Applying for school when in temporary accommodation

[Elisheva]

Happy New Year to you all!
My SIL has yet to apply to a school for DNiece for Sept (YR).
They were recently evicted and have been given temporary accommodation in a different area from where they will be living. Although they are currently applying for houses it is unlikely it will be finalised before the deadline for school applications.
Does anyone know if they can apply for the schools in the area they will be living? Can they submit an application then change it later?

Are they likely to get a school in the area they are moving to with their current address? If not (because, for example, the schools are all popular), I'd recommend applying to schools where they currently are, just to get an on-time application in.
You can then change your address, and I think school choice, before marchish, and still be classed as an ontime application.
Once the places are assigned, she will have to go on a waiting list, and/or accept a place at a less popular school.

Are they certain of the location they will be housed in?

There are many (admission, phr and tiggytape for example) who have much more knowledge, and if they disagree with me, go with their answer.

Happy New Year

I was also going to query how they know where they will be housed, as my understanding us that it depends on what is available.

Each week a list of available housing is released and they 'bid' on the ones they like. They have lived in the area all their lives and have family/work/nursery there so will wait for a house. They are currently 7 or 8 miles away and under a different EA.

They can apply for schools anywhere they want. However, their current (temporary) address will be used which means they are unlikely to get a place at a popular school.

Whether or not they can change their application later (address and/or choice of schools) is up to the LA. They need to talk to their LA and the LA where they intend to live to find out the rules they will use in this situation. I would strongly recommend getting any responses in writing. That way they have evidence of what was said which they can use if the LA then does something different.

If you would like to PM me the LAs involved I will see if I can give any more detailed advice.

Given the timing you need to submit an on-time application by Jan 15th. If you submit after that you will be classed as a late application and thus not considered until all on-time applications are considered and given an initial allocation. You are then very unlikely to get a local school.
The best plan is to submit an on-time application, which will use the temporary address. As PRH says many LAs have a mechanism for handling applicants who are about to move at the cut-off date for on-time applications and typically may allow you upto a further month to move to new address. You do need to establish exactly what the cut-off is and any conditions from the LA where you are living now and also the one you expect to move to - hopefully they will be the same.
The on-time application should be to the LA where you are currently living. You will have at least three preferences allowed, so you could consider using one or two preferences for schools where you want to live and put them as 1st or 2nd priority. The probability is that you will not get those but without putting them down you will have no chance. The third preference should be to the school that is nearest or catchment school where you are currently living, as this is the school you are most likely to get. That gives you some protection if you have not moved by September, with a local school place but if you have moved then it is a back stop if no school place is available locally.