Advice on appying when out of area

[fedupwithdeployment]

We currently live in north London (long story but DH is in the forces) and own a house in south london - about 20 miles and too far to commute from where we are now. It has always been our intention to move next summer (although for forces reasons this may come forward to Easter) into the south London house. Our house was rented out for a year, and the term is up in July, although we do have a break clause that we could excerise earlier.

DS1 is happily attending Year 1 at a school in north London, while DS2 is due to start Reception next September. We want to move south with as little disruption as possible for them (their Dad is away a lot which has not been easy), and with max certainty (hahahaha!)

I have been checking out the situation with the local council. I have been told that we cannot apply for either child until we are physically resident in the borough. Well, we can apply, but using our north London address, and not the address of the house we own, which is less than half a mile from 2 decent primary schools. If I apply using my address (ie the house I own and in which I intend to be residing from Easter / Summer next year), it is fraud.

What do I do. The reception application has to be in in January. But unless I put the "fraudulant" address on it, it is pretty pointless. For DS1 (currently year 1), I suggested to the council that I apply a month before we are due to be living in the property so that there is a seemless transition, but again, apparently, that is fraud. therefore the most likely sceanario seems to be that we move on 1 April, apply on 1 April, possibly get awarded a place on 1 May, possibly don't and maybe wait until 1 June.

I am feeling very frustrated by the whole thing. Due to my DH's job, we have very little certainty. We are losing our right to live in the house where we are now (but don't know when!) I am trying to be organised for the children, but am being stymied by the system.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

Because your husband is in the armed forces, the LA must allocate a school place based on your south London address provided you can give them an official government letter (e.g. MoD) giving a relocation date and intended address. If you can get such a letter you can apply using your south London address and there is no question of fraud. If the LA cause problems you should point them at paragraph 3.27 of the Admissions Code. It isn't entirely clear cut as strictly speaking this paragraph only applies for applications outside the normal admissions round, but I would hope that the LA takes the point.

thanks so much. I wondered whether there was something like that. Really helpful. I will print off...it may be appropriate for both as we may have to get DS1 into year one mid year.

I would also refer them to paragraph 2.44 which says that LAs must treat a family as meeting the residence criteria for a catchment area once proof of the posting is provided even if no house is currently owned in that area. Again, strictly speaking this paragraph only applies if they operate catchment areas, but taken together these two paragraphs strongly suggest that the LA should use your south London house as the correct address provided you can provide proof of posting.

If your move is not related to your husband's posting, however, I'm afraid there is little you can do. In those circumstances, my only comment would be that I'm surprised the LA is insisting you move before they will accept your new address. Most will accept a new address before you move in provided you can give them the evidence they want.

Thanks both. I think the first para 3.27 is really helpful. The second is unlikely to help as his job is in Hampshire, and we will not be following the camp again (well not at this stage!) But really good to know. I will enjoy quoting them back at the supremely unhelpful woman I spoke to this am, who all but accused me of fraud.

It will be very interesting to see the reaction of the admission office to PRH's suggestions. I suspect the answer will be something along the lines "ah but that does not really apply in your particular case". Which of course is complete rubbish but then they don't seem to be very clued up on admissions. I would repeat the request in writing and ask them to formally reply with their suggested way forward given the circumstances and that you are service personnel. It is easy to be dismissive on the phone but less so in writing. Write to the admissions manager, rather than anybody in the office.

I can actually understand their reluctance to accept any applications until the date of the move is known but after that they should be prepared to accept that you will have an address. I would apply for the two schools for your reception age child before the cutoff date in January. Yes it will have to be using the old address in north london but you should make sure that on the form it says quite clearly that you will be moving to the new address with an expected moving date. The other added complication is that you need to apply on your home local authorities form (the north london one) - hopefully it is the pan-london one.

You also need to check out the last date that you can inform the LA of a change of address. There is normally a gap of about a month where address changes will be accepted providing the LA know about it. Do not tell the LA about a move after that date as you will then be classed as a late applicant and go to the bottom of the pile. You have a better chance with the very long distance than being classed as a late applicant.

It is realistically unlikely that you will get an offer of a place given the distance involved but it will make a nice story to tell the admission appeal panel about how unco-operative the LA was. I know that in many instances the services are prepared to also send a representative to argue for an appeal to be granted and you might want to think about this.