Catchment area advice needed

[Nevda]

Please share your advice if you know the best way to resolve our dilemma: me and my husband are separating, we have 2 properties which we have owned for many years. They are aprox 40 miles apart. One of us want to move to the other property . Our son wants to sit a grammar school exam in the catchment area near the second property. In order to sit the exam we need to have a proof of address that he lives near that school.
one of us will have the second property as their main address . The problem is that we dont want to remove our son from his current primary school in Y5 and move to a new one in the other town. That would be very disruptive for him. The school said that it does not matter where the primary school is , only the permanent address matters. Can they somehow have an issue with that and prove the child does not physically live there every day ? The child would have to commute an hour every day to the old primary school which would be tough just meet the requirement. (we own a house next to the old primary school which would not make sense either). We owned the second house for decades and son would live there full time subject to passing the entrance exam. If he fails then we would be out of catchment area for the old address anyway at that point but at least his primary education wont get spoiled. He can live at the other address some days but not all the week. Do you think they can investigate which days he lives at which address (and how?), question the location of the primary school etc and potentially refuse our secondary school place application ? Surely that would only harm the child if they force us to change the primary school, which they say does not matter where it is.

Could he stay Mon and Wed, Thur nights at old house to reduce commute but the rest in new house?

However, if moving 40miles would it not actually be better to bite the bullet and move schools, get to know local kids etc?

OP, you should look to see what the new area, specifically the schools that you are looking at, if academies, to see what they classify as the home address where the child spends part of each week / fortnight / month with each parent. (there is no guarantee that he will get a place at the grammar school, so looking at all the other options as well). Most will have clear guidance on this.

If you are intending to apply for secondary schools with the address of the house relevant to being IC for the grammar school, whilst maintaining a normal primary school place (not some super special indie where he's got a bursary ancd a massive scholarship on account of a particular enormous talent) forty miles away, where your DS's de facto main address remains, don't be surprised if somewhere in the system a little red flag is raised.

Because that would essentially be address fraud, and yes, it is possible that someone will check and yes, that can include e.g. making unannounced visits very early in the morning / late evening.

I can see why you would do this but it could raise a red flag and I don’t know how they specify the amount of nights a child has to live at an address for it to ‘count’

This would raise so many red flags. I know someone who did this but "got back together" with their partner in Year 7. The school went ballistic (as did the other parents) and I think there was a threat of the boy being removed.

In response to your question, round here it's 50% minimum in the resident address (Cheshire)

The address used for the form should be the primary address of the child. Defintions May vary slightly but will usually be where the child spends the majority of their time, or their time in the school week, and if it’s 50/50, other factors like the address of the parent receiving CB or where the child is registered for the GP may come into it.

Would he end up commuting between two parents 40 miles apart ? Sounds tough

I assume that once the secondary place was settled, the kid would have an EOW plus maybe one mid week arrangement with the NRP, which isn’t too awful for 40 miles,

Does he have a good chance of passing the 11 plus?

The fact that you’ve had the second home for years could easily be considered a permanent address. Plus you’re separating, so that’s another valid reason. The fact that he would commute instead of staying at a home close by is irrelevant and justifiable from family circumstances.

But to be safe, you could change the G.P & dentist. Just ensure you change it with the primary school from now, they rarely send letters but just in case they do some checks or wanted to do a tick box exercise.

I’ve known a few kids who moved an hour away and commuted everyday for 1/2yrs to stay at the primary school.

When the time comes, hope all goes well with his exams

Have you explained to your child that your marriage is over and you (or your DH) are moving out and he will live in the other property the majority of the time? What is the plan for how your child will be looked after post split? 50/50 or something else? Does he have wrap around childcare, holiday childcare - is that in the new area too? Presumably all the schools on the secondary admissions form will be near the new primary residence?

It would be pretty easy to ask a year 6 child where he lives, how he is finding the new commute, how him and his siblings (if any) are dealing with the split and their new home.

Presumably the parent and children moving home will be registered at a new GP, the car will be registered at the new address.

This sounds like you have a rental near the school you want your child to go to and are trying to work out how you can get them in based on the experience of wellmeaning internet strangers as you can’t actually talk to friends about it as they’ll call you out…call me cynical if you wish.

I doubt friends would ‘call them out!’ They’d want the best for their friends child than a stranger! Also, op said they’ve owned it for years, not really up to anyone to cast doubt and say otherwise really

most of this is irrelevant, they’re asking about catchment area not parenting.

The school won’t & shouldn’t ask anything to the child about the new address at all. Only admin would be privy to this info & the council are not going to investigate by asking the child either!