address in UK in time for admissions deadline

[ScandinavianMummy]

I am moving to Bristol with my family.. but we've only realised that we ideally need to apply for schools for DD by 15th January, to stand any chance of getting a place at one of the good/outstanding schools.

We wont be able to be in Bristol by January.. but would it be possible - in your opinion (and not too dodgy) for us to find a house/flat to rent from January, and state this address on the application form. We wont actually be living there at the time, but we will be moving in there during spring time.. so it will be our actual address long before school starts, and probably before places have been allocated too..

No, schools admissions usually only allow you to apply from an address you are living in. Most local authorities check the electoral roll or the council tax or other proof of address like housing benefit.

Sorry I meant child benefit address.

Ring the admissions people in Bristol. We were in similar situation last year and were told that our local London application was transferable to another local authority by the end of March (Iirc, please do check). Gave us breathing space, which we in fact didn't use in the end, but was v reassuring. My friend did the same for Winchester schools.

This would be in breach of the Admissions Code, because the application must be made from where the child is actually living by the deadline.

Councils can and do check. And things like new rentals (especially if close to 'desirable' school, and definitely addresses known to the council if they've been used for fraud before) will precipitate checks.

A child can be stripped of a place, even after they have started at the school, if the application is found to be wrong.

Can you bring your actual move forward?

thanks caramelgirl - I think I need to talk to LA! Dont want to risk loosing the place!

But we are moving from abroad, so dont think transferring application from another LA would work either..

Difficult to bring the move forward, since we would then have to move within the next month.. we have two kids, a house to pack up and sell etc.
Not to mention what our kids would do between the move and school start in september.. they are in nursery where we live now

The link for Bristol primary school admissions is here OP.
www.bristol.gov.uk/page/children-and-young-people/primary-admissions
Agree it's probably not possible to move in time for the January deadline and I certainly cannot condone bending the rules, when there is already a growing demand for school places in Bristol.
If you look at the admissions timetable though, you will see that there is a second round of allocations made in early June, so I would recommend that you aim to move between April and June in order to obtain a place for September. I mentioned this existed on your other thread.
Your original plan was to move a few weeks before September - very little happens regarding school admissions over the school Summer holidays OP - so this wouldn't have been a good idea. Moving during the Spring would be a reasonable compromise.

A reception place should be prioritised over 6 months of nursery . You would definitely find something for them to attend in the meantime , even if playgroups. You do still have time to move over, if tight, I moved with ds in less than a month while dh went ahead. Does your dh/dp need to stay until the summer for work or are you flexible.

We both have 3 months notice at current jobs, we have a house to pack and sell, new jobs to find, housing to sort out i Bristol ++ I just can't see how we can make that happen within the next month.. :/

Aiming to move during spring time is a good idea - I just feel that most interesting schools will be filled up already by then
(Some of the schools we have looked at have 300 applicants for 90 places..) :/

Just control the controllables. You can't move before the deadline, it would be breaking the rules to apply using an address at which you do not live so all you can do is apply when you have moved and make the best of the school you can get. It's not the end of the world if you can't get your first choice school.

to us it kind of is the end of the world OddBoots.. we are making this move partly coz we want to ensure that our kids are getting the best education we can get them..

and, just to make it clear.. we wouldn't be getting an address just for this purpose. we would actually move in, but maybe not properly until a few months after the application deadline!

so this address would in fact be our address well in time for september!

what's for example stopping us from moving there, but coming back here for a long holiday? or going back and forth a bit?

OP, the system here just doesn't work in the way you would like it to.

What's motivating you to choose Bristol and are there no good education options where you currently are?

How old is your younger child as if they get into a school in the normal admissions round, it can push your older child up the waiting list?

How bad are the schools you might get? You may find they are acceptable.

But it wouldn't be your permanent address at the time you applied. You have dc's at nursery, own a house abroad and have jobs abroad. None of that indicates your english address is where you live. The council can, and would for popular over subscribed schools, undertake checks (child benefit, doctors, asking neighbours, checking work records) and if they suspect fraud the onus is on you to prove they're wrong, not the other way round.

You can apply after the deadline and if you apply in Feb or March, depending on the local authority, they will try to assimilate you into the 'on time' admissions process as it's often easier to do this, though they don't have to. The nearer you get to offer date the more difficult this is. After offer date if you are applying late to an under subscribed school there would be no problem getting a place any time before terms starts. With an oversubscribed school it's likely that you'll be added to a waiting list based on the admissions criteria for the school and the timing of your application will cease to matter - so if you live so close you would have got a place with an on time application you'll likely be near the top of the waiting list and in a good position to secure a place. However, it's worth clarifying how Bristol operate their waiting lists.

Do take seriously the point that LA's will check your address. Last year our application was thoroughly checked out - we had to provide supplementary information a month or so after the deadline. God only knows why, as we've lived here for nearly 10 years and have been paying the very same LA's council tax all that time, and our local school isn't oversubscribed.... So it wasn't hard for us to provide the evidence they were looking for! But it could have been tricky if we'd not received the letter they sent about it quickly (for example) or hadn't been able to give up-to-date details of council tax/residency.

When we applied, we needed to provide a copy of the council tax bill, a utility bill and the child benefit letter (not sure what friends not receiving child benefit did).

These needed to be provided with the application.

we are making this move partly coz we want to ensure that our kids are getting the best education we can get them..
OP if you look at the national league tables for primary schools by LEA, you will find that overall Bristol primary schools are fairly average. If you want the best schools, there are many areas in the UK that are better and have less pressure on places where you would find a school place if you moved later in the year.
This is the link for the 2013 league tables Bristol LEA are 77th out of 152! www.telegraph.co.uk/education/leaguetables/10511573/Primary-league-tables-2013-Local-education-authority-results.html. The 2014 tables are due to be published later this month.
Alternatively there are many excellent independent fee paying schools in Bristol that would indeed provide the high standard of education that you are looking for.

I don't mean to be blunt op, but if this move is the be all and end all to you and you really have no other options, then you should have looked into admission arrangements much further in advance! Try and imagine it from the other side, if you were someone who had missed out on a space because of someone playing the system like you are suggesting.

To be fair, Louise, if OP has never been in the UK system, or if her circumstances have recently changed, knowing how far in advance to check things out is tricky - you don't know what you don't know and in many countries, 9 months ahead would be great planning (I tried to put my name down for a nearby school when DS was 2... They kindly told me they didn't do that as applications were via the LA)

However, I agree OP needs to work with the system there is now that she does know.

Actually I think Louise makes a good point. The OP states in another thread that she has in-laws in the UK (and that her OH is British) - surely they could have advised on the best time to move back to the UK.
Perhaps the OP was under the impression that there would be several good schools with spare places for people moving to the area - no longer the case I'm afraid.

Ah, ok. Still, plenty of people in the UK don't know the set up until it comes to admission time even if they have young kids!

we seriously thought that starting to plan the move now, would leave plenty of time for school start in September...

but we'll find a way! and dont worry, we won't do anything on the dodgy side - that was why I asked for advise here to start with.. :)

Do you mind answering why Bristol and what you want in a school.

Are you after City living?

One possibility is moving somewhere with a village school which is usually under subscribed.

We want city life

We want Bristol coz it seems to have the right vibe, plus at least fairly decent job opportunities + it is fairly easy to get to a couple of other places in the uk of importance to us (where grandparents live + a holiday home)

We want a brilliant school which that is a part of a strong and vibrant community

OP, are you coming across to be closer to grandparents primarily?