Please help with complicated primary applications issues!

[EverydayAnya]

Sorry this is going to be so long and boring. Will try to bullet point.

1. We currently live somewhere out of catchment for any local schools

1. We are trying to sell our house and buy somewhere local but within catchment of schools. We couldn't do it earlier because DH was on a contract job (so technically self employed) and couldn't get a mortgage as he was doing this for less than 3 years (I didn't get all te specifics). His company have now offered him a permanent contract and so it's only now he has been able to get a mortgage for the new house.

1. The house isn't selling and so we can't buy anywhere else. Application deadline is January 15. I just don't see us selling and buying within th next 4 months.

1. I'm having DC2 in 6 weeks and am soooo stressed.

1. What do we do??!!

My main issues are as follows:

1. Can we rent near a school for January and then try to buy a house near it later on? That would be ok wouldn't it as we would still be in catchment?

1. What if we rent near the school for January but then find a house which isn't in the catchment for that school anymore but for a different school (still in same borough) Can we still keep the first place? Would we even get a place at second school as they are all massively oversubscribed? So if it's in June let's say and all the places have already been allocated what would happen to us?

Is it still fraudulent to stay at first school even though we have not tried to be deliberately fraudulent it's just that we didn't find a house we wanted there??

1. Is there a minimum amount of time you can be at an address before it's ok to move elsewhere but still remain at the school. For example if you are in one house from reception to year 1 and then move house surely it's then ok to still continue at same

School even if you're not in the catchment?

I am so confused and unsure about what to do. We are trying to do the right thing and nothing's going in our favour. I'm utterly stressed about where DS will go and where the heck we are going to be living over the next year

Any help and advice would be massively appreciated.

Thanks!

Not so simple in London. They point to the fact that London buses are free to children.
But I know someone who successfully fought our London council to find a taxi for 6 yr old when the only place was over 2 miles away.

I sympathise OP. London and schools is currently a shambles. I'm dreading secondary.

Listen to Tiggy, she knows what she's talking about.

And if you live in a London borough they can do none of the above because children are already entitled to free transport!

Tiggy, I did say that my experience may not be the same nationwide, but DD has only just finished reception, so we're talking within the last two years.

Maybe oversubscribed means something different here?

OP, you are quite unlikely to be more than two miles from your final school anyway as you seem to have a few within that radius.

Stetsons, it sounds like neither your house or flat was in catchment for your current school and you got lucky being one of the three out of catchment admissions.

And by lucky I mean lucky that you were one of the three closest applicants once all catchment places were filled ie you best met the criteria.

Olivers, there is no such thing as a queue, it's to do with who best meets the criteria. You may well live closer than anyone on the waiting list and it was a coincidence that someone declined a place the same day you called up about a taxi.

But yonic we
Won't get into any of the schools within 2 miles will we as they are over subscribed and cut off distance short (.4 .6 etc)

Even the schools over two miles away are oversubscribed. I know this because when you look at the admissions booklet you can see how many applied.

The only schools we will get into from our current location are the ones where it says 'all places offered' and you can see they haven't actually filled up all their places. All these schools are about a 20-30 min drive away depending on traffic

www2.redbridge.gov.uk/cms/children_and_schools/school_support_information/applications_and_admissions/idoc.ashx?docid=3ca64d32-9c16-4ff8-aaba-cd13dd766387&version=-1

I'm
Just posting the admissions guidance with the schools info

No bus service so bus pass would be useless. You need a taxi to get to public transport. We don't even have pavements or street lights.

Just because a school is close to you doesn't mean it is in your catchment area.

I didn't go to appeal. Whether the LA acted illegally is up to the LA I was just quoting their rules back at them.

The queue I was referring to is the fact that one girl started 3 weeks after term had started because reception on paper was fully subscribed but one child who had a place at the school had decided to not take that place up. So she was then offered the place.

Thanks for looking through it tiggy. Yes it's the bit where they say you need to be living there in the long term. However is it a typo that they have said you need to be living there in sept 2017!?!

In terms of the schools with all
Applicants offered a place they are all pretty far out. In September I will
Be back at work part time so we will have to have baby in a nursery/childminder and then get DS to school and then organise wraparound care of childminder after school which is where I'll have to go after work. On my days off it will be me doing the pick ups and drops and the shortest journey will be around 20 minutes (off a giant roundabout with lots of traffic) so that will be a pain.

It just seems like a lot of hassle. Agh. No perfect answer!

20 mins is optimistic tbh. It's A406/A12 roads which are always busy.

"will we as they are over subscribed and cut off distance short "

The cut off distance will change each year, it's not set in stone. It's possible you'd get into the 1.1 mile away one with a recent cut off of 0.9 miles, if there were a couple less siblings when you apply.

Anyway, your thread is more about what you need to do to move in the eyes of the LEA so I think focus on that.

I think above 45 mins travel may be considered unreasonable but not 20-30 mins.

Fair enough. And yes our primary aim is still to move. Fingers crossed we can sell and buy and do all the exchanges in the next four months.

Could you just focus on selling and renting? I think if you have no other property at the time of application and a suitable lease you'd be ok?

I hope so yes Yonic

Hello everyone. It's me again. Hope this gets read as I need some more advice!

So we think we may be able to sell the house soon. Someone has put an offer in (let's hope it sticks).

However they are selling too and we have not found anywhere and it is increasingly looking like there is no way for us all to exchange by the application deadline.

Se have decided after the house officially sells to go and live with my inlaws in Waltham Forest (borough next to redbridge) until we find somewhere.

My question is: where do we application from if our house hasn't 'officially' exchanged? (by the way I know nothing about house selling/buying so don't know what counts as official. When is it official?!).

Do we has grandparents address even if our name is still on the deeds or do we use old address even though we may be a few days away from 'official' handover?

I'm so confused.

If we use old address and then house completes a few days later we will have to fill in a late application to Waltham Forest won't we?

Also what can we give as proof of address at in laws. We won't have any bills there or council tax so...?

Sorry for barrage of questions. I've been calling both redbridge and Waltham Forest offices but wow you can't get through to a human being for love nor money. Emails have been sent too.
Thanks!

Oh and long term the plan is to stay at inlaws and try and find a house. Then fill in an in year application depending on where we end up living.

By this point we will probably have been offered a school in Walthamstow so will just accept that until we find a house and then fill in form and then I guess we go on a waiting list for a new school? Is that how it will work?

In the meantime September will probably roll around and so DS will have to go to whatever school he got into until a place is found at a new school for him.

I've got that all correct right?

I'm 5 weeks away from birth. I'm not sleeping, sometimes up till 3 with stress. My stomach is in knots all day at the thought of not knowing what's happening. I had PND with DS and just know it's going to happen again. I already feel depressed and no joy at impending child. Just constant stress and tears over this situation. I feel like it's consumed my life and I need and easy option. This seems like it?