Address for year 7 state secondary school admissions

[ericawong]

Dear all I m new here
My family is planning to move to Uk this summer and my son ll be in year 6 but it happens that he ll ve to apply for secondary before end of oct .
We plan to move to our target secondary as close as possible but I wonder how long i ve to stay in that address to make his application valid.
Will it be March when the results release or early sept when he genuinely starts studying in that school.
I don't plan to move far away from the school, it could be just 0.5 mile away when the rent is more affordable.

I do really appreciate yr advice thank you

You need to look up the specific school admissions guidance for the LA of the school you want to apply to. It should all be published on their website.

Some LA will expect you to have been there before the application and until the place is taken up. You need to check the local council website for conditions.

Your child would definitely have to be resident in the UK before any Local Authority would consider allocating a school space. Different LAs have slightly different views on when they will accept an application but most would say it can only accept an application when the child is clearly in the UK. As such you need to have a conversation with the LA admission team to establish exactly when they will allow an application to be considered.
In terms of time in resident there is no requirement, it is when you can prove that the child is resident at a specific address unless you are military or crown officer when a different approach is taken. If you are thinking of renting then you need to be thinking in terms of a minimum 12 month rent so that the LA accept that you are not trying to just rent very short term to get into the school.
In terms of timing the cut of date for september 2022 entry has passed for on time applications, it was 31st October. Places are allocated on 1st March 2022 with all on time applications handled first followed by those that apply after 31st October 2021. Please accept that if you are not in the UK until Summer 2022, then you will struggle to get a place allocated before September 2022.

Admission - did you even read the OPs post?
DC will be in year 6, so will be in the UK before application is made (for 2023 entry) in October!
I don’t really agree with people moving into catchment to get a school place then moving out afterwards - it makes a mockery of the system ( which of course isn’t fit for purpose anyway), but I understand why you would do it.
Like PPs say - check the school admissions policy - usually available somewhere on their website.

I would contact the admissions department in the local authority for the area you are planning to move to, OP. I found them really helpful when I moved shortly before my child started school and I had to make a late application.

Perhaps I've had too much Christmas sherry, but (as I read it) OP's son will be in Y6 in summer 2022, so at the very end of primary school, and will need a Y7 place for September 2022.

In that case, admission's advice is (as ever) correct. OP needs to speak to the local education authority about when they will accept an application and what evidence of address/residence will be required. Many LEAs will not accept short-term rental agreements, to prevent (at least to some degree) people gaming the system by renting close to oversubscribed schools and then moving away when the school place is awarded. Hence the need for a conversation with the LEA.

Hmm - I read it as needing to apply for a Year 7 place in the normal on time round next Autumn, on time with a child going into Year 6 next Sept, after summer...Then OP is concerned about when she could move again having done so.

The address used, as said, has to be the address the child is resident at at the time of application. Except in rare cases of crown service/returning military, the child would almost certainly need to be resident at that point, but it sounds as if that is the plan anyway.

Once the place has been given (March), there are very limited grounds on which it can be taken away, but one ground is that the LA believe the address is one of convenience, taken purely for school admittance, so as PP said, short term rental agreements are often not allowed. The place cannot be taken away just because you move between allocation and starting, but it can if the LEA believe it was a temporary address that was not and never intended to be the child's full time residence.

Which LEA is it? The details of exactly what they do and don't accept should be on their website.

I work in admissions and we would very likely withdraw an offered place if the address was regarded as an address of convenience under these circumstances.

Moving from a short term rental just before application and then moving out to another rental once the place is secured is a massive red-flag that would be passed to the fraud team for full investigation. We have even withdrawn places after the child has started in September due to fake addresses - and when that wasn't possible we refused to consider subsequent children as siblings so they were not ranked higher and could not secure a place based on the older sibling's fraud.

short term rentals are always red flags for admissions departments.

But given that you are arriving from overseas, it would be fairly normal to rent and then buy for example. The issue woudl be how close the house was that you bought.

In essence you need to make it look like you are not just doing it for the convenience of the school place.
Phone the LA and talk to the admissions department.

As I understand it, you usually have to still be resident then when the child starts school in September.

Some LEA are much stricter than others due to demand for places and high incedents of fraud. Around us it is pretty relaxed for example.

If your son will be in Year 6 this summer, the local secondary places will already have been allocated. Parents in England (don't know about the rest of the UK) apply in the Autumn for school places the following Autumn. If you are in an area with a lot of over-subscribed schools and if the one you are targeting is particularly popular then it will have a very long waiting list - so going to all the trouble of moving twice may not give you the results you want.

Thank you for all your reply,
The council should reply to my queries in 10 days.
Strppemum is right. I plan to move to the closest and then buy one. But I don't want to be bound by the school and anyway, as I said earlier , I don't plan to live far away from the school . I don't plan to drive at all, walk or cycle only,

So it seems my rental contract has to be at least a yr and ends till sept

@downtonupton

I work in admissions and we would very likely withdraw an offered place if the address was regarded as an address of convenience under these circumstances.

Moving from a short term rental just before application and then moving out to another rental once the place is secured is a massive red-flag that would be passed to the fraud team for full investigation. We have even withdrawn places after the child has started in September due to fake addresses - and when that wasn't possible we refused to consider subsequent children as siblings so they were not ranked higher and could not secure a place based on the older sibling's fraud.

May I know from yr advice that if my new address is still very close to school, ll it be fine? The address is just different.

Say still within a mile from the school

I'd really appreciate yr advice

The rules about addresses of convenience are aimed at people who "truly" live at address A out-of-area but short-term rent address B in order to qualify for a school place. This is fraud and is illegal.

Your situation in totally different and it would not be fraudulent to rent Address X from when you arrive in the UK and apply to schools from that address, then move to Address Y later.

What would be dangerous would be to move house between the application deadline in October and the date that the school places are allocated in March/April. Some LEAs will require a change of address to trigger your application to be treated as a late application which would put you at the bottom of the priority criteria. Make sure you stay put (and do not even start trying to buy or rent a different property) until places are allocated. It is then fine to move.

Can you be clear when you expect your son to start secondary school - Sept 2022 or Sept 2023? If it's 2022 and you only arrive in the UK over the summer don't worry about moving from a rental - you'll effectively have very little choice in school as you can't apply till then and will be allocated one from the council.

If it's Sept 2023, then you would need to stay in your rental until Easter 2023, then once you have the school place confirmed you could move without raising suspicion.

@titchy

Can you be clear when you expect your son to start secondary school - Sept 2022 or Sept 2023? If it's 2022 and you only arrive in the UK over the summer don't worry about moving from a rental - you'll effectively have very little choice in school as you can't apply till then and will be allocated one from the council.

If it's Sept 2023, then you would need to stay in your rental until Easter 2023, then once you have the school place confirmed you could move without raising suspicion.

It would still raise suspicion and we would investigate and possibly withdraw a place that has been offered.

*May I know from yr advice that if my new address is still very close to school, ll it be fine? The address is just different.

Say still within a mile from the school

I'd really appreciate yr advice*

Cant say - all boroughs have different rules and not all schools allocate the same way. Most councils put a list on their website of how far they have been able to offer in previous years.

Some schools have tests, allocate to 'catchment' area first or have feeder schools. Some schools offer based on faith and you need to be of the right faith to get a place.

It is impossible to say whether moving within a mile of a specific school will secure you a place there as the answer could be different in different areas or for different schools.

Some very good schools have vacancies after offer day and will offer to everyone who applies - others will only offer a few hundred metres from the school

It would still raise suspicion and we would investigate and possibly withdraw a place that has been offered.

And given the circumstances of the OP - moving from overseas, she'd appeal and win.

@titchy

It would still raise suspicion and we would investigate and possibly withdraw a place that has been offered.

And given the circumstances of the OP - moving from overseas, she'd appeal and win.

^This. It would be irrational and unethical for a place to be withdrawn under these circumstances as no fraud will have taken place and any authority that overstretched their remit to discriminate against people who don't have the luxury of secure long-term accommodation by removing their school place just because they can't stay put for more than 6 months at a time should be ashamed.

but OP has admitted that they want to rent near a school and will then move when they have secured a school place to somewhere more affordable. Their address will be an address of convenience and would be investigated.

Who knows how the investigation would go - they may or may not be successful on appeal but we have successfully defended appeals in similar cases.

I was keen that the parents didn't invest a load of money trying to cheat the system when it may not work and they may not get the school they want.

@downtonupton

but OP has admitted that they want to rent near a school and will then move when they have secured a school place to somewhere more affordable. Their address will be an address of convenience and would be investigated.

Who knows how the investigation would go - they may or may not be successful on appeal but we have successfully defended appeals in similar cases.

I was keen that the parents didn't invest a load of money trying to cheat the system when it may not work and they may not get the school they want.

It's not an address of convenience (do you know what that means?). It will be OP's actual home. She's not living a couple of miles away, renting somewhere near, then moving back to her original home. She's arriving into the UK, finding somewhere to live near a school (pretty much most rental places will be near a school....), then looking to buy somewhere nearby.

No - they say they would look for a place near to a preferred school and will then rent a cheaper place further away.

They are deliberately renting to secure a school place before settling down elsewhere - that is an address on convenience.

They are trying to play the system and our local authority would investigate someone who has a short term rental and then immediately moves.

Other authorities may not look that closely in to it.

@downtonupton

No - they say they would look for a place near to a preferred school and will then rent a cheaper place further away.

They are deliberately renting to secure a school place before settling down elsewhere - that is an address on convenience.

They are trying to play the system and our local authority would investigate someone who has a short term rental and then immediately moves.

Other authorities may not look that closely in to it.

Read the rest of OP's posts. She says quite clearly she will rent when she arrives in the UK (how else would she house herself?) then look to buy somewhere very local as she wants to be within walking / cycling distance of school and won't be buying a car.

I don't plan to move far away from the school, it could be just 0.5 mile away when the rent is more affordable.

@downtonupton

I don't plan to move far away from the school, it could be just 0.5 mile away when the rent is more affordable.

the trouble is that whether 0.5 miles is close enough depends entirley on the school.

But I think that you would win any appeal based on returning to the UK, renting and then buying all within one small area. There is literally no other option unless you buy before you arrive whihc is nonsense.

I would let the admission department know what your circumstances are. Being upfront helps in these circumstances. And I would definitely stay in one place until past places being allocated. (actually I would stay until september, but that is probably me being over cautious)