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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Place at first choice school, moving house within catchment.

21 replies

Aquifolium · 21/04/2019 13:06

Hi,
I wonder if anybody can advise me.

My partner and I have always lived separately as we have 5 children between us and need lots of bedrooms. The older children are now at university so we have been planning moving into his for some time. Building work has dragged on but we are optimistic that it will be ready in May. In the meantime, our son has reached admissions age, so I have applied for a place in our oversubscribed catchment school.

We both live in the catchment area, but I am slightly nearer to the school.

His house is opposite a faith school which was our second choice as neither of us belong to that faith. I didn’t think he would have got a place in this school, but the email I received on Tuesday indicates the place was rejected because he was offered his first choice.

I am worried that once I tell the school/ council/ everyone my new address, IF the school was oversubscribed so that not all catchment children got a place, the council might want to take my son’s place off him.

I am the kind of person who frets rather over this sort of thing. I wish I had discussed it with the council prior to admissions.

I am telling myself that last year, all children in the catchment got a place and a few kids from the next category down did too, so it will be fine.

It’s not a leafy borough, and in previous communication with them, i’m Getting the feeling that they like people going to catchment schools.

Do you think I should contact the council? Put the move off? Quietly Hope for the best?

Any experiences would be appreciated.

OP posts:

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HennyPennyHorror · 21/04/2019 13:44

Delay moving. It's simple enough...once he's in and his place is safe, you can then move.

MrsKrabbapple · 21/04/2019 13:47

Just don’t move for a while.

bordellosboheme · 21/04/2019 13:48

What they said.

EluphNaugeMeop · 21/04/2019 14:34

I don't think you need to worry much. The system does allow for people moving. If you were honest on your application forms about the genuine actual residence of the child then the place was correctly awarded.

As it might be reassuring - it won't be hard to find out the "maximum distance" for the last-offered place in the school. You may find the new address is within that radius anyway. In which case all is well. If not then first thing to do is query the council. Say you are considering possibly moving within the borough before September and want to understand whether this would affect anything. I don't believe it will but they can't impose any consequence on you for asking a theoretical question.

The only danger would be if there was any evidence that you are actually already living there, and had already lived there by the day places were offered, and had only retained the other property to give yourself an undue advantage in the applications process. Then there could be serious trouble. If that didn't happen and couldn't be construed to have happened then you are fine.

Original poster

Aquifolium · 21/04/2019 18:27

Eluph, thanks for your reply. That’s reassuring. I have absolutely lived at this address 100% for the last 6 years.

I may ask the question; it’s just from previous experience they like to know why you are asking and provide the information very slowly. I would feel uncomfortable talking to them about a potential move unless I’m confident they allow for genuine house moves.

I understood that they were allowed to take your place off you in the case of house moves, but is that just if they suspect you of fraud?

It wouldn’t take much for them to realise it’s a genuine move, I think.

OP posts:

Original poster

Aquifolium · 21/04/2019 18:31

Thanks also to people saying to delay the move...

It’s not the best thing to do for the rest of us, unfortunately. I might consider it if it’s a realistic prospect my son would have his place be taken off him and be put in the 3rd nearest school which we really didn’t like. But there are 6 other people to consider, and the move is already much delayed due to builder problems.

OP posts:

Enko · 21/04/2019 20:56

It says " offered higher preference" even if you would not have got into the school. Because that is what happened you were offered the preference higher. They wont tell you if you would have got in on the form.

I honestly do not see a issue here simply move and inform them when it is relevant. The form you filled in is about where the residence was at that time. It remains the same now and will for another month or so. Your child will not be the first who has moved prior to starting primary. As you will remain within the catchment area I doubt it will even raise an eyebrow.

xyzandabc · 21/04/2019 21:02

Our council and the next neighbouring council have their admission details published on their website. It tells you for each school whether everyone who applied could be offered a place or not. If not, they tell you the category of the last child offered and if that was based on distance, the distance of the last place offered.

I thought most councils did this, if so, just look it up, no need to phone. You can then see whether the new house would have been offered a place in which case you'll be fine

xyzandabc · 21/04/2019 21:04

Saying all that, if you can prove you've lived there for 6 years, then there won't be a problem proving that the application was genuine.

admission · 21/04/2019 21:27

The key dates are the last date for applications which for primary was January 16th and also the date when places were handed out, which was April 16th.
Officially it is the address your child was sleeping at on the last date of applications which is the most important, though some LAs are now expecting more in terms of continuity, hence the April 16th date.
So if you have not moved yet there is absolutely no way that the LA can remove the place that has been offered. You do however need to inform the LA when you and child have moved, if for no other reason than correspondence to do with child starting at the school.

HennyPennyHorror · 22/04/2019 00:53

It's no good moving BEFORE he starts school. That will render his place invalid.

Zinnia · 22/04/2019 01:11

No it won't, @HennyPennyHorror. For exactly the reasons immediately above. What admission said, OP.

HennyPennyHorror · 22/04/2019 02:08

I know it seems that way Zinnia but I have a distinct memory of a Mumsnetter in a similar position who did have her place withdrawn.

Im trying to find it with Google....don't want to worry OP but also don't want her to have a false sense of security.

prh47bridge · 22/04/2019 08:16

If the admission authority withdraws the place just because the OP has moved they will be in breach of the Admissions Code. The place would be reinstated on appeal.

Yes, there have been one or two cases on Mumsnet where the admission authority has withdrawn the place because they concluded that the original application was fraudulent or deliberately misleading. However, they cannot arrive at that conclusion just because someone has moved. There needs to be more evidence than that. And even then the decision can be overturned if an appeal panel thinks it was not reasonable.

Original poster

Aquifolium · 22/04/2019 10:29

Thanks for the reassurance. I’m feeling more confide about just continuing on with my plans now. I don’t want to feel paralysed out of paranoia about losing his school place.

Zyx the wording was ‘place discarded due to higher preference being offered’ or similar. I thought that was fairly clear that her would have been offered a place.

Our council only gives out the statistics in the next September admissions booklet.

There are other councils who give far fewer stats out though, I thought ours was pretty good.

OP posts:

Original poster

Aquifolium · 22/04/2019 10:30

Confident, not confide.

OP posts:

SellFridges · 22/04/2019 13:30

place discarded due to higher preference being offered

Ours says that and I know for a fact we would not have got into our second choice school.

Original poster

Aquifolium · 22/04/2019 13:36

Sell fridges.

I didn’t think he would have got into the 2nd one either, but that sentence is pretty clear.

When my older dd didn’t get into her first choice it said ‘place requested’

It would be interesting to know what it all means.

OP posts:

SoyDora · 22/04/2019 13:38

place discarded due to higher preference being offered

Ours says that and I know for a fact we would not have got into our second choice school

Our second choice (at a massively over subscribed school) just says ‘place not offered’.

Original poster

Aquifolium · 22/04/2019 13:38

Place Offered - This means your child has been offered a place at this school

Place Requested - This means your child has been refused a place at this school

Place Discarded - This means your child has been offered a higher ranked preference

This is from the school admissions email.

OP posts:

prh47bridge · 22/04/2019 19:44

Aquifolium is right. If the offer says "place discarded due to higher preference being offered" you qualified for a place at that school, however unlikely you thought this was, but you also qualified for a place at a higher preference. It is, of course, possible that the LA has made a mistake and used the wrong description but that is very definitely what that description means.

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