Moving into rented accommodation in the catchment area-when can I safely move back?

[enlondon]

I am thinking of renting a property in the catchment area of a secondary school. Once I have done this and my child is given a place (presuming everything has gone to plan and the catchment area has not all off the sudden become even smaller etc), how much longer do I need to live there before I can move safely back to our house outside the catchment area? As soon as I have filled in the application? As soon as my child is offered the place? As soon as my child has actually started in September? I actually called the LEA to ask this question and they were not sure. I asked a different LEA the same question about another school and they said that I could move out of the catchment area as soon as the application form was received! They seemed puzzled by my question though, understandably, and not sure if I trust their answer.

I work for an LA . other parents whose child's place has been denied because of this will complain to the LA . We would investigate and if you have moved temporarily simply to obtain a place by fraud we would withdraw your child's place even if they have started at school and you would end up in whatever crap school still has places at that stage and well deserved IMHO .

OP I think trying to justify your potential fraud by drawing a comparison with an 'unfair system' created by private schools is outrageous.

The parents sending their children to private school pay a heavy price for the privilege many of whom sacrifice nice cars and family holidays etc.

It's ironic that you're moaning about a system where the same schools stay shit and its the same ones everyone wants. Behaviour such as you're suggesting exacerbates the problem as if the schools represented a true mix they would probably all be good. (Excluding the parents who pay private of course).

Do you know the basis of the appeal ? It may have been allowed on social/medical need, for example.

OP what explanation will you give your DC for moving house? Will you lie to them, or tell them the truth and expect them to maintain secrecy or lie to friends?

On the application forms does is come out and specifically ask if you have another residence?

With regard to appeals etc....my son is autistic and as such we dont have to go through this. His sxhool is 3 miles away but he will gwt a place. Likewise if I choose the extremely over subscribed school two miles away he would take some priority. ...providing the schools concerned can meet his needs.....or are considered the best place for him.

So yes sometimes there is real need for a child to attend a particular school.

OP I feel sorry for you. You've just been honest enough to write down what many people do in secret or wish to do. Now you're being attacked for it.
I fortunately know nothing about complicated admissions into state schools for yr 7 but I do hope you sort it out.

Personally I find the distance system quite unfair when the distances are very short say less than 1km.

Really there is no good reason for a child who lives 450m to get into a school more so than a 600m child. It's bollocks to say otherwise.

This is what is happening in the borough we are in.

I think a fairer system would be that children who live in one borough or say within a 1km radius (possibly what is considered a good walking distance) are included and there is a lottery on the places.

To clarify when we moved I had a visit and several phone calls checking up on the address etc.

Quite drastic given we had moved from the midlands, apparently I'm that post no other schools would have done!

*that posh

enlondon on a side note I really hope the people you called are not reading this thread as your buggered!

Did you with hold your number when you called? Most councils see and record the number you call from.

I contacted the la from my partners phone but left mine as contact number iyswim. They called back on his phone as tey had recorded it. If you called from a landline tey will be able to trace you to your precious address when you make your application and they will spot that you called asking how to successfully commit fraud...

• previous address, blooming phone!

Its interesting most posters claim the 'punishment' for committing fraud to get into a good school is being forced to go to a s*t school. The scandal here is that there are s*t schools!

Another interesting claim is that there would be no s*t schools if middle class parents were forced to send their children to such schools. What a load of c*p. Schools are not bad because of the kids in them, schools are bad because of the head, the teachers, or maybe even the LA.

A parent is not doing anything morally wrong trying to get their child a good education. Its a an inherent evolutionary drive of all human beings. If this causes an outrage it should be directed at the education system we have and attempts to reform it made.

I am not saying it is the 'punishment'. I am saying it is a possible outcome. I also regularly make the point on here that an unpopular school is not necessarily a bad school and a popular school is not necessarily good. If a parent is thinking of breaking the rules in an attempt to get a place at a 'good' school they need to understand the possible consequences.

On the more general point, there will always be good schools and bad schools. No reform is ever going to change that.

Schools change. The school that was outstanding when you chose to send your child there may stop performing and go into special measures a year or two later. Equally the school you avoided like the plague may become the top school in the area.

It would be great if all schools were consistently outstanding but realistically that is never going to happen. That means there will always be a small proportion of parents who attempt to fiddle the system.

You say "A parent is not doing anything morally wrong trying to get their child a good education". I would agree provided they stick to the rules. You would not, I hope, condone a parent robbing a bank so that they can pay the fees to send their child to a top independent school. So clearly some actions a parent may take are morally wrong even if they are motivated by trying to get a good education for their child. What the OP is proposing involves lying on the application form. As far as I am concerned that is morally wrong whatever the motivation.

Harrow Council took a mother to court who fraudulently applied for a school place for her son. She was not prosecuted in the end but her photo and details where all over the local/national press and the internet. Her son's place was withdrawn and she became a social pariah.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1179968/Mother-facing-year-jail-trying-son-better-school.html

OP proceed with extreme caution. The truth has a way of outing!!

Wait until the child starts and then not technically fraudulent.

If you lived there it is not fraud. Renting somewhere and not living there and then it is fraud. Not commenting on the morality of it just saying if you lived there at the time of the application and to be safe after they start school you are free to do as you wish