Moving house for a secondary school - is there any reason this is a bad idea?

[RubaiyatOfAnyone]

My children’s current primary school is excellent, but the two closest secondaries are worse than useless and the one a bit further away is hugely oversubscribed as a result (and we are obviously not it’s closest catchment). Dd is yr 5.

there is a very good secondary school 12 mins drive away, but it has a list of prioritised towns/villages as catchment and we are not one of them.

If we were to move to the town it is in, hopefully we’d get in (there is one other, also very good, school in that town as a back up). we might not be able to sell our own house straight away but would move first, as our house is awkward to sell.

if we were to do this, is there any reason the school would frown on our application? I vaguely remember horror stories of them checking whether you moved in the last 2 years, but does that really happen?

We moved for secondary school. No issues.
Best thing we did as put them in catchment area for excellent sixth forms.

We did this, you need to check the catchment area really carefully and obviously be aware it could change. I have absolutely no regrets.

You'd need to check those schools and the local authority admissions criteria in detail. For some, moving in the last two years is a problem and for others, it's not. If it is they will check. You need to do the homework on criteria to know.

Thank you all - how did you know if the 2 year thing was an issue? None seem to mention it in their admission criteria

You need to check which are the 'feeder' schools for this excellent secondary. In our area the good secondary only takes from two feeder primary schools, even if the kids live further out 😕

Sometimes you have to show disposal of your previous house, you need to read specific LA guidance carefully.

How much do you like/love where you live? For us, we stayed in our suburb as we would otherwise miss our period home too much. Spent a lot on it and couldn't afford a comparable one in a nicer school catchment.

We therefore stayed but our son passed grammar schools. We still would have stayed where we were if he hadn't. 11-16 education for one child isn't the be all and end all when actually the sixth forms and local uni links are great. I appreciate that isn't everyone's opinion, but the grass isn't always greener somewhere else.

Phone up the admissions department, mine were really helpful and checked if a few different addresses were in the catchment area.

Yep it does - depends on the school, but our local secondary says if you still own a property that was the main family home in the last 3 years, they count that as your address. The council cross-checks with council tax records. It’s to stop people renting a cheap flat for six months for address reasons (whilst actually living elsewhere) until they get a place.

Doesn’t stop people selling up, moving into catchment for a year then moving back out again, and there are flats opposite our local secondary which come onto the market every July in time for a September exchange/completion (once term has started and their oldest is safely on the roll).

If you are considering an outstanding comprehensive vs private school, you can potentially save over £150k by moving into catchment. Well worth the stamp duty and conveyancing fees.

Same here

To be clear I have no issue with people who actually move into catchment - it’s people who don’t actually move but either rent or buy a second home for admissions purposes, when they actually live nowhere near the catchment area. Or who move in then straight back out once they have a place. It isn’t fair on the people who actually live in the local area.

The downside is of course that your DC won’t know anyone/ many people. Not the worst thing in the world but depends on your child and how easily they make friends.

The other downside is cost of course. Which is fine, except it might not pan out how you expect. Of my 10 ish closest friends, I know 3 who have chosen the school with the best results (3 different schools, in 3 different towns) and they have changed schools (tp the ‘bad’ one)/ become a school refuser/ been terribly bullied.

The only school where all the parents are universally happy is the one you wouldn’t touch with a bargepole,

(But specifically in your question, despite everything I say above, we moved house on school application deadline day. We actually rented out our old house but bought the new one. No issues with the council, who were very helpful),

Never heard of a 2 year thing but we would have had to be in the new house done and dusted at the application stage

Your OP is confusing - are you considering renting out your old house until it sells and then renting in the new area?

If it’s not in the policy then it’s not policy. They’re not going to list out all of the things that don’t apply.

Thank you all - i didn’t mean to over complicate, i realise they wouldn’t list all the things that don’t apply, i just meant did other people find it on their LEA or County Council restrictions instead?

looking to buy in new area, but realistically probably won’t have sold our old house in the necessary time frame so it will be on the market after we move. Not sure about renting it out whilst we try to sell it, haven’t thought that far ahead.

just to be clear i’m not looking for “offsted excellent, all A*”, just a nice school where more than 15% get 5 gcses, and without a bullying problem.
we’re in hertfordshire so no grammar schools.

No and I doubt it would stand up in court

It’s a rational decision to move and do this. People do it all the time. Now that the govt have taxed and demonised private schools, it will happen even more.

I’d do it, and I’d get onto it quickly.

Surely there’s no such thing as the wish to pay to move to the catchment of a good state school?

The Labourites on MN say it’s a myth. Because state education can’t be distorted by the funds needed to move to a different house. But they say that private education is wicked because of the funds available to pay for a private school place.

Well, well, well.

Cheaper to move than have to pay for private school. You won't be the only one I bet!

We are planning to do this this year. In north London suburbs currently, and only acceptable (to us) local options are the super strict, 'no excuses' academy that DD's primary feeds into (which we are desperate to dodge) or intensive tutoring for the super-selective that DP and I both attended (back in the days when getting in was a much less cutthroat process!) The grammar still seems lovely, but last year there were 2600 applicants for 190 places, and I just can't face all the 11+ craziness.

We're actually hoping to move about 40mins away into Herts to access the non-selective but fairly academic girls' comp that a close friend's daughters have attended and loved. DD is only in Year 2 currently, but we're getting in there early as the secondary's admissions policy is pretty labyrinthine (feeder schools system) and it's going to be really tricky to nail down the right combo of house location and primary - the schools in our target area are much fuller than where we are now (where the birth rate is plummeting) so DD may well end up on waiting lists for a place. Luckily jobs are fairly mobile and we only have the one DC to accommodate!

No doubt it's going to be super stressful, but education is a huge priority of mine and we're playing the long game. Hopefully moving while DD is still relatively young with give her time to forge new friendships before secondary. I second all the PPs' advice to go through the school's admissions policy with a fine tooth comb - it's so easy to get caught out.

We've done it, no worry about friends as DS primary feeds in but not everyone in the class gets a place so wanted to be sure he was one as the alternative for us was gambling the idiot in number 10 didn't add another 50-60% to fees next year.

It's the best decision we have made for us as a family as not only will he be going to a great school in September (we are well within the catchment now) but we are actually enjoying being in the town. No it's not our forever home and we will move more rural or for character once he is driving but for now it is perfect.

We got made to sell our last house to fit the criteria (it would have made a great rental!!

RubaiyatOfAnyone

As you may not have sold your current house before moving to the new area you need to phone your admissions department. This is one of the things that my admissions area investigates as there have been cases of people keeping their current home and renting in the new area.

There is going up be a lot more of this as the the govt has increased the cost of fee paying schools with the VAT and employers’ NI. The stamp duty and moving costs will be minuscule in comparison with the school fees over the secondary years -especially if you have more than one child. Also, with fee paying schools being squeezed out and closing, will also increase this activity.
so get in quickly if you are going to do it.
However if your house is hard up sell and you rent in the catchment, the LA will very likely k et take your owned home as your address.
I used to own a small flat opposite a desirable school and used yo get lots of people desperate to rent it temporarily untilthe council cracked down on that.

Thank you all. Yes, i know that renting in a new area whilst still owning the old house would be a no-no, but there doesn’t appear to be an info about buying a new house whilst still owning the old one.