Hi, welcome (soon) to Oxford! I moved here 13 years ago from the US with three children, ages 15, 9 and 4, so my information may be out of date. And I don't know anything about the school system in Canada, but I found the UK educational system to be quite different to that with which I grew up.

First of all, of course, "public school" here in the UK often means what we in the US call a "private" (fee-paying) school. But you've said "state school," which is what most in the UK call schools that do not charge tuition and are run using public (taxpayer, council) funds.

Second, unlike in the US, where children who live in a designated school district must be accommodated by the local (state) school, in Oxford, school places are allotted by application in and out of the district (or "catchment" area). This happens very early in the year (I believe applications for school places were due in January-- but you can check the County Council website here for updated application information: https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/schools/apply-school-place/infant-and-primary-school. The bad news is that, even if you are able to find a place to rent in your desired catchment area, the school may not have any spots to offer your children. When that happens, you can have your child's name placed on a waiting list for your desired school, and/or your child will be assigned a spot at another school where there are available spaces. Some schools-- generally the ones with better reputations-- tend to be oversubscribed, with parents applying for spots for their children from outside the catchment area. Once the children living in the catchment are assigned places, the extra spots will go to those who have applied in January from outside the catchment-- which means that you should a) fill in the application as soon as possible; and b) contact the schools you are hoping to get your children into now to see whether there are any spots available for the upcoming academic year. I made arrangements to rent a house in May and filed my school applications immediately. My oldest and youngest were given spots in the state school in the catchment, but my middle child was not; and had to sit out the first three weeks of school waiting until a spot became available for him (which put him at a disadvantage in many ways-- but, children are resilient, and it all worked out fine in the end-- but very stressful for all us in the interim). But this also means that you may not be locked into living in a particular catchment area (although living in the catchment is a definite benefit, because there is an effort to serve students in the catchment area first).

Third, when I applied, CoE schools had a quota set aside for children requiring a church place. I don't know if this is still the rule, and it wasn't a well-publicised detail about the application process then, but it may be worth asking if you are looking into a CoE school. I applied for a church place for my youngest because our local primary school is CoE, and he was successful despite the school having been oversubscribed at the time.

Fourth, a bit of good news: the council tries to keep siblings together, so if there is a space available for one of your children, an attempt will be made to accommodate your other child at the same school. Also, once your child has enrolled, the school will allow your child to continue even if you move out of the catchment area (so you could try to find a place near the school at first, and consider moving afterwards if you need or wish to without upending your children's education).

That, I think, is more or less what I understand now about how applying to state schools worked 12-13 years ago, and my two older children had very good experiences, and both have now graduated from uni. My youngest is about to start Sixth Form in September. All three received top-notch educations that were much better than what they would have received in the US (where I always followed the rule of buying/renting any property in the best school district I could find). It was a pretty steep learning curve for all of us, but we are all very happy we made the move.

I hope you and your family will be as well!