Family moves
Family moves, planned around the school
Kent still has grammar schools, and the consequence is that a great many moves in this county are decided by a catchment boundary rather than by a house. That changes when you can move, and how early you have to book.
The catchment effect
In most counties a family moves when a house comes up. In Kent a significant number move because a school place depends on an address by a particular date. It produces a moving calendar with sharp peaks, and it means the good dates go first.
Practically: if your move is tied to a school place, book as far ahead as you can and tell us the deadline rather than just the preferred date. If the two are different, we would rather plan for the one that matters.
The short move nobody plans for
A family move inside Kent is frequently short — a village over, a town across. Because the drive is nothing, people assume the day is nothing.
It is not. Loading a four-bedroom house takes exactly as long whether the destination is two miles away or two hundred; only the middle shrinks. We plan these as full days, and they finish at a sensible hour because of it.
Children on the day
The honest advice is that they are better elsewhere while the house is loaded. Grandparents, a friend, a childminder. A hallway with a wardrobe going through it is not a place for anyone small, and the day is shorter for everybody.
Where that is not possible, say so and the crew will work around it. It changes the order things come out in rather than whether the job works.
The essentials box
One per person, packed by them, containing what they need that evening. It travels last on and first off, and the crew is told about it.
- Kettle, mugs, tea, something for breakfast
- Chargers, and the cable that is non-negotiable
- Medication, toothbrushes, pyjamas, a towel each
- School uniform for the next morning, if term has started
- The toy that cannot be in a box somewhere
Beds first, kitchen second
Beds come off the load first and go back up before anything else moves in. Then the kitchen, because a working kettle changes an evening more than any other single thing in a house. The rest can wait until tomorrow, and we will say so if you are trying to unpack the whole place at ten at night.
Moving into Kent with a family
The commonest version of this job: a London family moving out to a village or market town, often with a school place attached. The surprises are almost always at the Kent end — a lane the vehicle cannot turn in, a gravel drive, a house with more staircase than anyone remembered from the viewing.
That is what the survey at both ends is for, and why long-distance work into Kent is planned as one job rather than two halves.
Worth knowing
Family moves, the real questions
Kent has grammar schools. Does that change the timing?
More than anywhere else we work. Moves here cluster around catchment deadlines and the start of terms, which means the popular dates fill early. If your move is tied to a school place, book as far ahead as you can.
Can you work around the school run?
Yes, and on some streets it is the only sensible plan — the parked cars have to clear before a vehicle can get near the house. Which applies to your road is a survey question rather than a guess.
What do we do with the children on the day?
Honestly, elsewhere if possible. A hallway full of furniture is no place for anyone small, and the day is shorter for everybody. Where that is not an option the crew will work around them.
Can the beds go up first?
Standard, and a sensible ask. Beds come off the load first and get rebuilt before anything else goes in, so there is somewhere to put tired children while the rest arrives.
We are moving within the county for a school place. Anything different?
Only the assumption. A short move across Kent takes the same loading and unloading time as a long one — the drive is the only part that shrinks. We plan it as a full day.
Tell us the school deadline, not just the date.
If a place depends on being at an address by a particular point, that is the date that matters. We will plan the move around it.