To ask if you've ever been guilty of 'grannymandering'

[patchworkquilt1]

.... to get your kids into a certain school.
To accommodate your child minder / grandparents?
How did it pan out as your kids got older?
Did you get caught out?
If so what happened?

I've just applied for reception and had to provide proof of address (council tax bill etc) so I think you're on a hiding to nothing here.

Childminder? Breakfast/after-school club? Au pair? Nanny share?

I work in admissions. People talk. We get countless tip offs of people using false addresses. We check with council tax etc We then remove your child's place and you will have to make a late application and probably end up with a school you REALLY don't want as everyone who applied on time and within the rules has taken all the spaces.

My suggestion would be to put the school you want first (with back ups) then go to the appeal panel.

But don’t lie. Our council clamps down on it anyway.

Sell your home move in with your mum. Enrol them into that school. Save and improve credit rating. Move out again.

@IntentsAndPorpoises yes but it's not enough... I've looked into all these options

My mum has said we can move in with her but I really don't want to give up my home if I can help it. I've worked too hard for it

Could your mum move in with you?

My DS had to show council tax document to the primary school when registering his child.
Why not ask the school if you can send your child there, even tho you are not in the catchment area?
It might be okay, depending on numbers.

You can get 70% of your childcare paid for by T.Credits.

What would you do if your mum moved?

Move back in with your mum and sell your own house that you can't pay for. Get yr mum to issue you with a rental agreement formally and transfer all your accounts to your mum's address where in the neat future you will live. No brainer op.

But we don't prosecute here!
Use your own address, indicate preferred school first and you may get a place.

UC pays 85% of childcare costs (so long as you earn enough to receive it and the costs don't exceed a certain amount)

I did it 17 years ago when it was less of an issue. The school near me was truly horrific and there was no way my two were going there. Plus I was working long hours on a low salary as a single parent so couldn't afford child care so my mum looked after them and school they went to was a five minute walk from her house. She wouldn't have been able to get to the school near me as she didnt drive.

It's a bad idea, for all the reasons above.
But also your child will be at that school for 7 years. Anything could happen in that time, and if for any reason your mum could no longer look after your DC, or you didn't want, or need her to look after any more, you would have a 15 mile school run in both directions EVERY DAY.

Also any playdates, parties etc will also involve a 15 mile trip. And when your DC is older they won't have many friends in the local area.

Is it the same local authority and school borough? Have you checked the admissions criteria. If the school isn't over subscribed you may get allocated places from your address.

Moving to your mum's would entail a fair bit of expense.
Could you use that expense to pay towards Mum moving nearer you?
Or taxis for Mum?
Or other childcare for your child?

My work colleague did this 2 years ago for senior school. Her and dh owned a house... They told parents at the school etc that they has ally and she had moved in to the flat she had rented with the kids... She didn't spend one night there but went to the trouble of making it look lived in etc just incase they requested a home visit... Cost her about 7k all together but she spent 12 months worrying about being found out

Move in with your mum and rent out your place

Research the schools in your mums location now. See what your chances are of getting in and if her most local school is oversubscribed look at others close to her. Just because you live far away doesn’t mean you won’t get in. If there are spaces available you can get them.

I think I'm worrying about worst case scenario.
I hadn't considered that they might take us even though we don't live in the area

How does it work at the moment? Does your mum come to you on public transport or what, or do you take them to hers? What will be different when they're in school?

My DD didn't get a place at the primary school we wanted at 1st because of one mum doing this. Fortunately we knew her real address and her mum, who she used as her address on the forms, stayed along the road from my parents in the catchment area. We reported it and her DC was removed from the school and my DD got the place. It's despicable.

You do have a choice and if you do it then you deserve every awful consequence of it when it goes wrong.

Be honest, apply like everyone else and if you don’t get in then at least you haven’t taken the place of a child who’s circumstance means they have the right to the place.

Don’t be THAT parent.

You can only apply from the address where the child actually resides.

You have to provide proof of address, and if you own a property, that is the one which will be taken as your address for admissions, even if you are actually staying somewhere else (even when renting with a proper leade, let alone lodging with family).

Prosecution is quite unlikely. Being stripped of the school place is however very likely, because parents (whose DC's genuinely local best friend did not get a place) end to report apparent anomalous allocations to the LEA. If they deem the application fraudulent, then the place can be removed even after the DC has started at the school. At which point you will be allocated a place at the nearest school with a vacancy. Which could be very inconvenient.

If however the school near your DMum is undersubscribed, then you will get a place even from a long distance away. Are there any undersubscribed schools near her?

How many slots for preferences on your form? You could use the first for dream school even though it would take a miracle, second for storially undersubscibed school that's probably workable, and third for school you're near as dammit sure you'd get a place at even though there may be all sorts of problems because it's still likely to be preferable to a random allocationof whatever the nearest vacancy might be.

Why don't you check if the school is usually oversubscibed? If it's not, then you have a good chance of getting your children in. But to be honest, if I were you I would sell your current home, move to nearer your mum ie within catchment of the school) and pay off your mortgage arrears.

It depends on the numbers I think. DS goes to school in my mums town a similar distance away. I was open and honest in the school application and gave all the reasons why I wanted him to go there. For us it really wasn't an issue but our schools aren't oversubscribed. I wouldn't lie though as you will get found out.