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 🫤

Both schools are in the same LA, about 8 miles apart. Friend currently lives about halfway between the two schools.

But there’s also other secondary schools in between the preferred school and the current school. I’m not familiar with all the in between schools, but there’s one of them that’s been undersubscribed for at least the last 5 years.

In my area she will move higher up the waiting list as an in catchment applicant (as opposed to an out of catchment).
She will still be on the waiting list though. The school can't invent a space if they are full.

• your friend will just have to hope that someone leaves.

That's the one she'll probably get offered then. Unless she can show evidence that her preferred school can somehow meet needs that the others can't

If she removes her from school
then I think the LEA don’t have any responsibility to provide another place as she will be deemed homeschooled

I'm no expert, but as I understand it, the only ways a school that can be obliged to take an extra pupil when they are full would be a successful appeal or under the Fair Access Protocol and I can't see your friend's situation being either of those.
As others have said, being nearer may well bump her child up the waiting list but you can't force the LA to provide a place at a specific school in this way.

@LonelyCloudA place can only be offered at a school with places. They can be on the waiting list for the school with no places and rise above out of catchment dc. However if a looked after dc arrives or a dc with this school named on their ECHP, they usually rise above catchment dc in line with admissions document.

The only way the current school can take her off the register is if she's EHE. This then removes any responsibility on the part of the LA to find her a place. But it avoids her being referred for fixed penalty notices or school attendance orders for failing to ensure her kid gets the education she has a right to.

If she then says she's changed her mind and wants her back in school, the LA will tell them that she is to return to her current school (if there are places, if it's gone to somebody else, after a period that could be months, they are more likely to direct her old school to take her again. There is no requirement for the LA to take her wishes into account for FAP). If she refused to send her child there or to the obvious undersubscribed school in between, she is again potentially coming under failure to ensure the child's education. Unless she says she's EHE again, and then there's no obligation to find a place. Rinse and repeat.

At no point is there a legal framework for compelling the LA to order a preferred school to take a kid. And frankly, there are children out there who actually need a place far more than this. They will be first on the agenda of a FAP, not a kid with a parent who thinks they can game the system.

Let me guess, she was told by a playground lawyer that was the way to get an offer - and most likely didn't put anything other than the school she wanted for the Y7 transition on the same person's advice. All we're missing is the 'I'm going to buy the uniform and drop her off at reception, switch my phone off and they'll just have to take her then'. Um, no, that's how you get Social Services.

Then that’s the one she’ll be offered a place at. How can she not know this?

No. Of course not.

Lea’s have to find a school place but it won’t necessarily be the nearest school. If the nearest available school is more than 3 miles they will have to provide transportation. Moving close to a school will push you further up the wait list but they won’t create a place for you