School admissions

[ShiningforLeeBertie]

My partner will be moving in with me in the next few months (just about to put their house on the market and as soon as its sold will be moving in). They have a Yr6 child who was down for the school closest to them.

The decision to move in has kind of been forced upon us but after many chats we have both decided it is exactly what we want.

My partner and their son had a look around the local school yesterday (one where my Yr7 child goes) and they both liked it so when she got home she contacted admissions and was told to do a late application for the new school, highlighting the link and the future plans.

Now she has been told that they cant accept the admission as they only go by current address. Her son has a Oneplan and is not good at change, so we are thinking that having to start a new school and then changing very early so being behind the others as regards to meeting new friends they will be a bit behind, ideally we would want him starting at the start of the school year.

Is there anything that can be done or are we at the mercy of the council and having to move him early on in the school year?

If it matters, she has her house up for sale due to her ex-husband, I currently rent however my LL is thinking of selling so we are looking into buying where I am now, her house is going on the market in the next couple of weeks and is in a sought after area so we think it wont take long to sell.

If you are in England, she can still apply as a late application (so that bit was wrong) - however, it would be processed as coming from their current address, so it would depend upon how many others applied whether they live close enough to get an offer.

It is possible that going onto the waiting list after NOD will result in an offer being made. However, once the house is sold, you are living together and there is evidence of this, either a coordinated (as in, before September) admissions place application can be updated to take account of the change in circumstances or an In Year application can be made for September 2025 - at this point, it is possible that sibling priority can be applied as well as the reduced distance.

If there is an EHCP at play here with your reference to a One Plan, then the move would make it necessary for an early review in order to name a new school. The risk with this would be whether your school is able to meet the child's needs.

It's not unusual for there to be children changing schools in September. Everybody wants it done prior to the first week of October ready for the Autumn Census, and often places aren't taken up or formally refused when somebody has moved, decided to take a private place or EHE - the schools can't remove them until it's known that those children are safely in a new situation, which can take weeks if the parents don't engage.

Can’t she move in with you now? It doesn’t matter if she still owns another house somewhere else. We did an in-year application and we only needed to have exchanged contracts. We still lived in the other county renting there with plans to formally move the next month. They just needed evidence of the contract and a move date. Just draw up a lodgers agreement of some sort and move in with each other by the point you need to for the application.

Thanks for your answers.

Moving now would be ideal, however that would be a stumbling block as to where she works and also where her son goes to school presently.

She has been told that we can provide a letter/addendum to the tenancy outlying future plans and that will be accepted, which my LL is going to sort out over the weekend.