For which period do I need to live near secondary school for applications

Hate to pop your bubble but the reason your dd was offered a place was because when the computer followed the admission procedures it allocated the school from your application form. School admission computers don’t read emails.

I agree with this. I hope you get caught and they don't let you get away with it. You will be taking a place from a family that actually have a right to be there.

Am sure you will do it whatever people say and maybe it will work. But my LA is very wise to it. You say you want to do this to get your kid into this good school. Dont assume those parents whose child should have got in above yours will just accept it, they will report you and be vocal about it. So while it appears you do not care about other people it may be that it is your child who is affected by at first getting in, then being reported and having their place taken away and sent to wherever has space.

Maybe it was back when more schools had “Exceptional social/medical circumstances” and the school felt her daughter’s case warranted it - but our local schools have now dispensed with that criteria, and even medical diagnoses and some solid educational reasons was not enough to get my son into our closest secondary.

As everyone told me this time last year, it may actually work out for the best, and maybe it has, as the school he was allocated (4th on our list) is such an inclusive and supportive school. They have allowed him to flexischool and provided so much support, all without an EHCP. I have know other boys be pulled out of the school we wanted him to go to and I do wonder what his fate would have been there.

We don't doubt that your dd got a place at the school. But it wasn't because you emailed the school pleading for it. It was because you lived near enough to get a place (or other reasons on the school's admissions criteria like LAC). Academies have to follow procedure too.

The point I was trying to make is that many councils discount the "we've separated" line, particularly when the parent with whom the child is allegedly living is in rented accommodation and jointly owns a property in the area with the other parent. It therefore doesn't matter how long they wait. The council won't use their address. That is why I said it is a shame for parent that have genuinely separated.

The majority of recent migrants to London from Hong Kong are concentrated in 4 London boroughs that have outstanding state schools and/or are within grammar school catchments. Presumably they are all using the same relocation consultant and/or sharing information. So yes, it does happen, but councils are alert to people doing it fraudulently.

People who are renting anyway are obviously more mobile than people who own their own home.

I can believe it.

What some pushy parents will do! Amazing.

You'd be lucky if the person dealing with the admissions even bothered saving the email, never mind taking it as a good reason to break the Law.

But then, I've encountered a fair few people with a 'friend' who thinks themselves a bit of a playground lawyer on the grounds of their getting a place for their kid after being a complete knob over the phone/via email/turning up and demanding an offer. Nope, what actually happened is that whilst they were busy being an utter twat to all concerned, somebody else withdrew their acceptance in favour of private/moved house/got an offer from a higher preference school after being on the waiting list since March and their kid got to the top of the waiting list.

After all, if the Law was that easy to ignore, the most logical course of action would be to dump them off the waiting list altogether for being a pain in the arse, wouldn't it?

They don't need a private detective - council workers can and do stake out suspicious addresses.

The fact you can't see it's fraud is incredible.

Will you always teach your children that they can have whatever they want if you can pay your way round the rules?

Great parenting.

That's sort of my point - they finished the charade too quickly.
If they'd waited longer, even to the point of their child finishing their first year of school - would you be able to tell?
Depends on how desperate they are.

Councils have seen parents trying the "we've separated" line and then getting back together once offers have been made. They therefore treat such claims with caution, which is a shame for parents who have genuinely separated.

Council Tax records and other information available to LAs will tell them if the parents own a house. If they do, most councils will use that address and not a rented address, even if the parent and child are actually living at the rented address, unless the house they own is a long way away.

No you didn't, they have to follow the admissions criteria by law. She would have got in anyway.

Not really relevant to the OP but how would you know, if both parent and child 'lived' in the rented house?
What's to stop someone claiming they were separated, and renting temporarily, If they stayed there a year then moved back before the school year started? Unless you hired a private detective and found them spending time as a family anybody could claim that.

I appreciate that and its good it worked for you but as a PP (with relevant experience and knowledge) has pointed out its cause and effect. You DID write to the school but thats not WHY she was admitted on its own.
Its "helpful" anecdotes like this that make things harder, along with "just put one school down they have to let you in" and other rubbish.
Every year people give bad advice by saying "I did this and it worked" but it might have happened anyway and isnt helpful at all

You would need to dispose of the property you own, or show that you have rented it out to someone on a longer term.

Unfortunately you would be committing fraud otherwise, still, regardless of “genuinely living there”. Your child can therefore lose the school place even if they started y7 there.

DH is at a grammar and just had a year 7 pupil removed for fraud being proven. In March.

Was only to try and help the op with my past experience.

It is only true in the way you describe it if the academy blatantly broke the Admissions Code (which has the force of law) and its funding agreement and was willing to risk having its funding withdrawn completely. Schools are prohibited from making admissions decisions based on the parents' reasons for wanting the school.

I am sure it is true that you emailed the school your reasons why it would be good for your daughter. I am sure she was admitted. But, assuming she was admitted without an appeal, the two events were unconnected unless the academy broke the law for you, which is highly unlikely. If you hadn't sent the email, your daughter would still have been admitted.

If you were admitted via appeal, it would be different. Then your reasons the school would be good for your daughter would be potentially relevant. If your daughter didn't get a place in the normal admissions round and the email to the school was your appeal case, that is entirely possible.

Please don't lead people to believe that they can get a place at their preferred school in the normal admissions round simply by emailing the school with their reasons for wanting it. That is not how admissions work.

You need to find your local rules.

Here, if you own somewhere and then rent nearby (5miles or so) and your owned house is habitable, they won’t allow the new address and if they find out what you’ve done they will kick the child out of the school - at any stage, even months in. I know people this has happened to, it’s not just a story.

Since your second post comments on the morality, or lack of, what you’re contemplating, I’m sure you know that it is fraudulent. Could you sell and buy in the area of the school you want?

For all those who don't believe me it is absolutely true for which I am very grateful. She is 20 now and only my 14 year old son is there now. It is part of a family of 6 academies.

I believe this is one of the reasons why looked after children and those are PP are often higher on the priority list then just living in catchment. Although critica for this varies from LEA and schools.

Some councils have whole teams which look at fraud and home flipping, and which co-operate with neighbouring boroughs, definitely in London, possible elsewhere. Just living in a rental near the school isn't enough (people seem to be surprised to hear this, but it's been the case for a while now)

You need to have disposed of any property you previously resided at - ending your lease and selling up. Obviously if you've moved from Inverness to Penzance and haven't quite sold the Scottish house they're both unlikely to notice and to care. But if you own a family house within reasonable travel time of the school and are also renting a 2 bed bang near a desirable school, then yes this will be spotted.

And the council will take the address you own as the address for admissions purposes.

So, assuming entry in September 2025, you need to get your house on the market now at a realistic price as you need the sale to have gone through by about September (October is the cut off, but you need to build in a safety margin, and sales are sluggish right now) or you need to give notice to quit current lease asap, and arrange your new home.

Also new school places for your DC for yr6 - unless you really want to sound a klaxon

I recommend you stay there until at least the end of the first term of the secondary school. You probably could look earlier than that - any time after allocations as genuine moves are not against the rules. So you could probably start looking for new lease/new purchase late spring/summer of 2025.

Round me the practice of buying into the catchment of good comps is routine. It happens for local primaries too.

I was once asked to lie on a form about how long the child had lived at a rented address. I refused. It was very embarrassing. That parent is hardline anti-private.