Address for secondary school application

[Emmylou22]

My daughter is going into secondary school in September. Our favourite school is one that's very close to her dad's house. My house is about 6 miles away. They don't have a catchment area as such but she would be prioritised as nearby if we put her dad's address down. She lives between both houses but I claim the child benefit and her primary school has her listed as living with me. My question is would the school query/check the address?

My understanding is that if she's 50/50 then they will go on where the CB is paid but if she's more with you then it's definitely your address.

Yes, they can check and in most areas will do so.

So unless she really moves to her DDad's for over 50% of the time, and does so before the application deadline, you are on very thin ice. Places can and are removed, even after the pupil has started, if the application is deemed fraudulent, and gerrymandering where the DC lives would count as such. Don't do this to your DD. It can come to light when they start, as other parents may notice, and if their friend's DC did not get in because they just missed the distance then they may well raise it for investigation. Faking your DC's residence isn't a neutral act, it really is taking a place from a genuinely local family.

4.5 Only one address can be used on the application for a school place. Where shared care arrangements are in place, both parents must agree which address will be used on the application, and this should be the address where the child lives for the majority of the school week. If no joint declaration is received by the closing date for applications, the local authority will determine which address will be used, based on where the child spends the majority of the school week. In instances where the child spends equal time with each parent, the home address will be taken as the address where the child is registered with the doctor (see explanatory note 16.6).

That is a copy and paste from our local admissions policy, have a look at your local one maybe?

In our borough it would be the LA who would carry out checks, not the school. If you have 50/50 care then it would depend on where the child is registered for various kinds of admin - child benefit, GP, dentist, other benefits. If both parents are in agreement it's perfectly legal and trivial to switch address to the other parent.

Each LA makes its own rules on what constitutes an acceptable address. Where care is shared, most require the address where the child spends the majority of their time or the majority of school nights. In the case of genuine 50/50 care, some LAs allow the parents to choose which address to use, some insist on using the address of the parent receiving Child Benefit, some have other ways of figuring out the correct address.

You must find out what your LA's rules are and follow them. If you can't figure out what your LA requires, PM me with the name of your LA and I will find out for you. As @meditrina says, if you use the wrong address your application will be classed as fraudulent. If they find out before places are allocated, they will use the correct address. If they find out after places are allocated, they can take away the place your daughter has been given even if she has already started at that school. You would then be left with a place at the nearest school with places available. This is likely to be an unpopular school and could be a long way from home.

You get child benefit so will considered the main parent with care and her home is with you. You could change it so he receives child benefit if a place at the school is your priority.

It is worth noting that you can speak to the school, if there is over subscription for that year group they may have an input as to which children can be reviewed to get a place, this happened to us and the school 'found' our lad a place. This school slightly rural (as in a couple of miles from town centre but not in the sticks) though so may just be the case for rural/semi rural schools?

Assuming OP is in England, the school has no discretion to "find" places for children.. They must follow their admission criteria which must be objective.