School places when you move to the UK with children
Not general information. Precise advice for your family: your children, your dates, your destination.
Moovedin draws up a schools plan for families moving to the UK from abroad: which year group each child joins, which application route and deadline apply, how to find and judge a school from overseas, and what to bring. It is drawn up within one working day of your answers by our schools and education team, led by Adrian Duckett. We work the state system first, show you how the system decides, and put what to do in the right order.
This pageYour schools & education plan
Year groups, routes, deadlines, the search, the documents.
One payment, drawn up for your family by our relocation team and our schools and education team. The schools questions, then the rest of your relocation.
Tap a question to see how the plan handles it. The pages inside are from an example Blueprint for the Coleman family, a fictional family we built to show how a plan reads. Yours is drawn up for your children.
What UK school year will my child be in?
In England a child's year group is set by their age on 31 August, not by the class they are in now. A child in Grade 5 abroad can land a year above or below the one you planned for, and that decides everything that follows. The plan uses the rule for where in England you are going.
Example Blueprint
CHILD OVERVIEW
The selected child’s position, planning priority and summary.
SCHOOLS & EDUCATION
Madison’s school move, made clearer.
The academic picture is steady; the part to plan carefully is securing an in-year place.
MadisonAge 11 · arriving 28 June 2027United States · Grade 5
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EXPECTED UK PLACEMENTYear 6Key Stage 2ACADEMIC PLANNING PRIORITYMediumBased on academic-fit factorsADMISSIONS ROUTEIn-yearJune arrivalMAIN PLANNING FOCUSPlace availabilityPractical move priority
CONSULTANT SUMMARY
“Madison is 10 now and will be 11 on arrival in Bristol on 28 June 2027, joining Year 6 (Key Stage 2, the upper primary years) as an in-year entrant. Her academic picture is genuinely steady: she arrives with strong English, no learning support needs, and a curriculum background that translates well into the English primary years, so the classroom side of this move carries low risk across the board. …”
Adrian Duckett · Schools and education expert
Consultant summary continues in the full Blueprint
ACADEMIC PLANNING PRIORITY
Overall planning priority: Medium
Nothing needs urgent planning, but Timing of Relocation is worth reviewing before you commit to timings.
Medium
Needs active planning
Find and secure a school place
Includes the practical school-place task, not just scored academic risk.
Worth reviewing
Timing of Relocation
A review item can still sit alongside the overall planning priority.
Working in your favour
Curriculum TransferQualification TransferSubject Pathway AlignmentLearning Support (SEND & EAL)
These have been checked and do not currently need extra planning.
What this profile coversCurriculum, qualifications, timing, subject pathways and learning support. School-place availability is separate.What your Blueprint does nextThe practical planning layer: finding a place, what to review and what to do next.
Example familyMadison’s child overview: her placement, her priority, and the consultant summary written for her.
How do I apply for a UK school place from abroad?
Only Reception and Year 7 are allocated in a national round; every other year group, and every mid-year arrival, goes through in-year admissions, which runs all year and works differently. Either way the council needs a UK address it can verify before your application counts, so for most families the tenancy comes before the school. The plan tells you which route each child is in, what your council accepts as an address, and the order to do it in.
Example Blueprint
CONSULTANT SUMMARY · YOUR FAMILY
“Thank you for sharing your plans with me, Jake. Madison, aged 10 now and 11 on arrival, is expected to join Year 6 (Key Stage 2, the upper primary years), and Tyler, aged 7 now and 8 on arrival, is expected to join Year 3 (Key Stage 2, the junior years). The one thing to do first for the whole family is to begin the admissions conversation before you commit to a home address, as where you live will shape which schools you can apply to. At their ages the US curriculum lines up well with the English one, so once places are secured, both should settle into classroom life smoothly after a short period of adjustment.”
Signed off by Adrian Duckett, schools and education expert on 26 October 2026.
Top priorities for this move
The three things most likely to need attention before and around arrival.
Madison
Year 6 · Medium planning priority
Apply late for a Year 7 (secondary school) place immediately on arrival, as the September 2027 round closed on 31 October 2026.
Contact Bristol council before moving to ask about in-year Year 6 places, as availability varies and the window is short.
Gather school records and supporting documents now so nothing delays Madison's application once you are in Bristol.
Tyler
Year 3 · Low planning priority
Contact Bristol's council about in-year admissions before you commit to a home address.
Gather Tyler's Grade 2 school records now so applications can move without delay on arrival.
Check faith admissions criteria for any schools you visit, as these affect eligibility for a place.
Example familyThe family overview: the signed summary and the three priorities for each child.
When are the UK school application deadlines?
Secondary applications in England close on 31 October the year before entry; primary on 15 January. Miss them and you apply late, behind everyone who applied on time. The plan puts the dates that apply to your children against your arrival date, and the decisions that follow in the years after.
Example Blueprint
Academic pathwayDrag, scroll or use the arrows to look ahead.
2026 to 27
NOW
2026 to 27 · Year 6 · Key Stage 2
Joining Year 6.
WHY IT MATTERS
The final primary year carries end of primary assessments and the secondary school application round.
WHAT TO DO
The Year 7 application round has already closed, so apply to the council as a late applicant straight away, and keep more than one school in view.
2029 to 30
3 YEARS AWAY
2029 to 30 · Year 9 · Key Stage 3
GCSE subject options.
WHY IT MATTERS
Choices made this year shape study to 16 and can affect later routes.
WHAT TO DO
Use strengths, interests and any future plans before choices are fixed.
2031 to 32
5 YEARS AWAY
2031 to 32 · Year 11 · Key Stage 4
Final GCSE examinations.
WHY IT MATTERS
Final grades shape sixth-form, college and apprenticeship routes.
WHAT TO DO
Choose the post-16 route with the full qualification picture in view.
A NOTE FROM ADRIAN
“The decision I would watch most closely for Madison is the Year 9 subject options choice, which lands in the 2029 to 30 school year: the subjects she selects then shape her study all the way to 16 and can affect the routes open to her afterwards. That is two academic years away from her Year 7 entry, which gives you a reasonable run-in to get settled and understand how the English curriculum works before those choices arrive. The groundwork you do now on securing her secondary place is the foundation everything else rests on, so keeping that as the immediate focus is exactly the right move.”
Example familyMadison’s milestones from the entry year, and a note from Adrian beneath them.
How do catchment areas work in the UK?
Schools rank applications by distance from home, so being near a school is not the same as a place at it. A catchment area is a priority, not a promise, and the last place offered moves every year. The plan shows you how the schools in the areas you are considering actually fill, so you choose an area with your eyes open.
Example Blueprint
SCHOOLS NEAR YOUR AREAS
Schools and colleges near your areas
Factual register entries for your target areas. Use these as starting points for your own enquiries, never as recommendations.
AREA MAPYour target areas, with the example schools below mapped against them.
Example familyExample schools near the family’s target areas, mapped, from the Department for Education register.
What qualifications will my child take in the UK?
The UK examines children at 16 and again at 18, through GCSEs and then A-levels or their vocational equivalents, with subjects chosen two years before each. Your plan explains the system for each child's age, and where a child is already on an examined course at home, works out subject by subject what carries across, with the letters to send to the school you are leaving and the ones you are joining.
What documents will a UK school ask for?
Reports, references, exam-board details: the records a school will ask for, gathered before you leave, because they are far harder to get afterwards. A tickable checklist for each child, with who to ask and why each one matters.
Example Blueprint
01
Gather the documents
Before move
The records and evidence schools will ask for, gathered before you leave.
0/5 complete
Example familyThe first workstream of Madison’s action plan: tickable, with a progress bar.
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What your schools plan covers
One plan for the family, then a plan for each child. Sections that do not apply to a child are left out, never shown empty.
Family overviewEach child's position, the three things to deal with first, and a move timeline.
Joining the UK systemThe year group and why, and how the current curriculum and qualifications carry across.
The school searchHow admissions work where you are going, and what to ask on a visit or a call.
Milestones in the UK curriculumThe decisions ahead for each child in the UK system: options, examinations, transitions.
Your action planDated, tickable tasks, letter templates, and a shortlist tracker for the schools you contact.
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Who draws it up
Adrian Duckett, Head of Schools and Education
Adrian leads the schools and education team at Moovedin, with sixteen years in school leadership behind him, most of them in schools where families arrive from everywhere. He draws up the schooling half of every Blueprint and reads it before it goes out. The schools call is forty-five minutes with Adrian about your children and the decisions ahead of them.
Across the Moovedin team, more than thirty years in relocation and education.
And the rest of your move: Matthew Duckett, Founder & Director
Matthew founded Moovedin after sixteen years in UK property, and draws up the relocation half of your Blueprint: where to live, what it costs, the tenancy and the paperwork.
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How we work
Not general information. Precise advice for your family: your children, your dates, your destination.
Every fact has a source and a dateOfficial sources only, dated. If something is not known, the plan says what to confirm and with whom.
We identify the schoolsState and independent schools in your catchment areas, with the facts and tools to decide for yourselves.
General enquiries?WhatsApp the Moovedin team. Replies within a working day, Monday to Friday. WhatsApp the Moovedin team
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Prices
Pay once. Answer the schools questions and your schools plan is with you within one working day; your relocation plan follows your relocation questions.
The Blueprint
£99one-off
Your schools plan, drawn up for each child
Your relocation plan: areas, costs, tenancy, paperwork
WhatsApp the Moovedin team until two weeks after you move in
From the day your Blueprint arrives until two weeks after you move in, message the Moovedin team with anything about your move and your home. Replies within a working day, Mon to Fri.
Your BlueprintWhatsApp support from the Moovedin team until two weeks after you move in.
The agent wants six months' rent up front. Is that normal?09:12
Not any more. Since May the most an agent can ask for is one month, and only once you've signed. Forward us the request and we'll help you reply.09:40
Not sure yet?
Start with the free scorecard
Four minutes on where you are going, who is coming and when. The same Blueprint is one step from the result.
No, and nobody honest can. Places are decided by councils and schools under published admission rules, mostly by distance from your home, and we do not apply on your behalf. What we do is make sure you apply through the right route at the right time, from an address that counts, with the documents ready, and that you know your rights if the first answer is no.
What if we arrive in the middle of the school year?
Every council runs in-year admissions all year. You apply once you have an address, schools must respond within fifteen school days, the council must find a place if your preferred schools are full, and you can appeal a refusal.
Do you help with private schools?
Yes, when they fit the family. Independent schools set their own admissions and timetables, often a year or more ahead, so "we'll go private if the state place falls through" is rarely a plan. Your plan covers both.
Which parts of the UK do you cover?
England, for now. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each rent differently, with their own deposit schemes, tenancy types and council tax rules, and we draw up a plan only where our data is complete. If you are moving to one of them, the scorecard says so before you pay.
Signed off by Adrian Duckett, schools and education expert on 26 October 2026.
