Secondary school dilemma- wwyd

[Schooldilemma2345]

My ds1 is in year 6 so we’ll be applying for secondary schools this October. We were planning to move into the Catchment area of our preferred school but our purchase has just fallen through. It’s so frustrating as we were due to exchange this week and it’s been going through since just before lockdown. The owners of the house were buying were planning to downsize but they’ve changed their minds and can’t bear to part with the family home. To make matters worse, when we told our buyers about the problem and suggested we might be prepared to go into rented for a while, they have said they their buyers (1st time buyers are having issues with their mortgage as the wife has had her hours cut considerably due to COVID). It looks like the whole chain has completely collapsed.
We have a holiday cottage which is in the catchment area of the school, it’s tiny (2 bedrooms) so we can’t move in (we have 3 dc) but I’m wonderIng If I ABU to use that address to get a school place.
I know is against the rules but what are the chances that we’ll get caught. In all likelihood we’ll have moved into the catchment area before the start of year 7....
I feel it’s unethical but I’m actually really desperate...

I’d do it. But you’ll probably get lambasted in here by the good and the righteous.

You would be very unreasonable.
Not permitted, totally unethical.
Your desire for your child to have a place does not trump the rights of the child who would actually qualify for the place.

I think you’d have to sell your current house and move into that one for the time being at least?

I know is against the rules but what are the chances that we’ll get caught.

Fairly high I imagine. You would not be able to prove you love the at all (council tax, bills, kids living there, not owning another (bigger) house elsewhere...)

I'd move in to the cottage and put up with the compromised living space until you rent/ buy within the catchment area. I know it will be bedlam with 3 kids/ 2 beds but it's the only way to jump through the hoops.

You would actually have to go and live there not just use the address. I’ve heard of at least two families who have had unplanned visits from the school to make sure they are actually living there

Can one parent and the child move into the cottage, the others stay in the house or rented?

Aside from the morality (and I actually sympathise with you if you still plan to move into catchment) there's a decent chance you'll be found out and your child will have to leave the school and take a place in whichever school has places left. Not worth the risk.

So it is actually your holiday cottage? If you have council tax bills and utility bills in your name you could prove it’s yours?
Why don’t one parent and one child temporarily move in?

Can you not make it work living in the holiday home? Split the children between the two bedrooms and you (parents) sleep on a sofa bed in the living room? Bare minimum furniture, as much as possible in storage.
Just until you do purchase the next family residence in the catchment area. That way you will be living in the home/area and have paper work to prove it, plus saved some rental? Wouldn’t matter if anyone said anything as it would be within the rules albeit cramped.

@Mellonsprite

So it is actually your holiday cottage? If you have council tax bills and utility bills in your name you could prove it’s yours? Why don’t one parent and one child temporarily move in?

Yes, we pay bills/council tax etc. How long would we need to live there? Presumably from the time we make the application til the start of yr6?

Do it but don't tell a soul, you cant trust anyone when it comes to School places.

I think you may still have to sell the other house or rent it out long term.

I say this as you will eventually buy a property that falls in the catchment area any way.

You will not only need to live there, you will also need to have disposed of your current main residence.

OP. You are thinking about defrauding another child out of their rightful place.

It would depend on how awful the other school options are and how brilliant this particular school is. If you're in the catchment area are you guaranteed a place?

@TeenPlusTwenties

Would the holiday home not become the main home? - genuine question as I have no idea, I just assumed it would be if that’s where they physically lived iyswim.

I think you might well get caught and it’s not worth that.

You have to move there to get a school place there, quite rightly.

As others have said, children who actually live in catchment deserve and have a right to that place.

If you do this, there is a good chance someone at your existing primary will report you.

In March your DC gets a place. Someone else thinks how come, they live outside the normal area. They maybe live closer but didn't get a place, or their sister's child is in that position. They report. Your place gets removed. Your child is devastated.

go for it, you have to do what you have to do.

PWould the holiday home not become the main home?

From seeing similar threads, owning a larger, moRe appropriate family home out of catchment and having lived there until just before school applications, is definitely a problem.

I’d do it but not tell anyone.

Barge Only counts as main home if they have disposed of existing one. Most councils rightly have tightened up to stop rich sharp elbowed middle classes doing things such as the OP is pondering about.

@gingganggooleywotsit

go for it, you have to do what you have to do.

1) would you think the same if your child missed out because of a fraudulent application

2)They could end up with no school place when the fraudulent one is taken away from them.

Someone will report you no doubt about that if you havent managed to move before next Sept.