Yr7 Admission for Child Not Yet Moved

[Abmaj]

Hi all,

We're moving to a different city in August. My husband will move first, renting a place, while I remain with the kids in our present home so my eldest can complete year 6 in her current school. We intend to join him in July 2022 but since we need to apply for my daughter's secondary school by Sept/Oct 2021 what do we do, given the school is in the city we will move to but she wont be living there until after the council deadline for admissions?

Also, we will look to buy, so our address might change before a school place is allocated in March/April 2022 (or whenever they release allocations). Does this affect the school she will get allocated?

We will be trying to remain in the catchment for our preferred school, while my husband rents and when we buy.

Thanks!

As I understand it, the address used in the application has to be the address where the child is currently living, so no, I don't think you could apply based on your DH's address - you'd have to apply using yours. With the second move, I think it varies by area. There will usually be an 'amendment' date - so if you move house between submitting your application and the closing date for amendments, then you have to inform the LA and the new address will be used to allocate the school place. If you move after the amendment date, they might want to do some digging to check that the move isn't suspicious (ie to check that you didn't take a short term let just to secure a school place).

The transition to secondary might be easier if she's been in year 6 in the new area having made friends in a new primary...

We moved DS for the start of Y6 to get the right secondary.

So sorry, to clarify, unless you change your plans, I think you would have to apply for schools using your current address, and then put in a late/in year application for a school in the new city once you move. Though it's possible you could get a place in a school in the new city based on your old address - if the schools happen to be undersubscribed? This happened to a friend of mine - she applied for and was offered a school 50 miles away as part of the main Reception application round, because the school happened to have fewer applicants than places that year. You could always put down one or two schools in the new city as first preferences, and apply for a 'sure bet' school in the old city as a back up, just to make sure you've got a school place somewhere in case the move is delayed. Then just hope for the best.

It's the address where the child is resident which counts.

Is there really no prospect of moving before applications close? It would very much be in your DD's interests to secure her onwards education by arranging it round the school where she will be for next 5-7 years, rather than risking an application from a temporary address where your DD does not live.

Unfortunately the application system doesn't really allow for the scenario that you have described. If you're hoping to secure a place in a popular school, you would be much better all moving so you are living close to the school that you would like your child to attend before the application deadline. Moving again would complicate things further, you'd need to apply for a place again if you no longer lived close to the school and wished to apply for a different school. Honestly, I think the best solution is the rent in the catchment of the preferred school, then in time try to buy in the same area.

As pp said already, you are creating this scenario based on the incorrect understanding that it will be more beneficial for your DC to complete y6 at the current school than the damage done by the post-deadline move.

Instead you should be moving right now, put up with whatever terrible school you are allocated for y6 but make sure you are in prime position to get the right school for y7.

The alternative plan which you are currently expecting to follow leads to you being allocated the worst dumping-ground unpleasant senior school possible in the new city, for no good reason.

Just to clarify, we will rent and buy in the catchment area of the school so to avoid any problems with the council. The reason we're thinking about keeping DD where she is to complete yr6 is that she's moved alot in the last few years and we want her to have some stability in completing primary school. Also, we dont want to really move everything into a rented home only to then move it again to a property we purchase.

I know I cant apply for DD's yr7 school from that school's local council since she wont be living there. I am also quite sure that since DD is moving to secondary from primary, we can't do in-year transfers (we wouldnt want to leave her school place to such uncertainty too).

But you won't get a place at your preferred secondary if she stays living where you are now as you'd have to use your current address, and assuming distance is the tie breaker she won't qualify. Which means you get an unsubscribed school not of your choice.

Exactly what @titchy says. Unless for some reason your preferred school is guaranteed to be undersubscribed, you don't have a hope of getting a place there with an application from the address your dd will be living at while you let her complete y6 in the place you are leaving. It doesn't matter whether you rent/buy in the area of your preferred school, the school will be completely filled with local pupils who applied from their nearer addresses. Your dd will be assigned a place at sn undersubscribed school. That will be very unlikely to be a good school. The benefit of keeping her at her current school for y7 is simply not worth the misery that will be caused in subsequent years. She will suffer much more deeply from being put in a terrible school, probably some distance away from her new home in a strange city, and probably being stuck there for years, than she would from having the move a year earlier and getting the disruption over and done with before settling down into a more stable situation in the new city.

I agree with pp

Move her so she spends Y6 in the new area so she can make local friends and you can apply to a local secondary school where she can feel settled and happy rather than being allocated to an undersubscribed one almost certainly further away with no one she knows.

Exactly as above. The address where your DH is living is irrelevant to the council. The only address that matters is the one where your DD is living at the time of application.

Also, be careful to check the admissions criteria of the schools in the new city. You talk about renting/buying in catchment, but only some schools will have a defined catchment in which you're pretty much guaranteed a place. Many will just go on straight line distance, which means the 'catchment' will change from year to year, and you won't know what it will be in advance - you'll just have to move as near to the school as possible and hope for the best. The distances can be tiny (hundreds of yards) and they can change hugely. One of our local schools had its last distance reduce from 11 miles one year to less than 3 miles the next.

Just to clarify, we will rent and buy in the catchment area of the school so to avoid any problems with the council

Intentions do not count. The only thing that counts is where your DD is actually living at the time of application.

As you want her to remain where she is, you also need to resign yourself to the risks of making an application based on false information (using an address where the child does not live) or receiving an allocation based on your current distance from the schools you apply for.

And of course moving in to the priority admissions area is not, in England, in itself sufficient to be sure of a place. If the school cannot accommodate all in-catchment applicants, then distance is the usual tie-breaker.

Renting in the catchment area won't do you any good if you and dd are still living somewhere else as if you use the address you don't live at you will be fraudulently applying! As many people have said you need to move her in y6 if you want to get the right school in y7. It will also allow her to make friends ready for starting secondary. There is really no advantage in your current plan other than it sounds more palatable to your dd now.

Just to say the fact that your dd is being schooled many miles away will flag it up if you try to use your dh address for the application!

Was about to post exactly what cansu said. If there's one thing the new school will definitely know, it's which primary your DD attends. They would almost certainly enquire/report to the council if she's attending a school in a different city but has been allocated a place at their secondary.

You need to be a catchment resident at time of application at your preferred school. Tho you could speak to the council and ask what's the latest they will accept a change of address. If you move after admissions round has been completed regardless of how close you will be to the school it is unlikely you will get in. I work in appeals for a LA.

Thank you so much for all these replies. It's pretty clear that we do need to move. I am relieved I asked this because I thought it would be possible for my DH to move alone and apply on behalf of DD.

On another note, is there a standard way of measuring distance when it comes to catchments and acceptances? I am confused as to whether it is a straight line (like you can do in Google Maps) or if they consider the shortest walkable route to the school from one's address (which I guess can also be measured in Maps but is also of a much greater distance

It can be either, and the method used should be included in the admissions information. If you cannot find it, email to ask.

Some schools use straight line and some use shortest safe walking route. If it's the latter then there can often be disputes because there will be a back-alley or shortcut which take 10 minutes off the journey but it's not an officially recognised route so the child goes lower down the list. For either method, you also need to check what the exact point being measured to will be - a site like google maps will use the central point in the relevant postcode, but the council authority making the final decisions will have a set policy e.g. it will probably be specifically to your front door, and often the position of the school is defined as the exact position of the Head Teacher's office within the school grounds (so as not to advantage or disadvantage on the basis of where the actual gate into the school grounds is) but some schools are split over two sites and use a central point between the two sites. These things sound trivial but when distance is being used as a tie-breaker there may only be a 10cm difference between the distance calculated for the last pupil admitted under these definitions, and the person who just missed out on a place, so it is important to check and double check that the distance they use for you is correct if you are near the borderline.

I think the advice to move before year 6 is very sound. But have you actually checked how popular your preferred school is? If it's always under-subscribed, moving before the admissions deadline may be less essential. For example, my friend successfully got into her preferred school in Surrey while still living in Australia! It's a good school, just rarely over-subscribed.

But there is still an inherent risk in waiting.

The current Yr5 is anecdotally a high birth year. We moved at Easter to be in place for Secondary admissions... DD currently at her fifth Primary school. But we were settling down for Secondary school, so we wanted to get it right.

Check the admissions criteria of your schools carefully. Ours has a catchment area and feeder schools, as does every other school in the area.

One final thing - this is only anecdote, but I think there might be a few schools that require you to have lived at your application address for a certain length of time before you apply. Perhaps unlikely, but worth checking the admissions policies of your target schools (you should read these anyway).

Thank you all so much, I can’t be grateful enough for all the help you’ve given!

I moved my son in the summer between y5 and y6. I felt bad that he was only going to be at his new school for a year but it worked well as some classmates went to his secondary and he was placed in a great secondary.
In your shoes I'd move to the new city this summer and apply from the rental address. This will mean you need to find your target secondaries quickly but moving during the summer between y6 and y7 holidays a a high risk move as you'll be stuck with undersubscribed secondaries.