns and seek advice.

Practical Preparations

Getting stuck into practical projects can help some children feel a bit less nervous.

New School Checklist: Uniforms, Stationery, and More

The school will give you a checklist including details of the local uniform provider. The earlier you get this, the less stressful it will be. Although as all parents know, the August stationery shop goes a long way to calming pre-term nerves…

Setting Up a Study Space at Home

It can be hard doing homework among the cardboard boxes. Even if all is chaos, aim to create a calm study space with a desk and computer access. Involve the kids with setting up a pleasant study space in their new home.

Increasing your support with homework at first can help them settle into their new subjects and homework routine (and gives you more of an insight into how the school teaches).

Making the First Day Easier

A lot of pre-school worries come from the fear of the unknown. There are a few simple things you can do to familiarise your children (and you) with their new school and routine.

Trial Runs to the New School

Whether it’s going to be by bus, bike, foot or car, a few trial school runs can really help. Look out for positives, such as handy corner shops or fields with friendly ponies to wave to. Getting a good visual idea of the school, its surroundings and the journey will start to normalise the new routine. You can also start to work out the best parking spots…

Connecting with Neighbours and New Friends

The best-case scenario is that you have friendly new neighbours with kids at the same school. If you move during the school holidays, enrol your family in activities they already enjoy. They’ll meet other children at sports clubs and coaching sessions, or organised groups such as Scouts. Keep to local activities, and you’re more likely to meet pupils from your kids’ future school.

If your kids make friends before their first day, let the school know. They’ll be only too pleased to have ready-made buddies to help your child(ren) settle in.

Special Considerations

There are a few more things to think about if you’re not applying to mainstream state education.

For Children with Special Educational Needs

If your child has additional needs, moving schools brings unique challenges to your family. Whether your child attends a mainstream or specialist school, you’ll need to build in plenty of time for research, visits, tours and conversations, to make sure the experience is as smooth as it can be. Speak to your child’s current support team or SENDCo for advice, then reach out as soon as you can to the new local authority.

For Enrolling in Private Schools

There’s a bit more to take into consideration if you’re thinking of a private (public) school, not least a potential waiting list and entrance exams. As with state schools, research the area, research the schools, and draw up a shortlist to visit.

Home Education

If you’re home educating your child or plan to when you move, introduce yourself to your new local authority’s Elective Home Education team. They can put you in touch with local home ed groups and may be able to advise on any local tutors or activities, too.

Conclusion

Moving house with children brings whole new levels of complexity with it, especially if they’re of school age. However, like most things, with a lot of thought and some advance planning, the new school transition can be made far smoother.

Settling in with the Support of Hopkins Homes

We’re not experts in education, but we can really help you and your family settle into your new life. Whilst we highlight local schools within our brochures and marketing materials, we do not and cannot guarantee school places to prospective residents. The allocation and availability of school places is determined by the local education authority.

By making the house purchase simple, we free up families to spend more time on the really important things, like ensuring that the children are settled and happy. Find out more about how easy it is to move house with Hopkins Homes.