Sibling rule for reception intake- after places have been allocated

[Juniper40004]

This is all hypothetical at the moment but I'm hoping someone can help.

If I moved house in January 2018 whilst DC1 is in Year 1 and DC2 is due to start reception in September 2018, what would happen about school places?

I know most LAs have applications open between September and January, so DC2 will already have a place assigned (probably in DC1's school) by the time I move, but if DC1 gets a space in the new school with no hassle, does the sibling rule apply? Or have I officially 'rejected' the place that the LA had to find for DC2?

Basically, do I need to do any moving before applications close?

Thanks.

Application date is usually mid jan. Places allocated early April. Your need to submit form with address where you are living then. If you then moved I believe you would have to inform them of the new address and they would take it into account.

If you move mid Jan no place will have been allocated already.

The closing date for applications is 15th January. That applies across all of England. Your application must be submitted by then but you won't receive an offer until 16th April. If you are moving in January your younger child will not have a place assigned when you move.

If the school you want gives priority to siblings (some don't) your younger child will get sibling priority once your older child has started at the school. Ideally you want that to happen before applications close in mid-January as it reduces the chances of the admission authority getting it wrong.

If you change your application after the January deadline and ds1 moves school, I think you might be able to make a late application which sort of puts you on the waiting list with sibling rating. So if they allocated all the places for in time applications but had 1 space left, they'd consider your application then. If there were no places left after the initial round then you might be on a wait list but you need to check local procedure.

I think there's a period of a few weeks after the applications go in when you could let them know about the move and they'd probably rejig your application. After that (which is still before the places are offered), you'd be likely to be offered on the basis of the old address. If you don't get the school the older one is at, you'll be fairly high up the waiting list (if siblings come above catchment) and pretty likely to get a place between mid-April and September.

I think there's a period of a few weeks after the applications go in when you could let them know about the move and they'd probably rejig your application

That depends on the LA. Some will accept a new address and changed preferences for a few weeks after the closing date, some will not. However, even if the LA will accept a change, I would be concerned that the admission authority may not pick up the need to give the younger child sibling priority if they don't qualify when applications close. They should and a failure to do so should lead to a successful appeal but having the older child in the new school before applications close gives less scope for the admission authority to get it wrong.

I applied online for DS2's reception place for Sept 2017 this week. There was a section on the form you could fill in to tell them if you are intending to move, your new address and when you intend to move.

I hope that helps a bit.