Dear Sir or Madam,

How do British children presently living in the USA provide a
preference form with regard to entering secondary schools in the
Liverpool or Sefton LEAs? My sons are British, but have been
educated to date in the USA, and we are intending to move back to
the UK next summer. My older son will be 11 in April, and I need to
do what I can to get him into an appropriate school, but I cannot
find out how to submit a preference form if he is not presently
resident in Liverpool. We have no family in Merseyside. A similar
question, somewhat less pressingly, also applies to my younger son,
who will be 7.5 next summer.

Yours faithfully,
Wendy Hopkinson

Dear Ms Hopkinson
Thank you for your email dated 14 August, about the school admission
procedures for your sons.

I should advise you that you will need to contact the local authority (LA)
for the area in which you are planning to live, as they will be able to
tell you if you meet the criteria outlined in the regulations governing
children from overseas.

If you do meet the criteria, the LA will be able to advise you on the
schools in its area with places available. You can find the authorities
admission procedures by entering the following websites and
typing 'admissions'. The website for Liverpool LA is:
[1]http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/ and Sefton LA is:
[2]http://www.sefton.gov.uk/.

You may also find it useful to look at this Department's School Admissions
Code, which can be accessed via the website at:
[3]http://www.dfes.gov.uk/sacode/. The section 'Children from overseas',
pages 29-31, may be of particular interest.

I hope you find this information useful.
Yours sincerely

Christine Arnott
Public Communications Unit

2008 is the National Year of Reading, log onto [4]www.yearofreading.org.uk
for details

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2008/0068847.
To correspond by email with the Department for Children, Schools and
Families please contact [5][DCSF request email].

If you have any further queries why not browse our Popular Questions
website. This site has been built to allow you to quickly find the answer
to your question [6]http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/popularquestions

show quoted sections

Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/
2. http://www.sefton.gov.uk/
3. http://www.dfes.gov.uk/sacode/
4. http://www.yearofreading.org.uk/
http://www.yearofreading.org.uk/
5. mailto:[DCSF request email]
6. http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/popularquestions