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Secondary education

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

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:
pralinee · 25/03/2022 17:13

Again, that's not wholly true. In our LA, if you own a property in the local area, then the LA will refuse to accept a rental address as the application address, even if you're living there at the time, unless you can show very clearly that your rental property is not an 'address of convenience' - eg evidence that you've rented out your owned property for years, and lived at your rented property for ages. I'm not saying it's impossible, but you'd have to be prepared to provide lots of very good evidence.

AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair · 25/03/2022 17:17

@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.
In all the school applications I've made for my children I've never once been asked for an proof of where I live

Schools and local authorities aren't all the same you know. All you can say is that some will ask some won't.

pralinee · 25/03/2022 17:18

And personally no, I would never accept Council Tax on its own. Why should I? Anyone who genuinely lives at an address should very easily be able to supply at least some form of corroborating evidence (payslip, doctor's letter, phone bill, utility bill etc, even if it's electronic not paper). Frankly it's a pain in the arse and I wish I didn't have to, but sadly there are people every year who try to cheat the system (as - potentially - demonstrated by the OP).

SirSamVimesCityWatch · 25/03/2022 17:19

Just delay the move until they have a place?

RoundGlass · 25/03/2022 17:22

Round here we get letters every year from the school asking us to 'grass up' anyone in the area that don't actually live at the addresses.

MrsPear · 25/03/2022 17:27

My London borough checks three times - application, offer day and first day.

And quick frankly op if I’m honest people like you full of money who fuck up the school system to your advantage make me feel sick. If you have so much money to throw around why not go private and give your child’s place to someone less fortunate?

As my Nan use to say the more money they have the dirtier they are - and she didn’t mean you needed a wash!

EveSix · 25/03/2022 17:28

We have been contacted at the primary school where I work to check potential anomalies.

toomanyhobbies · 25/03/2022 17:32

For those saying LAs also ask for proof of child’s address like child benefit letters. What happens if you don’t have this.

Just thinking I don’t claim child Ben or tax credits so wouldn’t have anything with child’s address on it.

MrsGHarrison87 · 25/03/2022 17:35

Yes they do if they're over subscribed.

pralinee · 25/03/2022 17:37

The proof of the child's address is genuinely hard. Could be junior bank account statement, NHS letter (eg flu jab reminder), nursery invoice etc. The GP will usually provide an immunisation record if requested, which has the child's address on. I never like suggesting that though, as GP surgeries have enough to do!

MrsGHarrison87 · 25/03/2022 17:37

Just read that it's a secondary school. That doesn't normally go on where you live.

worriedaboutmoney2022 · 25/03/2022 17:39

I wouldn't recommend this at I used to work for a local education authority and we used to remove kids all the time who's parents obtained school placed fraudulently. We cross checked council tax bills and utility bills and asked for documents to support proof of address and it's embarrassing and fraud can go to court and is a criminal offence.

I think aswell being right near a good school so it's easier for the kids rather than moving 15 miles away to suit my husband seems a bit daft

I'd be having a word with yourselves and having a re-think

pralinee · 25/03/2022 17:40

Eh? Yes it does. Most schools, primary or secondary, will have distance as their final basis for prioritisation, even if they have lots of other criteria as well.

AngelinaFibres · 25/03/2022 18:05

If the house you own, but will no longer live in, is opposite the school, wont the staff notice the following odd things.....
Your child supposedly lives there but is dropped off /collected by car .
That same car is never, ever parked at the house where you apparently live.
Other cars are parked there. People who are not you are regularly seen driving them.
A completely different child/children, who are not related to you, apparently live at the same address that you say is yours. When they are asked, they know nothing about you.
When your son is asked whether he lives over the road do you want him to lie to the member of staff who is asking him ?
When he inevitably forgets something vital won't they think it is extremely odd that he can't just pop over the road to collect it ?
When you drive in to the car park for parents evening wont they think its very odd that you didn't park on your own drive and walk across the road.

ChildOfFriday · 25/03/2022 18:12

@MrsGHarrison87

Just read that it's a secondary school. That doesn't normally go on where you live.
The vast majority of secondary schools have distance from the school as one of their main admission criteria, or at least as a later category or tie breaker if faith/admissions tests/etc are involved.
N0va · 25/03/2022 18:17

Just to add to what previous posters have said, I worked in a support service for local authority and we received a referral and the address given by the school was their old address that hadn't been changed and they were out of our area so I had to refuse support and refer back to the school who had no idea the family lived 25 miles away.

AngelinaFibres · 25/03/2022 18:17

It will take just one child ,the clever dick type, to pipe up "archie x says that's his house sir, but it isn't. His mum brings him in a car, he gets the bus ,whatever". Your son will be asked if that's true. I am fairly sure that lying to your teachers wont end well for your son or you.

HomeHomeInTheRange · 25/03/2022 18:17

We had to provide proof of residence.

In our Borough children have been removed in the middle of the school day where fraudulent application has been proven.

Thoosa · 25/03/2022 18:21

Just do it honestly. Either wait to move or take your chances with the correct address. Your DH is a dick.

ChildrenGrowingUpTooFast · 25/03/2022 18:23

I have to provide three form of proof of address on acceptance of place. Council tax bill, utility bill and bank statement.

pralinee · 25/03/2022 18:25

Totally agree with @Thoosa. Hopefully this thread will have shown you that this is a shitty thing to do. In some areas, you might get away with it. In others, you'd get caught out. And if you do get caught out, you deserve everything that's coming to you.

AngelinaFibres · 25/03/2022 18:28

Once you start lying you are going to have to lie and lie and lie....for years.If there is a sixth form that's 2 more years of lying.
If he is ill and in e.g year 10 he could, presumably, walk home, if you live over the road . But you don't.
He will want to have friends round for tea or to go to friends houses. Those friends and their parents will all know you don't live opposite the school. Someone will shop you. I certainly would.

Rainbowshit · 25/03/2022 18:32

Safest to delay the move. We had to provide council tax, utility bill and bank statement.

justasmalltownmum · 25/03/2022 18:34

Ours didn't check for either child.

AuntyBumBum · 25/03/2022 19:16

@AngelinaFibres

If the house you own, but will no longer live in, is opposite the school, wont the staff notice the following odd things..... Your child supposedly lives there but is dropped off /collected by car . That same car is never, ever parked at the house where you apparently live. Other cars are parked there. People who are not you are regularly seen driving them. A completely different child/children, who are not related to you, apparently live at the same address that you say is yours. When they are asked, they know nothing about you. When your son is asked whether he lives over the road do you want him to lie to the member of staff who is asking him ? When he inevitably forgets something vital won't they think it is extremely odd that he can't just pop over the road to collect it ? When you drive in to the car park for parents evening wont they think its very odd that you didn't park on your own drive and walk across the road.
These are good points @AngelinaFibres, but you don't need to live there throughout the child's school career. We "moved" (back to our original house).