Primary School Admission Sept 2011

[applecrumbleandcream]

Any help appreciated. I need to fill in my dd's on line application form for starting primary school in September but a bit unsure what to do.

We currently live well outside the catchment area for our v v popular first choice school but we bought a house in October which we are currently renovating whilst we live at our present address. If all goes to plan, we think we will probably have our new home ready in March/April 2011 to move into. The new house is 0.2 miles from the school so we are really hoping dd gets a place there. Sister lives a bit further away than that and her dc both got in, so fingers crossed.

My question is what should I put on the on line form as our address, do I put present address or the new address and put a brief explanation of when moving?

Also, what forms of identification will Education Dept need as not yet had utility bills for new place with our name/address showing or do they look at they look at address of main carer who receives CB?

TIA

Maddikins - You are playing a dangerous game. If you have not actually moved out of your property (and your first post suggests you haven't) you may be committing council tax fraud.

It will be up to the school to deal with any checks on baptism info. As Admission says, the routine from 15th January onwards will vary from LA to LA. Some won't check addresses unless there are allegations of wrong doing. Some will immediately check applications against council tax records and investigate any apparent anomalies. Some may regard a recent move such as yours as being potentially suspicious and may investigate. You may get away with it but the safest thing you can do is make sure that you and your daughter are living in your partner's house by the end of this week.

We have mobed out of the property and it is (as of today) completely empty and ready for the tenants to move in. The tenants said they have already rang the council to notify them they are moving in so I can't see it being a problem. All I did was notify it was completely empty a bit before it actually was.

I won't receive any discount or anything as the tenants will be paying and we are now paying full council tax here now we are living in dps property.

I just wanted to make sure all addresses match what I have put on the application.

Thanks for your reply prh47bridge but why do you think that the council may take my reason for school 2 the wrong way?

I don't think the reasons have any bearing on the applications but if it comes down to a, dare I say it, a tie break situation they might consider someone who works locally over another person who works in the opposite direction if all the other criteria are met in the same way. EG I live 100yrds away from another friend who also has my prefered school 1 as their option 1. If we were the last two with an option of a place, how else would they decide?

If you move between submitting your application and the allocation date the council are entitled to treat you as a late application, putting you at the bottom of the pile. I would therefore not say anything about a possible move at this stage. Of course, if the move happens you will have to tell them. Your best bet would be to move this week. Assuming that isn't possible, you should stay put until you've accepted an offer of a school place. If neither of these is possible I'm afraid you may find that your daughter won't get a place at a popular school.

LAs are not allowed to use the reasons given by parents in a tie break situation. They cannot give someone priority because they work locally as per your example. That would be a clear breach of the Admissions Code. Given the accuracy of the systems used for measurement, it is highly unlikely that an LA would end up with two people exactly the same distance from school competing for one place unless they lived in the same block of flats or were members of the same family. The council's full admissions policy should state what they do in such circumstances. Usually a random draw will be used, although if the applicants are in the same block of flats some LAs treat the lowest numbered flat as nearest the school

Thanks for your reply but you bring me more bad news :(.

I have just applied online and put down my first and second choice as local schools to my current address but I have also mentioned that I am moving so that they are aware of my situation, thinking this is the best thing to do - keep them informed. I have just had news that we will be exchanging next week and not moving for another month after that, completion date of Feb 21st!

When I spoke to my LEA they said that as long as I get the form submitted by 15th it will not be treated as a late application. They also said that I can change my perferences after I've submitted the form!

I think it very unfair that I would go to the bottom of the pile because I am moving house!

I see you point about parents reasons, since someone could write down that they will help the school financially ! So I will ask you the same question as a poster above, why put "Other reason" as an option then?

Let me bring you some better news, then!

It isn't guaranteed that you will go to the bottom of the pile. The LA are entitled to treat you as a late application but it doesn't mean they necessarily will. It depends on their policies. Some LAs will accept a new address for a short time after applications close. And many will accept a solicitor's letter confirming exchange of contracts as evidence of a new address. Ask your LA about this.

The LA aren't supposed to allow you to change preferences willy nilly after you've submitted your application but they can allow you to change if you've got a good reason. Moving house certainly qualifies.

I understand your point about it being unfair if you are put to the bottom of the pile. The problem the LA has is they have a lot of applicants to deal with and a lot of measurements to make before they can start allocating places. There comes a point after which they simply don't have time to remeasure from a new address and still complete the allocations on time, so their choices for people who move after that point are either to treat them as late or treat them as still living at their old address. Neither is ideal.

As for why many LAs allow parents to put their reasons for preferences, I can think of two reasons for this. Firstly, occasionally parents will use this box to give evidence of a special medical or social need or similar which could affect their application. There should be a box elsewhere on the form for this information but some parents are better at filling in forms than others. Secondly, there are parents who still believe that they can affect their child's chances of getting in by giving really good reasons. Putting a box on the form where they can put this stuff keeps these parents happy.

:-) prh47bridge, I love your second idea for why put an option of "Other" as a reason for preferences!

The first time I phoned the LEA the person I spoke to was a bit vague, perhaps I asked her the wrong questions. I think what she was saying was that I could change my preferences online until 15th cut off date, then once submitted that was it unless there was a valid reason, as you said, like moving house.

Anyway I took your advice and tried again to contact them, this time by email. I got a great response and I was told that I could let them about my move any time up until 4th April. I assume thay will deal with all the bulk of the applications and then there's still time for some last minute re-jigging when people like me come and mess up their system

Thanks for your help. Now I just need to look at nurseries! Argh!

Make sure you keep the email! If it goes wrong for some reason you will need it as evidence for any appeal. I hope there aren't any problems but better safe than sorry.

Hope it all goes well for you.

Thanks for that tip too!

Good luck to everyone else hoping to get their first choice!