Does a secondary school have to offer an in-year place to someone moving nearby?

[LonelyCloud]

Would this actually work as a guaranteed way of getting into a preferred secondary school?

A friend of mine is currently planning this and I am feeling very dubious.

Friend has a DD in Year 7. DD did not get into their preferred secondary school as it was oversubscribed and not their closest school.
The DD was allocated a different school, but she is not happy there.

Friend has now said that she’s planning on removing her DD from school altogether, and moving near to the preferred school as that way the council will have to give her DD a place at the preferred school.

I’m dubious. They’re on the waiting list, so surely if there was a spare space readily available, her DD would have already been offered it?

Does a full school really have to offer the DD a place if she moves nearby? Or will the council be more likely to offer the DD a place at a different, undersubscribed school?
I guess they’ll be higher up the waiting list if they’re nearer but it all seems very far from being a sure bet to me 🫤

The way things work round here is it’s the local authority who has to give a place, I think

They will move higher up the waiting list but cannot be offered a place until one becomes available

depending on admission criteria it may change her position on the waiting list but it wouldn’t guarantee a place.

Yeah a place would have to become available. She won’t just get in.

Only if there’s space and she’s at the top of the waiting list. If they’ve offered a place elsewhere and she’s rejected it then she’s on her own!

She will legitimately move up the waiting list, but they wont create an extra space for her.

I doubt it will work but you never know.

We’ve had a few new estates spring up around us. Quickly followed by lots of posts on FB expressing shock that there isn’t a place just waiting for little Horatio at one of our local schools.

They usually get offered a place at a school in a different town altogether.

No. The lea have to offer her a school place but that doesn’t have to be at the nearest school.

😂 No. Your friend sounds a bit thick. If there is a waiting list based on distance then she would move higher up the list, but they don’t have to offer places they don’t have.

It’s the bit where she’s planning on withdrawing her DD from the current school that really worries me, my friend seems to think that this will force the school’s hand (or the councils hand I guess), but it seems to me that there’s a risk that her DD will end up with no school place at all?

Depending on the area, that’s a real possibility.

The local authority have met their obligation by finding a school place. If she refused the place she will be deemed to be electively home educating, the LA will help find a place but she won’t get priority and she won’t be able to force their hand to give the school she wants.

That’s a very silly move by your friend - the LEA only have to offer a school within a ‘reasonable distance’. I’m assuming both schools are in same area/LEA?

Maybe suggest she calls the LEA and just checks what would happen if she withdraws her DD from school - the answer will be that in that case she’s deemed to be electively home educating and the LEA has no further obligation to find a school place.

If she then chooses to apply for LEA education again then she’ll be dealt with like any other in year applicant - ie the LEA has to find a school place somewhere, most likely one that is undersubscribed ie not that popular!

How far is she planning to move?

I’ve just randomly clicked on Herts CC and they have a list of schools with available places. Lots of the top schools have no availability, so it’s likely she’ll be placed in a less desirable school.

https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/services/schools-and-education/school-admissions/in-year-admissions-change-schools-during-the-year/school-vacancies/school-vacancies-year-7-to-year-11.aspx

Your friend is being a fool. If it was that easy, every one would just pull their kid out of school.

No it will not guarantee her a place and no, pulling her out of the other school won't mean they have to give her a place.

The LEA have a duty to provide a school place, but it doesn't have to be at her closest school.

They can only give spaces that they have. I would say that once the school year starts a lot of children just stay where they are even if it wasn’t their first choice as moving becomes a hassle. So getting a place can be easier.

If she moved and was then closer to the school/in catchment etc and the put in an appeal she’d have a better chance of securing a place especially if she or her child has some extenuating circumstances. In that case a place would be created for her child. Otherwise she’d continue to wait on the list and be given a place if one came up and her child was the first on the list.

Not their problem.

We get people saying this every year. Doesn't make a blind bit of difference.

No this won't work. The individual school has no responsibility to create a place. The Local Authority has a responsibility to provide a place somewhere but not necessarily to the nearest school - it will be at a school that has capacity, or if all schools are full to PAN they will assess which school is most able to go over PAN which is very unlikely to be the most popular one - providing a place at any school within a reasonable commute is an adequate discharge of this duty. If the travel distance is greater than a 3 mile walk the LA is obliged to fund transport - at senior level this will usually just be by providing a bus pass unless no practical bus route exists or the child has SEN and can't cope with buses. Your friend could shake things up by moving to somewhere that is totally impossible to commute to the allocated school that she doesn't like but the most likely outcome is that a place at a different equally-unpopular school will be offered instead.

Yes i think the LA has no obligation to find her DD a place if she already has a place within reasonable travelling distance and she just leaves. They certainly don’t have to give her a place at the nearest school if there isn’t one. She’s certainly free to add herself to wait lists and, if a place comes up she will get it if she is top of the waitlist on their normal admissions criteria.

A tangent, but the term LEA hasn't been used for sixteen years. It's been LA since 2010.

Withdrawing from school is a really stupid move and will make no difference to where she is on the waiting list.

Is current school and preference school the same local authority? She may well just be offered her DD’s place back.

She’ll be offered a place at any school with places. If her preferred school has a waiting list they don’t have places. Depending on the admissions criteria she may move up the waiting list by moving closer, but she’d still only get a place if a student left and she was top of the waiting list (or those above her on the list decline). This also assumes that they are not currently above PAN for the year group. If they are above PAN then spaces won’t be offered to wait list until enough students leave that they are below PAN.

The only other way her plan would work is if no school gave spaces and no school is offered. It can then be escalated to fair access protocols. But this is unlikely to happen and still won’t guarantee her the school.

In a word no. Being without a place is no advantage.