Secondary School Application

[OzzieMe]

Hello, I am new here so be gentle! We will be applying for our child's secondary school in a few months. We have met the faith (church going) criteria to get in. However, if there is an oversubscription in the faith group, there are tie breakers, firstly, siblings, then distance from school. We are planning to rent closer to the school, and do not own or rent any other property (we have been living with family). Do you think it is fair to rent closer to the school? We want to be genuine and not come under any suggestion of fraud. Any thoughts welcome!

If it's your only home there's no question of fraud. Just check what will happen if you decide to move out of catchment having secured a place.

Yes, I do if you are moving to a house you intend to live in full time, on a long term basis.
We did this for DC1's primary school application, we have no intention to move again TBH but a key reason for choosing this house was the school catchment area.

The issue is how it can be perceived by the LA. You are doing nothing wrong by moving to a rented property nearer the school but it can become complicated if the LA have any suspicion that you are renting near the school only in the short-term to get into the school.
So if you are going to move to rent nearer to the school, then you need to do it ASAP. You only have till the end of October to register your preferences in terms of school, so try if at all possible to have rented by the end of September and do not apply with your preferences until you have moved.
Also before you specify your preferences inform your current primary school of your change of address along with your doctor and most importantly change the address of where child maintenance etc is going to.
That should mean that the LA is only aware of your new rented address on their records when you apply.
The other thing to do is make sure that the rental period is for 12 months minimum which means you will still be in the rented property after your child starts at your preferred school.
You also need to be aware that LAs are now quite adept at knowing the schools where "cheating" goes on to get a place and take precautions to ensure that they do look carefully at any suspect applications. Near to me at a school, which is always oversubscribed, there is a set of terraced houses which are regularly rented out at very high prices but they are literately next to the school. All those addresses have a red flag attached to them on the LA IT systems and anybody renting any of these houses automatically will be looked at very carefully. In many cases the occupants are told that they are not going to be allowed to use that address!

There are two scenarios here. Scenario A, you want to get your own place and you consider your priorities. Schooling is one of your top priorities so you choose a house in the catchment. This is completely fine, and no different to choosing a place near a station/bus stop for work for example. (You could argue it's a flawed system that everyone should get equal educational provision regardless of their address but that's not your individual concern).

Scenario B, you plan to live with family long term but will rent closer to the school for a year to secure a place. This is morally dubious, but I would think it is within the rules, as you would only have one residence.

Either way, if you are genuinely living at the address, tell relevant people (school, doctors etc) and live there for a reasonable time period e.g. 12 month lease, you should be fine. Very occasionally people have issues where they move again before offer day and it impacts their application. But if you are living there for some time you will be fine.

Be aware, some schools insist on seeing a copy of your council tax bill for the previous two years.

Surely that's only if their criteria is you need to have lived there longer? Or they might investigate you a bit further to check you are genuine. They can't just refuse school places to anyone who moved in the past 2 years surely? (Apart from occasionally it is in the admission guidelines).

It's for very oversubscribed schools. A recent move will trigger further checks.

Has the school tended to be oversubscribed in the faith category in previous years?

Yes, it is oversubscribed in the faith category, but not by large numbers.

You'll just have to hope the sibling numbers are low, in that case.