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Secondary education

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Original poster

Do schools check that you're living at the address you put down?

87 replies

SchoolForAll · 25/03/2022 15:12

We currently live opposite the secondary school that we want our son (currently 9) to go to.

Next year, we are moving closer to my husband's workplace. We plan to rent out our current house and buy a new house about 15 minutes away.

In order to guarantee that we get our son into a good school (the one opposite us), my husband wants to use our current address on the application form. We will still own the house but it will likely have renters in it. Would the school check that we aren't currently living there?

Thanks.

OP posts:
raspberryjamchicken · 25/03/2022 16:24

If you are only moving 15 minutes closer to your husband's workplace and really want your DS to go to this particular school, it would seem best to just put off the move for a couple of years.

pralinee · 25/03/2022 16:25

@Soontobe60 it depends on the LA. In our area it's the schools that check, not the LA.

Babadook76 · 25/03/2022 16:26

I’m finding these replies very strange. I have 3 children who between them have attended 4 primary and 1 secondary school, the only documents I’ve ever had to bring in are their birth certificates. I’ve never been asking to bring in a council tax or utility bill.

EveryFlightBeginsWithAFall · 25/03/2022 16:26

I've just had to send proof that ds lives here , never had to do it before

DrinkFeckArseGirls · 25/03/2022 16:27

Delay the move.

Ozanj · 25/03/2022 16:27

If your primary is the catchment school then they won’t check. Secondaries often have wider catchments than primaries anyway so it wouldn’t matter.

jytdtysrht · 25/03/2022 16:28

I’d probably stay in the close house for a term or 2 after he starts

Cloudsanddaffodils · 25/03/2022 16:30

The headteacher of our local secondary was upfront that someone was hired each year to check addresses of applicants!

Twiglets1 · 25/03/2022 16:33

@Babadook76

I’m finding these replies very strange. I have 3 children who between them have attended 4 primary and 1 secondary school, the only documents I’ve ever had to bring in are their birth certificates. I’ve never been asking to bring in a council tax or utility bill.
I guess different schools have different procedures.

We were once moving into a catchment area and got offered a place at the local oversubscribed school that was conditional upon us providing proof of address before September 1st. I was never so relieved as when we moved into that house in August and I could send a copy of the Completion statement to the school as evidence.

Jijithecat · 25/03/2022 16:35

We have to provide our council tax number at the time of application.

Attictroll · 25/03/2022 16:39

We did as had moved within a year. But you shouldn't not do it because of being found out but because it's lying.

titchy · 25/03/2022 16:40

[quote pralinee]@Soontobe60 it depends on the LA. In our area it's the schools that check, not the LA.[/quote]
No, it's the LA. Applications are always made through the LA and they will match council tax records.

AuntyBumBum · 25/03/2022 16:41

@SchoolForAll

We currently live opposite the secondary school that we want our son (currently 9) to go to.

Next year, we are moving closer to my husband's workplace. We plan to rent out our current house and buy a new house about 15 minutes away.

In order to guarantee that we get our son into a good school (the one opposite us), my husband wants to use our current address on the application form. We will still own the house but it will likely have renters in it. Would the school check that we aren't currently living there?

Thanks.

Very unlikely, unless someone tips them off that there is something underhand going on. We went to the trouble of renting somewhere within the catchment area, and making sure that we complied with the rules. So we were particularly alert and paranoid conscious of all this. No checks were carried out.
titchy · 25/03/2022 16:41

@Babadook76

I’m finding these replies very strange. I have 3 children who between them have attended 4 primary and 1 secondary school, the only documents I’ve ever had to bring in are their birth certificates. I’ve never been asking to bring in a council tax or utility bill.
As per my pp when you applied it would have been through the local authority and they would have checked your council tax record for proof.
Pyewhacket · 25/03/2022 16:42

@Twiglets1

The school do ask to see proof of where you are currently living in the form of a utility bill or council tax form etc. So I guess if you carry on paying the council tax and maybe get a postal redirection service so letters are delivered to you at your new address, you could manage it. The school won’t do a physical check. Though personally I would probably put off a house move until the school place was confirmed and then move.
This
titchy · 25/03/2022 16:42

So we were particularly alert and paranoid conscious of all this. No checks were carried out.

But they would have been - you just didn't know about them.

Thepaintedgarden · 25/03/2022 16:43

Yes. At our school the governors visit at weekends to check. People used to lie all the time about where they were living but they can't now.

sunisblinding · 25/03/2022 16:47

Yes they do. And it's enormously frowned upon to say you're living at an address that you're not.

SoupDragon · 25/03/2022 16:47

@SchoolForAll

Thank you for the comments.

To clarify, the area we're moving to is still within the catchment area of the school, but we do have less chance of getting it at our new address.

How would you feel if you applied from your new address and missed out because someone had lied about their address?
pralinee · 25/03/2022 16:47

@titchy I'm sorry but that's just not true! I work in admissions, this is literally my day job. In our LA, yes, the coordinated applications (ie for Reception and Year 7) are made via the LA. But the LA delegates responsibility for checking address evidence to the schools. If the school has a concern, then they flag this up to the LA, who will then step in. Incidentally, for in year admissions, the LA is even less involved, as applications are made direct to schools. Address evidence is also checked for in year applications, again by the school.

ApplePippa · 25/03/2022 16:52

@Sharrowgirl

I’ve never been asked for proof of address for a school application. Is it mostly oversubscribed schools that do?
Its often done behind the scenes so you wouldn't know. Our LA checks against council tax records, and people are only contacted if there is some kind of anomaly.

I found this out when applying for DS - the application was done in my name but the council tax was in DHs. They got in contact and it was sorted out very easily, but up until then, I hadn't been asked to provide proof of anything.

titchy · 25/03/2022 16:53

[quote pralinee]@titchy I'm sorry but that's just not true! I work in admissions, this is literally my day job. In our LA, yes, the coordinated applications (ie for Reception and Year 7) are made via the LA. But the LA delegates responsibility for checking address evidence to the schools. If the school has a concern, then they flag this up to the LA, who will then step in. Incidentally, for in year admissions, the LA is even less involved, as applications are made direct to schools. Address evidence is also checked for in year applications, again by the school.[/quote]
Maybe your LA do it differently then. Mine certainly checks council tax!

AuntyBumBum · 25/03/2022 16:57

@titchy

So we were particularly alert and paranoid conscious of all this. No checks were carried out.

But they would have been - you just didn't know about them.

Just to be clear, I particularly meant the knock at the door. We didn't get one. I'm guessing that if you've got the place let out to tenants it would be easy enough to fiddle the paperwork (eg continue to pay the council tax), in case those sorts of checks were made. It would be the knock at the door that might catch you out.
pralinee · 25/03/2022 17:00

We ask for a Council Tax bill too, but it's not enough on its own. First, because it doesn't prove that the parent or child is actually living at the address - only that they own it. Second, because it doesn't meet the date requirement on its own (the Council Tax bills are issued before/after the application opening/closing dates, so a family could have moved house before/after submitting their application).

BlingLoving · 25/03/2022 17:07

In our LA you have to upload your council tax as part of the application process. And I'd imagine that only in very extreme circumstances is that not proof of residence (at least for the adults).

If he's 9, why not just stay in the house until he applies because technically, the fact that you own the house is irrelevant. it's where you live. In the same way that for all that people like to froth at the mouth when people move into a rental property closer to a school - the point is that it's where you are living at the time of application that counts. Not where you own a house or whatever.

If he's Year 5 it's one more year. If he's Year 4, it's only 2 years?