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.

Believe it or don't believe it love, it's no skin off my back 😉

I’m also aware of a school which states on their website/admissions policy that they may do this.

Most LAs check against council tax records. If they find that the parents own a house in the area, they will use that address rather than the one on the application.

Many LAs know that certain addresses are often used for short term rentals to get a place at a popular school. Applications from those addresses are investigated.

LAs can demand proof of address. Some insist on that for all applicants, others only request it when there is reason to be suspicious about an application. Some parents have been convicted of criminal offences after forging documents to prove a false address.

Despite the scepticism of a poster above, some popular schools do indeed make random home visits to check that a family lives at the claimed address. A couple of years ago I helped parents where the school unreasonably (and wrongly) concluded that they were using a false address on the basis of a single visit.

If parents use a false address and this is discovered before offers are made, the LA will use the correct address, sometimes without telling the parents. Indeed, some parents who think they got a place for their child based on a false address actually got it from their real address.

If the false address is discovered after offers are made, the offer can be withdrawn. This happens to hundreds of parents every year, in some cases after the child has started at the school. Whilst the Admissions Code suggests this should only happen in the first term, this is not mandatory and there are some cases where places are withdrawn later in the child's first year. In this situation, the child will not get the place they would have been offered if the parents had been honest. They will be offered a place at the nearest school with places available. This is likely to be an unpopular school that the parents wanted to avoid.

I'm sure some parents do manage to get school places based on false addresses, but the risks are high.

What if you’ve actually, legitimately, genuinely moved house?

Our school did a home visit towards the end of the summer term before the DC started school. I don’t think it was to check on our address, but I suppose it might have been.

OP come on. What you are doing is wrong and you will be caught. Whether it’s the first day or first month or first year.

Between the home visits, checks from the council, proof of residence (and the bills etc to your renter contradicting at the same address), friends (other parents will report you) etc you will be caught. All school correspondence also goes to that address and yea while most things are digital do you want to potentially miss important documents ?

Why would you take that chance and have the serious possibility your child will be removed from the school at any time when (not if) they find out. They specifically say on admissions you need to live at the address and rental flats arent allowed - they know all the tricks. All the tricks.

We live in a very very good school area and had more than one parent who tried this - they all got caught and had to move schools. The best is when the parents are then incensed at the unfairness of it happening when it was a foregone conclusion.

You won’t get away with it and you will get caught.

It’s possible that by the time you come to register with a school, catchments may be relaxed. Birth rates and school rolls are falling. Two of our local schools are closing. It’s the kind of place where 20 years ago we all had to schlepp to a church every Sunday morning to prove our dedication before being given a school place.

this absolutely wouldn’t work, our school asked for proof of address with council tax and one other bill and we also have home visits before starting school. I also think it’s really cheeky to do this.

But catchment areas can be so small that you could still be "local" but not in the catchment area.

Exactly. I knew a family where they were living on another continent for 2 years for work reasons. They were coming back when child was 11 and she took her 11plus on that continent and got her grammar school place (same school mine went to) and the moved back a few weeks before school started. Moved back into family home that had been rented out for 2 years. Older sibling had been at the same school, had the two years away and then straight back when they returned.

Obviously the school knew what was happening as arrangements had to be made for the exam.

So how do families who live in rented flats get school places? They can't possibly say you can't live in a rental flat because not everyone can buy a house.

Sure, but most people in rented flats live in rented flats only. Living in a rented 2 bed apartment while owning an empty five bedroom house 2 miles down the road… tends to raise flags.

That wasn't what was said. It specifically said rental flats not allowed. Nothing about rental flats not allowed if you own a five bedroomed house.

I’m sure you are smart enough to understand what “rental flats not allowed” means in the PP’s context.

My experience mirrors what @prh47bridge said. The LA in my area check Council Tax records. I’m not on the Council Tax (all above board) so had to send in a lot of evidence and all was fine. It was clear that they take it very seriously (and quite rightly too).

There are more things in Heaven and Earth, MadeUpName25, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Surely you can manage to work it out?

I would be absolutely foaming if I missed out on a place because someone like you did this, and you'd never keep it secret as people will easily find out/know.

And what about when your child has playdates or tells their teacher about their local village fair (or whatever).
Surely you'll be constantly worried about getting outed?

Do teachers care?

I am a teacher and it isn’t any skin off my nose if someone does this.

This wasn't my experience, and we were able to get a place without providing 2 years’ worth of council tax bills. We just had to be paying council tax from the address we were living in and used on the application.

Our position was slightly different in that we genuinely moved house, after the deadline for primary school applications but before the start of term in September. We knew we were moving but not when. We put the school we wanted at number 1, knowing we wouldn’t get it because of how far away we were, and then moved to the top of the waitlist when we moved. We were then offered a place as we were at the top of the waitlist. I know we are different from the OP’s scenario, as we are still living in our new home close to the school, which was always our intention. But just to say that my experience of the system is that 2 years’ worth of statements are not always required.

Because they can prove they pay bills and council tax and other payments. This isn’t against renters - many people do and would also have a signed lease.

You were at the top of the wait list.
They had a free place 🤷🏻‍♀️
Literally anyone next in line would have got it.

No, they are not always required. The policy varies from LA to LA. When it comes to the waiting list, it can vary from school to school.

We were top of the waiting list on national offers day for our local primary school, 0.34 miles away.

Got offered a place about 3 weeks later. Found out through our small town grape vine it was because a kid has been chucked out for doing exactly as you describe.