sibling policy

[Ejima95]

hi everyone,
please help, my second son got into our first choice secondary school, (starting september 2020) his dad applied for him with his address as we both have custody but our first son is at another school in year 7 and we would like to move him to the same school as his little brother due to sibling policy. Our first son is already on the waiting list at that school with my address, i made his application,

my question is do i inform the school that his brother got admission to start September? will the two different address be an issue? should i let his dad inform the school or should? "Please help.

thank you all

Why do the boys have different addresses? Do they have different living arrangements?

Schools and local education authorities usually have clear guidelines about what counts as the child’s address for admissions purposes. Where children divide time between two addresses, the one that counts for admission purposes is usually the one where they spend more time or (if time is equally split) the one where child benefit is paid.

So, it would be helpful to understand why each son has a different address. If they are spending different amounts of time at each address, so that one lives with you as far as school admissions are concerned and the other lives with his father as far as school as school admissions are concerned, then you might not get sibling priority, because at most schools sibling priority is restricted to siblings living at the same address.

By the way, the reason for the two addresses is because I have joint custody with their father who decided to make the younger son's application and now wants the older son to move the school to where the brother will be starting in September

thank you

But this isn’t about joint custody. Even with joint custody, then assuming that the boys stay together - whether that’s with you or their father - they ought to have the same address for school admissions purposes. The only way in which they should end up with different addresses for school admissions purposes is if the youngest lives mostly with his father and the oldest lives mostly with you. People often think that having joint custody gives them the option of choosing which address to use, but it rarely does because (as I said before) most schools and LEAs have clear rules around where the child spends some most time and/or where child benefit is paid.

I’m sorry if I’m labouring the point, but it is quite unusual for siblings to have different addresses for school admissions purposes. If there are genuine reasons for the boys having different addresses then you need to check exactly what the school says in its admissions policy about who counts as a sibling because (as I said before) this is usually restricted to siblings living at the same address.

So who claims the child benefit? Which address is used for the doctors and what is the schools specific admission arrangements for siblings?

thank you all for your replies, both boys do stay with both of us and nothing official, its all amicable. child benefit is on my address which is the address i used for older son's school application and GP is registered with dad's address.

The reason dad used his address is due to older son not getting our first choice and he said he will do the application this year for younger son(the school does not care about the distance to the school, its a church school) luckily younger boy got in.

The reason dad used his address is due to older son not getting our first choice and he said he will do the application this year for younger son(the school does not care about the distance to the school, its a church school) luckily younger boy got in

This is the crux of the issue.

You need to look very carefully at how the school defines siblings and what they use to establish home address. Siblings are often those living at the same address, and the address or household they live in is often established by where the CB goes.

Basically you have used another address in order to get a place at the school and need to be careful that in trying to get your older son in you don't end up losing the place for your younger!

In any case most sibling policies state that the sibling must be a pupil at the school so you might have to wait until your younger son has started and is on roll. And then wait for a place to become available.

thank you all for your replies. @FrankieManca, the address has nothing to do with the school been offered as my address is closer than his dad, it was pure luck.

bellow is the policy regarding a sibling. you are right to wait until he's in the register, thank you for your reply.

‘Brother or sister’ includes
• all natural brothers or sisters, half brothers or sisters, adopted brothers or sisters, stepbrothers or
sisters, foster brothers or sisters, whether or not they are living at the same address; and
• the child of a parent’s partner where that child lives for at least part of the week in the same family
unit at the same address as the applicant.

This sounds like an awful mess.

If the school’s admissions criteria don’t make any reference to distance or being in or out of the parish (which would be unusual) why did you apply from a different address second time around? You haven’t said where your sons live most of the time (ie sleep most nights) so the school is likely to think it’s with you, especially as you receive the child benefit.

As FrankieManca says, you need to be aware of the risk that the school might think you’ve used the wrong address for your younger son. Schools are getting tougher on people who they regard as gaming the system by using (say) another relative’s address to get a place. There have been cases of school places being taken away where they’ve been obtained fraudulently.

Just seen your latest post. That sounds more promising for you.

@PanelChair, thank you for your reply. This is why his father decided to make the application with his address and I did call my local council before the application and they said as long as we both have the parental right that any of us can apply.

regards

There is a basic fault here but I am not sure whether it makes a difference or not. The information you had from the the LA about parental rights and admission is flawed. When it comes to admissions the address that normally is that used is the one where the pupil stays the majority of the school week. If that cannot be agreed or it truly is 50/50 then most LAs use the address to which child benefits are sent.

I do not believe that it is correct that you have been allowed two different addresses for the two sibling but if it has happened then so be it.

Your difficulty is that when you apply for a second place at the now preferred school, the two addresses will probably come up and the immediate reaction of the school for the youngest may well be that this was fraudulent address application. You cannot apply for a place using sibling priority as part of your application until the younger sibling has actually started and I would definitely advise not mentioning this to the school until the younger sibling has started at the school. Even then there is a risk.