Moving house after application cut off date

[Mummytoobusy]

Hi, i hope someone here can offer advice on what i can do as I'm completely clueless and very stressed out.
I just applied for my son's primary school place on the 15th January. The problem is that we have been renting for 7 years and the landlady gave us notice on the 5th January to evacuate the property by 31st of march 2016. It's my first child so I didn't have much information about applications and i wrote on the social reasons section for our first preference that we need to move before the 31st and are looking for properties in that area (stockport) we live in Manchester at the moment. I see now how this could be a problem. I just found out moving between this time period can cause trouble. We are still looking at houses but could potentially sign a contract in a week or two. Is it wise to look for a house in the same LA or look for a house near our first choice. What do you suggest i do about informing the LA? I'm worried sick.
Thanks

I'd ring them up and have a chat they will be able to give you the best information about how it works in your area. Where did you apply for a school you are hoping to move to?

Don't stress. People move between applying and starting. They are 9-11 months apart. Changes happen.

I think you've applied to schools in new area, from current address? When you have your new address, ring up the LEA, and inform them of your new address. You may need to resubmit, depending on the boundaries. But, the LEA is still obliged to offer you a school place. It might not be the school you want, but you will get a school place.
You can then go on writings lists if you want a different school.
But seriously, put it out of your mind til you've moved. There is nothing that can be done until you know where your living.

The important thing is to keep the LEA informed. that way they know that you are not trying to fool the system.
Also keep a record of rent contract (to show dates) and landlady's letter to leave etc, so you have evidence.

As to your application, you may need to apply again, and you may not get your first choice school, depending on how over subscribed it is.

Thanks, i called the LA of both areas and they say it would be a late application when we move. We live in Sharston and will be moving to Heald Green. I've applied to a school in Heald green as 1st preference but also put down schools here.
It's just that we are looking at a house in Heald green mainly because of this school otherwise we could look for a better house a bit further or nearer to where we live now. Isn't there anything that can be done to avoid it being a late application?

No unfortunately it will be a late application and you can't give them your new address until you have moved. If the school in Heald Green is oversubscribed you are unlikely to be offered a place if you live out of catchment. It might be worth speaking to the school and seeing how likely you are to get a place from where you currently live.

Unfortunately, unless you are a Forces family with a supporting postings order or CO's letter, you cannot apply for a school place on the basis of a future address. So unless the school,you have applied for in first place is undersubscribed (so it can take all applicants, regardless of where they live) you sound unlikely to be offered a place because the address from which you applied will be too far away

Are your remaining choices near enough to your current address to have a reasonable chance of securing an offer if you stay put?

You need to enquire of your current LA what admin they have for amending addresses (for when you have a new one, if you stay in that area). Also whether there is a second deadline for those moving house to update without it being counted as late, and what evidence you need to supply of the new address. LAs have this fallback because they know people do move house for all sorts of reasons, but at some stage the decline becomes 'hard' as they actually have to run the allocations.

I just found out we can get the contracts signed for a house we applied to in Heald Green in 2-3 days but we can move there by mid February. I don't know about stockport council but Manchester City council states if you move before 4th February then the application can be classed as on time. What are my chances now if i sign the tenancy agreement in 2 days?

I have looked at the Stockport admission arrangements and unfortunately they do not seem to have the enlightened approach of Manchester and allow a time period for people who are moving houses. If it is after 15th Jan I am afraid any application will be considered as late and only allocated after all on-time applications have been considered.

this is all so stressful, i found this on their website and was hoping my case could fall under the exceptional circumstances as they've stated as an example
"Applications received after the closing date will be considered after all those received by the closing date (see also Appendix 2). The Admission Authority reserves the right to accept an application as if it were received on time if there are exceptional circumstances i.e. the family have moved into Stockport and could not have applied for a place earlier or there are specific reasons for the application being submitted after the closing date. If this takes place after the offer date and a place is not available at the preferred school(s), applicants will be placed on the schools’ waiting list* at the appropriate point"

When i talked to the stockport LA today the person on the phone told me because i have mentioned it on my application that i have to move and will be looking at houses in the area this might work in our favor but nothing is certain. If the application is classed as late it would be on the waiting list so what might be the chances of getting a place through the waiting list?

Or an appeal?

Totally depends on how subscribed the school you applied for is. Have you spoken to the school?

If the application is classed as late it would be on the waiting list

They still have to find a place for you somewhere. They must also provide free transport for your son if the school is more than 2 miles from home by the shortest safe walking route. The problem is that you are unlikely to get a place at your preferred schools. For that you will have to rely on the waiting list. Note that they can't put you at the back of the waiting list just because you applied late. If you end up at or near the head of the list you may get a place that way but it is impossible to be certain.

Or an appeal

An appeal would probably be heard under infant class size rules. In essence that means you can only win if the LA has got things wrong in some way and this has cost your son a place. Given the section of the Admission Arrangements you quote above you could argue that they have been unreasonable if they treat your application as late. Also if the school allocated is more than 45 minutes journey from home you could argue they have been unreasonable in failing to find a place at a nearer school. Neither argument is guaranteed to win but they would give you a chance.

Waiting lists will totally depend on how oversubscribed the school is. I know people in the area that got into a heald green school although their catchment school was in Gatley. Both schools were about 1/2 mile away. In the Heatons however the schools are so over subscribed that they struggle to get all catchment kids in. Siblings out of catchment don't get in, never mind first borns out of catchment. Loads end up with kids at two schools.
Get everything in emails and save. Keep an audit trail.

Stockport got rid of sibling automatic priority. If you get DC1 in a top state school then move out if catchment to a cheaper area, DC2 may well not get in. Manchester have sibling priority still but many wish they adopted the Stockport model.

Your situation is not unique and parents do find themselves moving during the admissions application process. What is important is to be clear and focused. As long as your original application was put in on time the Admissions Authority for the schools you have applied for will need to apply the oversubscription criteria for each of those schools. The starting point would be to obtain a copy of the relevant criteria for each of the schools. Depending on the wording of the criteria complexities can arise when a parent moves during the process. It may be worth obtaining specialist advice on your particular circumstances, as without knowing all of the facts it would be unwise to suggest a particular course of action. However, as I said the first thing to do would be to obtain a copy of the relevant criteria.

Ok thankyou. I'll get to that right away. Where could i find the particular criteria for each school?