Family removals in Kent, planned around the school

How does a family move in Kent differ from any other move?

A family removal in Kent is a full house removal planned around children: the school calendar, an admissions deadline, the school run and bedtime on the first night. Kent still runs grammar schools, selected through the Kent Test, and school places are allocated partly by home address. That means many families need to be living at the new address by a point set by the admissions authority, and dates near it book up early. We ask for that deadline, not just your preferred day, and plan the move to land safely before it. On the day itself, beds come off the vehicle first, each person's essentials box travels last on and first off, and the crew works around the school run where the street demands it. The aim is a house where everyone can sleep and eat that evening.

Admissions deadlines, not preferred dates

In most counties a family moves when the right house comes up. In Kent a good number move because a school place depends on living at an address by a particular stage. Check the current rules on Kent County Council's school admissions pages, including what proof of address they accept, and tell us the deadline as early as you can.

If the deadline and your preferred date differ, we plan for the one that matters. If the purchase is at risk of slipping past the deadline, a short let or a stay with family near the new school, with the household held in storage, is sometimes the steadier route.

A short move is still a full day

Plenty of family moves inside Kent are short: Gillingham to Rainham, Snodland to West Malling, a village outside Faversham to the town itself. Because the drive is brief, people expect the day to be brief as well.

It rarely is. Loading and unloading a family house take just as long whatever the distance in between; only the drive shrinks. We plan short moves as full days, which is exactly why they end at a civilised hour.

How a move like this is planned: Medway terrace to a West Kent village

Take a family of four leaving a Victorian terrace in Strood for a village house near Tonbridge, with the eldest child needing to be resident at the new address before an admissions deadline. The survey would look first at the Strood street: if cars park on both sides and there is a primary school at the end of the road, loading is planned to begin once the morning drop-off has cleared. At the village end, a narrow lane would mean a smaller vehicle for the last stretch, booked in advance rather than improvised. The children's rooms are packed last and unpacked first, so beds, books and uniforms are in place that evening. None of this is unusual. It simply is not left to the day.

Where should the children be on moving day?

Honestly, somewhere else while the house is loaded: grandparents, a friend, a childminder. Toddlers and doorways full of moving furniture do not mix, and the loading goes quicker without small helpers.

If that cannot be arranged, tell us. It changes the order the rooms are cleared in, not whether the move works. Older children often like a job: labelling their own cartons, or deciding where their furniture goes in the new room.

Babies, teenagers and pets

With a baby, keep the cot, the steriliser and the feeds you will need in the car, not on the vehicle. Teenagers usually want to pack their own rooms; give them cartons early and a firm finishing point. Cats are best boarded or shut in one emptied room with a sign on the door, so nobody opens it mid-carry. Dogs are calmer away from the noise entirely.

The essentials box

One per person, packed by them, holding what they need that evening. It goes on the vehicle last and comes off first, and the crew knows which boxes they are.

• Kettle, mugs, tea and something for breakfast
• Phone chargers, including the one cable everybody fights over
• Medicines, toothbrushes, pyjamas and a towel each
• Tomorrow's school uniform and book bag, if it is term time
• The toy or blanket that cannot go missing in a carton

Beds first, then the kitchen

Beds are the first things unloaded and the first things rebuilt. Then the kitchen, because a working kettle improves a first evening more than any other single thing. Everything else can wait for the morning, and we will gently say so if you are trying to unpack the whole house late into the night.

Moving to Kent with children

If you are coming into the county, the school question usually arrives before the house does. Visit the new route to school before moving day, and work out where a removals vehicle can stand on the new street at the times children are walking to school. Moves from further afield are handled as long-distance removals with one crew from start to finish, and our house removals page explains what the survey covers.