place awarded from waiting list - help needed please

[morethanmama]

My ds was not allocated his first choice in the allocation round for reception. We chose to go on the waiting list.

We found out last week that he has been awarded a place which we accepted over the telephone. We have been told to contact the school directly and that we do not need to return any forms.

The problem is this, we have just moved house and have not notified the LA of this. I did speak to them prior to moving and they said that there was no rush to inform and that we couldn't inform them in advance.

Our new house is slightly further away from the school (say 150m). We lived in our old house for 8 years, were there when the school applications were made, when the initial allocation came out and also when the initial waiting list allocations were made.

We moved 2 weeks before the place was awarded and I simply forgot to tell the LA that we had moved. I know that had we been awarded a place in the initial allocation that would not have been affected by our moving but I am not sure what the situation is here.

We really want our DS to go to this school.

Can anyone provide me with any advice on what I should do please? I want to keep the place if at all possible.

Tell the school you have only just moved, it's such a short distance it won't be a problem, surely? The LA is responsible for admissions, they have given you a place, that's the end of it, I think. In every class there will be children who live further away than you, and not necessarily because they have moved after being admitted.

I think you need to inform the LA of your new address immediately. Your move may - or may not -have affected your place on the waiting list.

If the next place on the list is someone who lives farther than your old house but closer than your new house surely they would now go above you on the list and be awared the place instead of you?

Best to check I would say before you go any further

I'm afraid jumpy is wrong. That isn't the end of it. If the LA find out that you moved before the offer was made and that you would not have got the place on the basis of your new address they are entitled to withdraw the place even after your child has started at the school. Personally I would contact the LA and inform them.

I know you accepted the place over the phone and so no paperwork for LEA but when you contact the school you will need to fillin lots of paperwork for their files.

Are you renting/ owner occupied? was your move day the last day that you has a contract/owned the house?

I can understand why you are so upset. Our LEA won't change an address until you have physically moved and supply a utility bill for new address or register to pay council tax. This could take two weeks to do I expect.

Contact the LA and tell them about your move. Remind them that you attempted to inform them beforehand. Ask whether this affects the allocation of the school place, and wait for their confirmation before you contact the school to fill in paperwork etc.

It is MUCH better to be honest, and to be honest immediately. You accepting a place from the waiting list may well have kicked off a chain reaction - another person being allocated your 'not first choice' school place etc. If it turns out that you should not have been allocated a place from the waiting list and this comes to light immediately and is easily put down to human error given the short time since you moved, then there is a chance that this can be unravelled painlessly.

If, on the other hand, you don't inform them, you fill in forms at the school and the address change gets back to the LA (either now or next term), then if they investigate and remove your new place at that point, there will be no chance (and will be no willingness) to unravel the chain of events that it kicked off. You will be in the position of not having your 'new' school place OR your 'old' school place, and may end up in another school very much further away or very much less desirable.

no, we sold our old house on the day we moved.

Our LEA is the same, won't accept change of address without evidence.

On their website the council say that they will not normally withdraw a place once the child has started at the school. I haven't provided false information at any stage, but I have failed to notify them of my change of address (which is fraudulent I guess, given that my hesitancy to do so is because I fear they will take the place away!).

It seems so unfair though that had I been awarded the waiting list place 2 weeks earlier I wouldn't be in this situation at all.

Maybe just inform of change of address with relevant evidence now (as you now have the evidence) and wait and see if they put two and two together? Would be a stressful summer I expect

You need to tell them. Your place on waiting list may have changed. They will find out! May not be a problem.x

I thought telling them was what I would have to do. Thanks for everyone's input. The admissions officer was very friendly so I think I will have a chat with him.

Fingers crossed you get to keep your place!