Moving after offer day

[Threesoundslikealot]

I realise this won't be the first time this has been asked, but I'm really bad with the search facility, and I do apologise for the repetition.

For unavoidable financial reasons we have to move this summer. My daughter will be starting reception in September and we have already applied for her place of course. We are in London so everything is massively oversubscribed. We have a chance of our dream primary which looks set to bulge; we'd have no chance otherwise. However, between offer day and starting day we need to move. Potentially we could move a couple of miles away, on a direct bus route from the school. Will the LA take our place off us at that point, or would we be OK if it's after offer day?

I feel bad at the idea of taking a place and then doing this. We are truly not gaming the system, but forced into the move. If we give up this place, she will be given an undersubscribed school as a late application which could easily be further away and harder to get to than the lovely school she may have a place in!

I think you have to notify them if you move out of catchment

Looking at the borough's booklet on applications, it says if you move between mid-February and offers day, then your application is treated as coming from the original address and your offer will be based on that. Which sounds like a move as late as ours wouldn't make a difference to the offer. But I'm wary of it being that simple.

But actually, I've found this:

If you move home after you have had your offer of a place confirmed, the offer of a place will still be honoured but you must ensure that the journey is reasonable and your child always arrives at school and is picked up on time.

So this is in fact the most pointless thread in Mumsnet history. I hadn't spotted that bit before.

Sorry!

It does all sound straightforward from what you've put but I just wanted to check that you weren't moving back to a property 2 miles away or stopping your current rental and starting another 2 miles away? Reason for asking is that my London borough has clamped down very strongly on anything looking remotely like a fraudulent application. So someone renting near the school and then moving after offer day would have a strong chance of being investigated to check that the reasons for the move were legitimate.

Around our way in London, the schools do a home visit for this very reason. If you are out of catchment your place will be at risk of being removed.. You may not be gaming but lots of people do just that.possibly not if the school is not oversubscribed but in your case it is a people will potentially be on wait list that live a lot closer to the school....

Once you have been offered a place they cannot withdraw it just because you move. They can withdraw it if the move suggests you have made a fraudulent application, e.g. by renting close to the school then moving away once you've got a place. However, if that is not the case you should be fine.

No, we've lived here for three years (owned) and can explain why we're moving too. And we're moving from a now expensive bit to a less expensive bit that is, as happens in London, just down the road. So hopefully we won't look suspicious.

ALL the local schools are oversubscribed so the new area has the same issue. Ironically before my husband rented for a year in the area we may move to, got both his kids into the most in-demand school in the area as in-year transfers, and then moved to live with me in our current area and the kids did the reverse journey for six years. NOT intentionally in that case either - it was simply the nearest school to the nicest affordable rental house in an area he knew nothing about. So if this happens and we can keep the place we'll have been incredibly lucky.

And thanks to those posting. I've been trying to get my head round how on earth to manage a badly timed moved and school places for months so this plan is quite a relief.