school enrolment

Can anyone advise me please, my family and i have just received PR visa and are moving to Lockleys next year. The school requires a 12 month tenancy agreement for enrolment. I was not planning on working straight away so i could help settle the kids into our new lives. We were planning to live with my sister in Lockleys for the first few months but the school wont except her address as proof of living in the school zone. If i need 3 months pay slips to secure a tenancy agreement my daughter who will be 6 could be out of school for quite a while. Has anyone found a way around this problem?

I'm guessing the school you want to place her in is a zoned school and as such they will require proof of residence in the zone as this is often abused and people cheat the system to get their kids into the schools. You either have to place her in a non zoned local school and move her once living in the zone or secure a rental in the zone within a few weeks. It might not be the greatest house if there is a lot of demand for property in the area but it would be in the zone. I'd not panic overly if your daughter misses a couple of weeks of school.

You don't always need 3 months worth of payslips to secure a rental. Plenty move here and rent long term rentals without jobs. They have savings, proof of funds and perhaps offer to pay a bigger deposit or some such or a few months rent in advance.

You haven't said when you are planning to move. If its during or around a school holiday you could time it so you have the holidays to find somewhere and hopefully be moving in or close to moving in when term starts.

The not working for a few months to settle the kids in may be an issue if you do need a rental asap. I'd be looking for work as the job market isn't great here atm and waiting a few months could cost you or see you miss out. I didn't work the first few weeks when we moved over but my husband hit the ground running and worked from the day after we arrived pretty much. TBH once school was sorted and I had gotten my head round out of hours school care and so on I'd have been happy to head into work after the first few weeks. As it was it took a while longer to find work and honestly I was pretty bored during school hours.

FWIW we placed our son in a school outside of our area as we didn't like the zoned school nearby. We bought a house 7 months later in a totally different area and then moved schools to our first choice in the area we are now living in and it was zoned. We had no issues changing schools and son is happy as anything. He was in Y1 when we made the move.

Consider also can you afford to rent long term or buy in the area when the time comes? It could mean changing schools then or a longer commute to school each day if then having to move outside the area.

Hi Snifter

Thanks a lot for the reply you have put my mind at rest about the tenancy agreement, I will email all of the relevant estate agents to ask about paying rent up front and proving funds. Hopefully this will help us rent a property quicker than 3 months.

cheers jimb