Admissions - what happens if...

[HerculesMulligan]

We apply from address A, which is 50m from the (oversubscribed outstanding) school and get in on distance criteria, but then move before school begins in September to address B which is still in that year's radius but further out - say 100m?

House buying with a 3yo is a pain in the arse.

I guess if you are still closer than the person in your category that is furthest away (so would have still gotten a place if applied from house B) then all will be fine but if house B is further away than than the last place offered in YOUR category (so someone with a sibling may be further away but that doesn't count as in a higher category than you) then you may have your place taken away.

But if he starts school on 10 Sept, say, and we move on 1 October, it's all good?

You will keep the place, but if they think you lived at the first house and used the address to get a place ( and believe me, they will check) then there is a chance they will take the place away from you. Unlikely if your child has started but still possible. And forget about getting any younger children in as sibling priority is usually the first category to go.

It very much depends on where you live, if you live somewhere where there is much competition for school places then the council may be much harsher with taking away a place than a council where there are lots of spaces.
If you have always lived at house A since the child was born and then move it will be looked on better than if you only moved 6 months before applying and then moved again once they got the place.

Unfortunately you have no ideas until places are offered whether you would have gotten a place at house B or not.

Are you currently at address A, or would it be a stopgap? Why are you moving?

Agree with pps that it will depend very much on the LA and the level of oversubscription. If you are moving because you have been renting and have finally saved up enough to buy, that would look different from downsizing to something a lot cheaper and further away.

Best of luck. The RightMove schools checker is a useful vague idea though not illustrative of long-term trends.

Normally, you have to still be living at the address on offers day. After that, you can't be penalised because of a change of address. The only circumstance in which they can remove the place is if they believe you deliberately mislead them about your place of residence in order to secure a school place (i.e you had no intention to live at the address you stated on the application and you always intended to move to the second address before starting school).

I understood it to be the address you reside in at the time of application. I would imagine that, if you have lived at said address for a lengthy amount of time (giving them no reason to suspect foul play/temporary address for school application purposes) then they would have no reason to suspect anything and if queried you could simply say the subsequent move was unexpected/necessary/out of your control etc?

You are allowed to move house.

You're not allowed to flip houses.

It can be construed as dodgy if you move in very shortly before application deadline and then move out asap, or if you have more than one address (irrespective of which one you inhabit).

But if you've been at your address for some time, and you would have qualified for an offer of a place at this school from either address, I really cannot see why it wouid cause a problem for you.

House buying with a 3yo is a pain in the arse

Are you applying for a pre-school place, or is your DC just young for the year-group? If pre-school, I hope you realise it doesn't give you priority for Reception the following year - you'll have to apply again.

So this is a theoretical question about next year, because you will be applying for a September 2018 place, is that right? And there is a real possibility that you may move house between the date that the application is put in and the date when your child starts school?

Depending on the area you live in, and the history of admissions being 'played' for that school, house moves both before and around school admissions time may well be investigated - without you knowing, in most cases, since the evidence trail will be e.g. council tax bills, land registry etc.

What is and is not allowed is probably easiest to illustrate using examples.

Family A owns a house which has always been just outside catchment. So, around application time, they rent it out and rent another property just a short distance away, but now within catchment. They apply from the rented house / flat, but have always intended to return to the permanent address either after allocation day or once school has started. This is not allowed, and is increasingly well-detected.

Family B are like family A, but have actually always owned a small property within the ctachment. They 'flip' their main address, carefully transferring e.g. doctor's contact address, primary school contact address, to the smaller property at the appropriate time. This is not allowed either.

Family C are moving into the area from a town 30+ miles away due to a change in employment. They do own a house in their old town, but rent it out and rent a new property in the catchment area. This IS allowed, because it is a genuine move, not just for admissions purposes.

Family D currently live in the catchment area, and have done since their child was 1. However, with the arrival of their second child, they are looking to move to a larger property, a little further away. At the point of application, they are living in the first house, but find and buy the second house within the months between application and starting school, selling the first. This IS allowed in general, though there would be a grey area if e.g. the old property had already been sold, and the new property available to be moved into, but the stay in the old property 'artificially prolonged' in order to gain advantage in admissions.

Does that help?

If you move before offers are made you might have a problem. Each LA makes its own rules on what happens in this situation. However, unless you move within a few weeks of the closing date for applications, it is likely that they will use your current address when deciding offers.

Once you have been offered a place there are only very limited grounds on which the offer can be withdrawn. They cannot withdraw the offer simply because you move.

Regardless of whether you move before or after the offer is made, your biggest risk is that the admission authority may think that you used your current address to get a place at your preferred school. That would allow them to withdraw the offer. You are most likely to have a problem if you are in a short term rent.

I agree with the scenarios outlined by cantkeepawayforever.

3yo aiming for Sept 2018 place (May baby), yes.

We've been in address A since before he was born and we are as close as it's possible to be without being in the school playground. He waves to the kids on the school field and they wave back.

Address B is about 0.9 away on foot which is the criteria. V coveted school, quite oversubscribed. Great community involvement though and I've spoken to the headteacher and the admissions governors several times in recent months - they know us well and know why we're hoping to move. We've got a long history of involvement with the school through the parish, so as long as we are within the letter of the law, they aren't going to be concerned that we're trying to "flip".

Sorry, third para should say "within the criteria (for 2017 admission)". Though clearly that is only relevant for 2017 and may be very different next year.

We are family D in Can'tkeepaway's helpful worked example.

What kind of school is it? Be aware that admissions vary slightly depending on whether it's a normal community school or a church school or an academy.

In any case it's unlikely to be up to the school and more likely to be up to the local authority, who give precisely zero shits about community engagement in relation to admissions.

We moved from small to large for the arrival of DC2 so I am sympathetic, but in your circumstances I might be tempted to wait.

I think 2018 criteria are very likely to be identical to 2017 unless there has been recent widespread consultation on changes, FWIW. I think if they were changing, you'd already know.

Experts will have details/authoritative opinions but oversubscription criteria are hard to change.

If you already know address B - does that mean you've found a house already? If so, will you still be in address A on offer day next April?

We're wondering whether to put an offer in on address B now. It's a faith school and even by the standards of a faith school, the admissions criteria are insanely complicated because there are a number of admission points in far-flung parishes, but 0.9m would have been enough in our category (baptised, practising) most years.

If you make an offer on address B now you will almost certainly own it by the time applications for Reception close. If you apply from address A, even if you continue living there, the admission authority would be within its rights to withdraw any place offered when you moved to address B. Indeed, if you rent address A the council may well use address B for admissions purposes regardless of whether or not you are actually living there.

We own A, to be clear. We'd be selling and buying B.

My worry is what if completion slips and we end up moving after the admissions date. I hope that wouldn't happen, but...

Hercules,

I think if you offer on B now, and a paper trail exists that show you working as hard as you can to complete and move in to B, then if for reasons outwith your control you don't manage to and remain owners of A but not B, then you have proof that you are not 'intending to manipulate your address for admissions purposes' - in fact, you're trying really hard to move to a LESS favourable address!

n that case, you should be OK using address A and then moving to B [always worth checking on what happens in your area to those who move in that 'between admission and allocation' window, though, just to make certain that you follow guidelines on e.g. keeping them informed]

Whereas if you deliberately dilly and dally by securing B but then artificially hanging on to A for no good reason, then you WOULD be manipulating your address to be favourable for admissions purposes, and the LA would be within their rights to use B as your address.

Be aware that the school has no influence on your admissions. It is centrally administered - so whatever the SCHOOL know of your good faith in moving, it is the local authority, who handle the co-ordinated admissions system, who have to be convinced that you are not playing the system.

My worry is what if completion slips and we end up moving after the admissions date. I hope that wouldn't happen, but...

Agree with cantkeepawayforever. You will only have problems if you complete on B but continue to live in A until the offers come out. As long as you move to B on completion and comply with the LA's rules about informing them of changes of address you won't have any problems.

If you move between the time of application and offer the local authority will issue you a place based on House B.

If you move between the time of application and offer the local authority will issue you a place based on House B

Each LA makes its own rules so you cannot make a definitive statement like this. Most LAs will use House A in these circumstances unless the OP moves within 2 or 3 weeks of the closing date for applications.

I bow to your knowledge