Moving to be near the school of your choice

[arabella2]

Do people do this and is there a basic requirement like you have to have lived there for x amount of time before the application goes off to schools?
I ask because I went to see a school that is out of our catchment area today but that is much better than what we have around here. Next door (literally) there is a flat for rent... I could move out of the family home with the kids - the application forms for September reception have to be in by the end of February...

A bit drastic to rent somewhere, what is wrong with the local school ?? You can rent somewhere, alot of people do this.

Its been done before.

When I was applying for DS1 to start reception we were moving into the area. The form said that you must have exchanged contracts or produce a rental agreement for 1 year. I don't suppose they are going to come and check you live in teh flat unless they smell a rat.

But do you want to really start off with new school with a deception??

They may very well smell a rat. People do get caught doing this. At one of our local primaries, children turned up on the first day and were told to go home because the headteacher discovered their parents were not really living where they said they were. Someone else I know did rent a flat, live in in part time and did get their kids into the school she wanted. But it is a very risky strategy.

Depends on the school's admission policy I think. I know that there have been lots of cases round here of similar things happening and that as a result there have been changes to local schools admission policies to try to prevent people moving into a school catchment temporariliy.

Local authorities are now pretty wise to this and do checks ie coming round unannounced. If they catch you you lose your place.

its always worth applying to your chosen school even if it is out of catchment, without moving as sometimes they have spaces and can offer them out of catchment, i live 10 miles away from the school i wanted my 2 to go to and was out of catchment but still got them in.(secondary school that is)

Round us, they do home visits / spot checks. A flat for rent v close to an over-subscribed school has almost certainly been used several times before for the same purpose, and the address begins to look familiar, I think.

If people genuinely move house and live next to a school they then have a continued relationship with the whole local community.

However, there is a v 'desired' school v close to us, where people routinely rent neighbouring flats for a while, and then move back to their house in a posher part of the area. The effects of this are that:
They then 'bags' the sibling places in subsequent years
They 'free-up' the flat for the next years intakes of applicants, who then stay until place is secure, ensure THEY have sibling places, move out...and so it goes on. If people genuinely move house, at least the neighbouring property stays in the hands of one family, and only one set of siblings!
The car parking situation is terrible because they all drive in from their posher area.
People who WOULD have been in the natural catchment area are squeezed out, because of the v high number of sibling places taken up.

Personally, I think it stinks. But if you don't rent that flat, someone else wanting to be part of this proces almost certainly will, so your choice.

In a school in the neighbouring borough, two children were pulled out of the playground, and their parents called to collect them immediately because dodgy business had been detected in their claim to meeting the admissions criteria!

It's wrong. Move house properly by all means but to rent for the purpose of gaining a school place is deceitful and deprives someone of a place to which they are genuinely entitiled.

I remember that case blu, and applauded the borough in question for showing those parents up as the cheats they were.
I think if the flat is next door to the school arabella, then the address is almost certainly known to the education department.
You will be involving young children in the deception too - and Reception age children generally tell the truth when asked.
Not really an optimal start to your relations with the school, is it?

Arabella, are you talking about renting the flat and pretending to live there. Or are you talking about actually moving there for real. The first is very risky. The second is technically allowed.

We rented a house once. And the Landlord said they lived there to get their daughter into their school of choice. Nobody ever checked up on them, and they actually lived a couple of towns away.

No - I mean me and the kids moving there for real so that he could get a place at a better school. What we have nearer to us is depressing in comparison - why are some schools better than others - don't they all get the same funding??? I think that's not fair. I agree to get into the lieing thing is not ideal / would deprive somebody of a place / would take its emotional toll on us. I don't see how we can do it really unless we all move there as a family - I could actually move there even for a year let's say but we also have another child plus one on the way so... eventually we would have to move to a bigger house anyway. Don't know what dh thinks of all this but the atmosphere at that school was so nice as well as the building and grounds itself and like everybody else I want my child to start somewhere optimistic, not because it was the only place he could get into. Anyway, thanks for answers...

It's certainly done in this area - in fact, after the original 'offers' were sent out for primary school places here there was a wave of people 'moving' i.e. renting a few streets away from their family home as the 'catchment' had shrunk so small. Over 30 children within the original 'catchment' didn't get places at our local school this year. The school in question does home visits before term starts to check on addresses (and for the teachers to meet the children), and has changed the policy on siblings (i.e. siblings within catchment are a priority for places but siblings outside catchment are no longer prioritised) This has caused major scandal as families with their eldest child at the school who then moved out of catchment (cos it's cheaper for a start!) now have their younger children at a different school.
My ds didn't get a place at the local school but did get one at the next nearest school which is just as nice in our opinion but doesn't have the same attitude of 'we are so special because we go to XXX' that the other one does.

Hi Arabella2 - schools don't all get the same funding. It varies from LEA to LEA. For example, Worcestershire schools get about £300 per pupil per year less than children in near by Dudley, Gloucestershire or Birmingham. They have the same overheads, the same staff costs etc. It's a real problem.

arabella2 - it's allowed here but I know if you are renting you have to prove you have a minimum of a 12 month contract.

They also check addresses here if they seem suspicious. We had an unexpected visit from the head last year as we'd only just moved in and our name was not on the electoral roll that was checked.

I would be extremely p*ssed off if someone just rented a flat close by to get their child in and mine lost out. We are in zone for my preferred school (ds1 already there) but we are right on the edge so could easily be the first to be knocked off if not enough places for applicants. They just abolished the sibling priority round here so I'm still anxious about getting my other two in.

There are 2 approaches you could take, although neither is an easy option:

1. Go on the waiting list for your preferred school until a place comes up, as it will eventually. This may mean taking your child out of your nearer school mid-year, buying two uniforms, breaking off friendships etc, but you might think your child could handle that.

2. Go into your nearest school firing on all cylinders to improve it - by becoming a governor, active member of the PTA etc. This is also a daunting option, but some parents do consciously choose it. And it is the socially responsible one.

The same happens round here... we are on the county boarder and the best (and ONLY) even slight reasonable state school in this area is in the next county along...

its very common practice round ehre for parenst to let out their homes for a year.... and move 5 mins down the road (max!) to get the kids into that school, then to move back into their old house again!

littlefish - that was nearly my post, I could go on and on about funding. I am a governor a ds' school and work at the lea you mentioned - in school finance!

arabella2 - speak to the school, sometimes you find that good schools actually do have spaces available without you having to uproot. People automatically think that a good school is full/oversubscribed, therefore don't even bother putting it down as one of their choices, and because of this do usually have a few vacancies.

When dd1 and ds started school we were actually out of catchment for our first choice school, which people said was oversubscribed, we still got in. We are now in catchment for the same school (without moving), the boundaries were changed quite considerably, but I don't think it's helped really as the part of the city that was brought into catchment is very affluent so most of the kids go to private schools. We also lose a few at the end of yr5 going to grammar etc Anyway that's another discussion, do speak to the school.

We moved, decided higher mortgage was cheaper than private school fees. The school we were avoiding had 7% GCSE A-C pass rate and has now closed down. The replacement is not much better. Our school is fab & she is really doing well - & we love the house.

Would not have rented short term though - they check that out.

Our applications for Sept have to be in by preceeding October, so need to move 1 year before (for secondary) to be sure.

Makes me so cross Ailsa! It is completely unjust. I believe it is historically because Worcestershire has had lower council tax and the rate at which schools are paid is based on council tax rates. It means in a school our size, that we are about £63,000 per year worse off than neighbouring LEAs. That's a huge amount of money. On the opposite side of the scale, I know of a school in another LEA where, as a result of being in a deprived area, in an effort to raise standards, every pupil is given a PC to keep at home! It's a ridiculous imbalance.

Arabella - so would your DH not move?

Blu & Bluebear, your posts really ring bells with me. We are 10 minutes walk from an excellent primary (our nearest school) but because of people renting and then moving out, the catchment area has shrunk to between 300-500 metres round the school. As a result, we are in the process of moving from our lovely home that we have spent so long to improve and moving several miles away to a pretty uninspiring area so that my child can get into at least a reasonable school. Just hope we can get the move done before I give birth. Oh, and I'll need to learn to drive before we move there/I give birth since it is in the middle of nowhere. Hope people who do "fix" their address (not saying this to Arabella2 since it sounds like you are genuinely moving and going to stay there), think about the effect on others who should be in the catchment area. Hope they change the sibling policy too.

I was just thinking aloud really. I think we will move out of this area as a family properly but not just yet... The flat thing was kind of pie in the sky but I was overwhelmed by how nice the school seemed. Fauve, I do agree that the socially responsible attitude is to get involved with the school your child does get into... as the better schools are partly that way because of parental involvement. Sometimes though I think there are culture clashes that are difficult to overcome though. The school in question is definitely oversubscribed and last year apparently 10 people in the catchment area (let alone people outside the catchment area) did not get in because of siblings having priority. I am still going to put it first on our list though (have a choice of 3) as you do never know. Yes maybe could move ds later if place became available... In our case all these schools are in the same borough so presumably do get the same funding? but they still seem very different to each other so it must be more to do with the quality of the staff, the school culture, parental involvement etc...

We rented this flat b/c it's in an excellent catchment area. But we do live here properly and pay the price for it. It just had everything going for it - aside from being tiny and on the 2nd floor - b/c it has a private car park as well.

we just moved areas for better schools too. weve gone from being mortgage free with 70k in the bank to a smaller house needing renovation & a mortgage. the new school is so much better, it was well worth the sacrifice & like miliways said "cheaper than private school fees"