Moving out of catchment after applying for catchment senior school

[KatieHB]

We live in the catchment for a very good senior school and are hoping our son gets in next September. We need to apply by the end of this month. We are looking to move and have found a house, although it's only be a couple of miles away, it is outside of the catchment for this school. I am checking with our local council but does anyone have any experience of this? I had always thought it went on where you lived when applying (we have lived here 18 years), so I assumed it would be OK, but now think I should check. If it turns out he might have his offer withdrawn if we move we probably wouldn't risk it. Thanks

What does the school / LA say in admission procedures regarding address?

You usually need to be in the catchment address still when they start school. Not much point having catchment areas otherwise.

You need to be living there during the allocation process for it to be used as the home address and not temporarily just to get a place. If you move before March 1st you need to update the LA.

You would probably have to stay put till September I think. I wouldn’t risk it. If it messes up his chance to get into a good school it’ll affect his whole life.

You need to look at the admissions criteria. If you move, you still may get a place based on distance. Can you find out the furthest distance that a child was admitted the last couple of years and compare it to the new house?

what the rules are will vary between areas. For example here are the rules for Hants: www.hants.gov.uk/educationandlearning/admissions/guidance/addressconfirmation

Here you need to still be at that address on the day the dc starts school. Of course they may not find out but a friend of mine moved in the August and unfortunately the new tenant received and returned a council correspondence letter as no longer at this address as she lost the school spaces for her boys with just days to go.

Clearly rules vary a lot as the Hants rules I linked to state address when applications close.

if the school is often over-subscribed, the council will have very clear definitions of what it means to be ‘resident in catchment’ and key dates. Residence at time of application and allocation is usually key, occasionally on admittance.

Schools where admissions fraud is / has been common will often have a range of ways to detect those who move around to try to gain admission against the rules - checking the address on applications vs the addresses held by the primary school, and checking addresses in entry to Y7 compared with applications are two common ones where the council will then trigger investigations to identify exact moving dates, residence and ownership of other properties.

Once a place is allocated, it cannot be withdrawn unless on very limited grounds, and a genuine move is not one of them. Some try, but any places removed simply because of a house move would be reinstated under appeal.

Some LAs make it messy if you move between close and allocation on March 1, so it's safest to stay until then if you can.

An allocated place can only be removed if the admission authority believe the address has been used fraudulently - it was not the child's permanent address at time, say it was a short term rental, or you have another owned property you have recently lived in that you vacated in order to use another address.

Genuine question. If op applies and then moves very soon after, could they say that was fraudulent?

This is a complicated area. Schools can remove a place if they believe you were using an address of convenience. They shouldn't remove a place for a genuine move and an appeal in those circumstances would have a good chance. It is unreasonable to expect no-one with a year 6 pupil to move house for 11 months between applying and starting.

It depends.

If a school has a catchment, and a move is made out of catchment, then surely an applicant should no longer be eligible?

Otherwise, in years of over-subscription within catchment, someone who has moved several miles away for a larger cheaper house could gain a place over someone who has lived near the edge of the catchment throughout.

Obviously, moves within a catchment are fine.

It is unreasonable to expect no-one to move, but it is equally unreasonable to think that a child’s school application should be treated as if they have ‘t moved.

A move into the catchment of the neighbouring school should mean that the application needs to be for the neighbouring school instead ….,

The OP has lived at the address for 18 years, so hardly an address of convenience.

Totally different to suddenly applying from a temporary rental near the school while your owned house is a mile or two away.

Genuine question. If op applies and then moves very soon after, could they say that was fraudulent?

No - because the address used at the time of application was the child's true permanent address.

Where it can get complicated is moves between close of applications and allocation; different LAs have different dates by which a new address can be submitted, and used for the application, if it is the new permanent address.

OP is in the situation where she doesn't actually want the new address used, so in most LAs that would be fine, but some would take a different view and then it gets messy - they should use the address at close of applications, but if they don't, it gets complicated to unpick so it's really easier to stay at the application address until allocation.

You have to be actually living there on the application deadline for it to be a valid application. If you move before allocations are made you are supposed to update the address and the allocation will be made on the basis of your new address but it shouldn't be treated as a late application. If you move after the allocations are published in March then the place wouldn't usually be withdrawn unless there was some evidence of underhand dealing e.g. if you only lived in the catchment area for 6 months in order to secure the place. Arranging house moves can take months anyway - if you have only just found the potential house then there's ages for searches and surveys and legal stuff to get through and you'd be lucky to move before February even if you were racing to get it all done ASAP. If you let everyone in your moving chain know that you can't agree to a completion date until April 2023 at the earliest then it should be OK.

A move into the catchment of the neighbouring school should mean that the application needs to be for the neighbouring school instead ….,

But that would be a late application, with all spaces at preferred schools filled up. So the child would be disadvantaged at each (fully legitimate) address. Allocation from first address struck off, new application after the deadline. Why should genuine house moves disadvantage a child’s choices / preferences?

I'd be happy to wait until March but I don't think our vendor would be :(

It's very frustrating that the road we may be moving to is literally about 2 roads out of the catchment.

Honestly for all the stress and worry involved, I’d wait!
it’s much nicer for them to be closer to school anyway.

I agree, but the new house is about the same distance from the desired school as our current house in catchment

You need to decide if the house or the school is more important then. I had to change my address with admissions when we moved in the February that year. If you move out of catchment you’re reducing the chance of getting the chosen school.

Does your LA definitely use catchment as opposed to distance? Check previous admissions data for how far last child admitted and from which category historically,

The flip side of this is that if places are withdrawn between all the places being allocated and the start of school in September, then a child who moves could end up with no place, or at best applying for a place and it not being sorted for the start of term. For those who are in a rental which is coming to an end, that's a massive worry - they need a rental in the same catchment to keep the place. I think that's why many areas work on where they're living when the allocations are done, rather than September.