Catchment area confusion - could this plan work?

[TMarieClara]

I have 2 kids, my eldest DD is 3 and will start school September 2023, so I'm yet to go through the process of applying to schools but it's very much on my mind. And we have a potential problem.

We currently live in Surrey, but we are planning, in a couple of years, to sell our house and use the equity to buy my in-laws out of their small farm in the west country, which they are becoming too old to upkeep comfortably. They're then hoping to use the cash from us to convert a small barn on the land into a retirement home. The problem we have is the house we would take on is lovely, but it is not in a good catchment zone at all. My husband and his brother grew up there, and they were lucky enough to go to private school. That won't be an option for our children. The rest of the farm, however, has a separate access path, so it's own postcode, and is in a much better catchment area. (The barn, if they are able to convert, will also have this better postcode.)

So, my question is, is there a way we can use the land postcode for our applications? Could we set up a postbox, for example, for bank statements, or does it have to be a council tax proof of address? Could we register to pay the council tax on the conversion, otherwise? I'm aware this is bending the rules, and some people will probably be set against it, but we all do what we have to for our kids, right?!

Where I am they match up council tax records, so I don't think a post box would work. You might well get away with it if you paid council tax on the conversion and not on the main property, so basically claiming your inlaws still lived there. Of course if you didn't actually live there, you could have your place removed for fraud if discovered.

However when do you plan to move and are you talking about primary or secondary schools? Catchment areas mainly matter when applying for Reception or year 7. If it is an in-year admission, then they will look at where has places regardless of your address. Of course if they are full you would probably be higher on the waiting list if you are in the catchment. Presumably you won't be there by Jan 2023 to apply for Reception for your eldest, so it might not matter that much, unless you are timing the move to apply for your youngest. If it's secondaries, a lot can change in that time.

Admissions is done on distance between the school and the building in which you live, not post code. So that idea won’t work. (and is fraudulent anyway.)

You need to live in the barn while the school thing happens and move to the farm afterwards.

If the 2 postcodes fall into different school catchments (in an area with official catchments), or one building is significantly nearer to the preferred school, it could work. I agree it is fraud though, unless you actually live in the property.

Simple answer is that for admission purposes it is the premises where the child is living for the majority of the school week, so it is the house that is used for admission purposes not a field.
Having said that admission criteria are not based on postcodes but on specific points on the house and the school and then a measurement of the distance between the two buildings. That may be straight line distance or it could be shortest road route.
You need to establish how the distance is measured by looking at the admission booklet available from the LA. This booklet will also give you an indication how far the admission criteria you went to gain entry into a specific school. You might well find in a rural zone that you can easily get into your preferred school but you need to do some more investigation of the schools to understand your chances of getting into the different schools

Why not convert the barn and live in it rather than commit fraud and risk annoying the entire intakes’ parents? It may not be your first choice but “we all do what we have to for our kids, right?!”

Sadly, it's not just our first choice that matters, it's my in-laws. They want the barn, and to be out of the house, which is lovely, but old, and requires some upkeep they don't feel able to commit to.

This is really interesting. I'll seek out this booklet. All I've seen is a map of catchment areas, that basically cuts the farm in half - one side, all good and excellent schools, the other side, all underperforming/needs improvement

We'd like to move in time for DD to start year one. DS will be 3 at this point so we'd be applying for him the following year. This said, secondary school is my real concern, so good to know things can change quite quickly!

We'd like to move in time for DD to start year one. DS will be 3 at this point so we'd be applying for him the following year. This said, secondary school is my real concern, so good to know things can change quite quickly!

So you'd potentially end up with DD in one school and DS in another. Is this really what you want? If you apply for a Year 1 place, your address doesn't really matter - you'll only get offered a school that has places.

Are you in England? If so, as others have said, it isn’t a case that schools will accept everyone in catchment and refuse anyone else. Applying in the normal admissions round will usually mean that kids in catchment have priority, as well as being higher up on the waiting list for in year admissions (as these are also in order of the admissions criteria) but that doesn’t mean that you stand no chance of getting in if you’re out of catchment- if there’s a place, you can have it. I live just outside the catchment boundary for a popular primary school but still would have got a place on offer day every year in recent years, as they had places available after offering to all kids in catchment and siblings, and then offered by distance from the school, as per the admissions criteria. Look at the admissions criteria for the school and if the LEA has published the data of which category and distance they were able to offer places to in recent years.

Again though, as others have said, for an in year place it all depends which school has a place, especially for Year 1 as infant class size rules are likely to apply and can only go over 30 in very exceptional circumstances. It isn’t a case that they’ll create a place for you if your address is in catchment.

Unless schools are undersubscribed moving for year 1 will be a lottery as to where has a space so catchments etc won't apply except for waiting lists

Admission (and others) have already explained how LEAs and schools measure distance. It seems likely that the LEA will treat the house and the barn (once converted) as separate addresses and each will have its own datapoint from which the distance will be measured (and possibly they will be in catchment areas for different schools). As Admission says, you need to check the detail of local admissions arrangements. Be aware that some LEAs will rescind school places if they believe that parents have flipped addresses or otherwise made a fraudulent application.

The other thing to note is infant class size rules limit classes in KS1 to 30 pupils. If you apply for a place in Y1, your preferences will not count for much if all local schools are full; you may have to accept a place in whichever school has space.

Are you sure the schools are oversubscribed? Many rural schools are not
If not oversubscribe you just pick the one that you fancy.

I work in school finance and lots of schools are under subscribed this year, it's a disaster for some of their budgets!

Depending on the year and the area it might not be as hard to get an out of catchment place as you think

I'm guessing that the barn will take a bit of converting, so possibly best bet is install a temporary mobile home for you to live in, while the inlaws remain in the (more comfortable) farm house, and the barn is converted. Meanwhile you apply for school. Then remain in the mobile home a little while longer while main farm house is restored, and 2nd child application for school goes in. .