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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Secondary admissions and moving house - will we lose our place?

16 replies

ruthietoothie · 08/02/2022 09:55

I wonder if anyone can help. I have a child going up to year seven this September. We have put her application in for secondary school.

We have now seen a house that we'd like to move to. We'd likely move in April/may. I'd notify the school admissions team as soon as we moved. Would they be likely to withdraw the school we get offered if the new house is a bit further out?

Can't work out how it works.

OP posts:

Firesidefox · 08/02/2022 09:56

Every school has different criteria so you need to look at that.

Gazelda · 08/02/2022 09:58

As above.
And it will depend on what criteria you were allocated your space under.

Hoppinggreen · 08/02/2022 09:59

As long as you were genuinely resident in the address you gave when you applied I dont think that moving later should be a problem

PatriciaHolm · 08/02/2022 10:09

No, unless there is good reason/evidence for them to think that the address you applied from is an "address of convenience" - used to get a place, and then moved out of quickly. This might be the case, for example, if you only lived there for six months whilst owning/renting another property nearby.

There is a very limited set of grounds on which a place can legally be withdrawn once offered, and simply moving house post offer is not one of them.

NewToTwickenham · 08/02/2022 11:03

I think this really depends where you live. It did not make a difference to dsis but LB Richmond (where we are) make it very clear they will withdraw the place if it was allocated on distance and they reassess on new address.

PatriciaHolm · 08/02/2022 11:13

@NewToTwickenham

They can say this, and they are not the only LA to try it, but in reality, they are on very shaky ground and if a parent had a place withdrawn simply because they genuinely moved between allocation and starting, they could go to appeal and I expect they would win.

The appeals code 2021 is very clear on this -

"2.13 An admission authority must not withdraw an offer unless it has been offered in error, a parent has not responded within a reasonable period of time, or it is established that the offer was obtained through a fraudulent or intentionally misleading application"

the must not gives it the force of law. So assuming the move is genuine and the previous address was not an temporary one/address of convenience, the allocated place cannot be withdrawn.

Of course, no one wants to end up in the situation of having to go to appeal of course.

PatriciaHolm · 08/02/2022 11:14

(I meant Admissions Code 2021 sorry, not Appeals!)

Original poster

ruthietoothie · 08/02/2022 12:17

Thanks so much to all of you for replying! I feel really nervous about the move. My reading of it is similar to @PatriciaHolm that it is not easy to withdraw the place if there has been no fraud / attempt to mislead.

I am nervous about it though, but we may just have to do it and see what happens!

The move will only mean we are about 0.2 miles further away from the school she is likely to get into from our current address. And the new address will still be in the catchment area. Still worried though

OP posts:

prh47bridge · 08/02/2022 13:01

Most LAs get this right. I have helped some parents where the LA has withdrawn the offer on the basis of a change of address. My success rate on such appeals is 100%. It is unlikely you will have any problems. If you do, you will get all the help you need on here to win your appeal.

Ariela · 08/02/2022 13:14

Aren't you being a bit ambitious to be exchanged and completed by April/May?

Original poster

ruthietoothie · 08/02/2022 14:01

@Ariela we just rent so that's not an issue..

@prh47bridge does that mean you have seen cases of local authorities withdrawing or changing an offer after a move that takes place after the march offer date? The admissions code does seem to suggest this isn't permitted. I would be so terrified of going through an appeal!

OP posts:

prh47bridge · 08/02/2022 15:21

It isn't permitted but some LAs still try it on occasionally. However, in my experience an appeal always results in the place being given back because you are right, the Admissions Code does not permit it.

trumpisagit · 08/02/2022 15:52

In our area you can phone the council admissions and ask these questions.
I know someone who chose to live near the school for the admissions period, and then move. They asked admissions about how long they would need to reside at that address, and made their move accordingly
Can you phone and ask?

Original poster

ruthietoothie · 08/02/2022 19:28

Thanks so much @prh47bridge - that's reassuring! And good advice @trumpisagit I have contacted my LA (Bradford) but all they keep emphasising is that we need to notify them as soon as we move and that this move may affect our allocation so that doesn't sound great... All a bit nerve wracking!!

OP posts:

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 08/02/2022 19:29

Couldn’t you just delay completion until you’ve accepted a school place

Original poster

ruthietoothie · 09/02/2022 21:01

It's a rental so that doesn't apply and houses don't come up very often so...

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