No judgment please — has anyone actually been checked and removed from a school for being out of catchment?

[Uptownmom]

Hi all,

Please no judgment — I’m just looking to hear real experiences from other parents.

We own a flat in a good catchment area, which we currently rent out (it’s an HMO). At the moment, we’re living in a different part of the city that we really love and that works well for our family, but the local schools near us aren’t as strong as the ones in the catchment for our rental property.

Our baby is only 1 now, so school is still a few years off, but I’ve been thinking about the possibility of using our rental flat address to apply when the time comes — even though we won’t be living there full-time. I know it’s not the “correct” way to go about it, but like many parents, I want to give my child the best education I can without uprooting our lives unnecessarily or putting strain on us financially.

That said, I’m nervous about what could happen. Has anyone actually been checked and removed from a school for not truly living at the catchment address? Are councils really investigating this kind of thing? If so, how common is it, and how do they check?

I’d really appreciate any honest insight or stories — again, no judgment please. I’m just trying to understand the real-world risks and how this plays out in practice.

Do you pay council tax on your owned house or do the tenants pay it? Our school did checks on council tax.

If you don’t live there you can’t prove you live there unless you’re on the bills. Schools aren’t daft. They know all the tricks.

In our area they do checks on the address you pay council tax on before making an offer.

Our primary does a home visit, difficult if you don't live there!

I think so many people do this judging by all the cars parked outside the outstanding secondary and primary schools near me. Bearing in mind they have tiny catchments, there is really no need to drive the kids to school (the secondary in particular).

Morally, I couldn’t do it. However, the current system IS a joke. The government need to change the current catchment and distant rules and create more of a fairer lottery system within towns.

They do very thorough checks, they have multiple ways to verify you live at the address you give, you will get caught and your child will not be accepted.

I've seen it happen several times with in demand secondary schools in the last 4 years . Including one girl who had actually started and after about 10 days it became clear she did not and had never lived at the address the family claimed. We now ask for two forms of proof of address, one of which must be council tax and the other a utility bill dated within 3 months of application. The schools then usually ask for the evidence again when they complete the registration process for the child. I think it's happened once with a primary school and my employer/LA is one of the last ones to start really query addresses.

They check thoroughly in our area - it’s a wealthy area and people have used all sorts of tricks involving rental or even purchase of flats nearby to get into the popular schools.

Practically speaking how far is your current area from the school - you really don’t want to be doing a long journey to primary school, even if you can get in.

and how are you going to explain away the home visit ? the one that many many many Primary schools carry out before the child actually joins the reception class...

by that time the places have been allocated for schools and you will struggle to get into one of the better ones where you actually live.

I don’t think they check in our area. My DD’s friend at secondary got into their school and she doesn’t even live in the same town! However the parents own a shop in the town so I’m pretty sure they must’ve used that address.

This would just create more traffic problems. Kids should just go to the local school. It’s part of the local community.

Can you move into your rental property temporarily when the time comes for applying to schools, OP? Obviously a lot of hassle but ultimately worth it. Then move back after your DD has started school.

And if the local school is shit?

Sorry but as a Mother who’s child was robbed of a place at the Grammar that she had worked so hard to get too because of people like you I cannot help but be judgemental.
The absolute trauma for my daughter was immeasurable,we appealed and our daughter had to go to a school 15 miles away whereas local grammar was 2 miles away . We went to ombudsman to prove that our daughter deserved the place over the liars using false address and finally by the October our daughter got into the school she had worked so hard to get into. The long term effect for my daughter was bloody awful because of the stress !! Just don’t do this !
Edited to say that unfortunately some children then lost their place at the school because of their parents poor morals!

And they ask the children quite a lot about what they like about home and such and such, so you'd have the added awkwardness of your 4yr old describing their home that isn't anything like a room in your HMO or they literally dob you in and tell the teacher this isn't their house! 😂

Great way to start your kids school life with lies 🙄

Lots of secondaries don’t have catchments.

No. They’ll require council tax bills for the previous two years.

It depends on various factors, including how keen your local authority is on enforcing the rules. My borough is quite lax - they take the council tax bill plus utility bill approach, mentioned by a PP, which isn’t that difficult to fulfil. They also don’t want to hear about fraudulent applications - they don’t want / haven’t got the capacity to carry out investigations and then make decisions. However, the borough next to mine is apparently much stricter, and will take active steps to remove children from schools when they become aware their parents have applied using an address they don’t live at.

I also wouldn’t underestimate the practical implications. Your child won’t live near their school friends, and it can be tricky organising play dates etc. I know of one family who used the grandparents’ address to apply for school, and they’ve never invited anyone from the school to their actual home. It’s an over-subscribed school, and many much more local kids were on the waiting list before getting a place, so there is some ill feeling.

This.

You don't even have to move in. Chances are they won't do a home visit.
If you can afford to forego the rent for four to six months, stay in your current house but change the flat utilities into your name for six months. These can be used for proof of address.

At least you actually own the flat. Loads of people rent short term flats to get into schools.

Irrespective of the lack of morality in doing this , you are also setting your child up for constantly travelling to school and not living near any of their friends.

It's much nicer to walk to school if you can.

Plus many schools in good catchment areas only perform well because their results are propped up by parents paying for heaps of tutoring.

My sons and nearly all their friends at secondary in our wealthy "good catchment " have tutors in at least a couple of subjects. And they are the top set kids.

When my children started school their teachers came and visited them at home as part of their year R settling in process as well.

Er no - lots of people move house less than two years before applying for their child’s school place. You don’t have to have lived somewhere for two years to qualify for a catchment.

The trouble is, it’s not that it isn’t the “correct” way to do it, but that it’s actually “fraud”. They do check and you are likely to be caught. If the council checks don’t get you, someone will report you. If you’re lucky, before your child starts at the school with time to find somewhere else. If they don’t find out until after they’ve started, they will still be kicked out. It’s not fair on your own child, let alone the child whose place they are taking.

Ours very much did and was very oversubscribed. They must’ve used their business address or gave a very generous backhander ££££ 😆