Moving house after applying for secondary school place.

[Hotpinkangel19]

I'm looking for advice, we are looking for a new house since my husband had a life changing accident 11 weeks ago, he's now mostly in a wheelchair and struggling. We desperately need more space, and the house we have found is just out of the catchment area for our preferred school (His brother and sister currently attend)
The house may not be fully ready until Christmas, and we get the school place in March.
What should we do?

Move as you need. Your husbands needs are more important right now. Keep the admissions authority fully informed along the way, giving evidence where needed or helpful. Check the schools admission policy as it may be that they have a criteria for exceptional circumstances that may or may not apply (unlikely since it’s your husband not your child but possible). In the event that you don’t get the school place you want, appeal, as these circumstances may well be upheld.

It’s impossible to say how it will own out but 5 years of a particular high school (when children often thrive in various schools) does not outweigh your husbands needs right now and I’m sorry you’re going through this.

*pan out not own out

You apply in October with your current address. (Just make sure that you redirect your mail to the new address when you do move so that you don't miss any post from the new school. I imagine the admission authority do it all online now.)

You can call the school admission authority if you are worried. But think of this the other way......some one plans to move into catchment and thinks they will complete by Dec/Jan.....they aren't allowed to use the new address as they aren't actually living there at the time.....you are just the reverse.)

Keep the admissions authority fully informed from the start to avoid suspicion. Tell them now, and see what they say. Hopefully this will just be viewed as a genuine move and won't affect the application. Really sorry about your husband .

Have you double checked the school admissions policy? A lot near us put siblings as higher priority than proximity to the school.

Thank you. I was going to call admissions in the morning and explain everything, my husband lost his leg, so it's a permanent disability and we need more room than what we currently have.
I'll just call and be honest, hopefully they can help.

Not to do with secondary schools, but my dd is missing her arm from birth, and you may find Limbcare helpful if you need advice. The chap who runs it is lovely.

Limbpower is also excellent although my dd's had more experience with their sports side, but there are a lot of very helpful people there too.

Echoing to check the admissions policy. Round here, even at secondary, siblings out of catchment are higher priority than applications without a sibling but live in catchment.

Being totally open with admissions is the way to go. But also record what is said if it's a telephone call, and keep all the letters/emails.

I echo what others have said, you apply with the address on the 31st October, you must tell them if you move between then and school starting in September but they use the address in October as the reference. We've had it in reverse and couldn't apply in that LEA until we exchanged contracts in June

Can you apply to a school near new potential home as a back up. My siblings and I went to different secondaries and it didn’t cause any issues, we travelled to school with friends and not our parents

I hope your third child can attend the same school. Around here, your family's case would be seen as "special circumstances" and I'm sure they would be given higher priority.