Henrietta Barnett catchment of 3 miles - Possible to move?

[GutsyBear]

Hi
My kid cleared Henrietta Barnett school first round and sat the second round. We recently came to know of catchment area of 3 miles. If we are renting and our contract was ending and were planning to move to Chemford for CCHS. We are contemplating is it too late to move to HBS catchment area of 3 miles now.

Please suggest

Presumably you'll need to have moved into whichever address you decide by 31st Oct or whenever is the deadline for the form to be handed in. I think you're cutting it rather fine!

For CCHS, the operative date is 'the time of application' and yes, for an on-time application to be made, that must be by 3ist October at the latest.

Admissions-Policy-for-Entry-in-2026-Approved-Date-Revised-7-Feb-25.pdf https://share.google/6Dl3Pd58TVvYOswvM

Noting also this:

In the case of a recent change of address during the admissions process additional
evidence will be required. This may be in the form of: a UK photocard driving licence
(if applicable), council tax bill and two utility bills, one of which must be the electricity
bill showing actual usage...

...and that if a change of address is made after 31st October, which would improve the ranking of the application, then this address won't be used until after the school takes over the waiting list from Essex County Council at the beginning of September 2026 (for most other Essex schools, a change of address is permitted up to a date around November 21st, plus late amendments are used for ranking after national offer day.

One rather obvious thing to consider, is whether one wants to live within 3 miles of HBS, or within 12.5 miles of CCHS, should one decide that one wants to move at all? I'm not familiar with the former, but am with the latter and would imagine Hampstead Garden Suburb and its environs to be in general quite different. There is also the question of a primary school place for the rest of year 6, something which is in short supply in many bits of Essex, but may be easier to come by in London.

@GutsyBear did your DD also sit the CSSE exam? All postcodes SS0 to SS9 inc are in catchment for SHSG and WHSG, with bits of SS6 (Rayleigh area postcode) also IC for CCHS. You can check individual addresses on the 'Find a School' look-up on the Essex CC website.

WRT moving for HBS, presumably the school's website indicates whether it would be worth it if you coukd move in and provide the relevant evidence within the next 23 days. On the other hand, although HBS does have a priority area, iirc, since it was introduced, only c.30 / 40% of places have been allocated IC.

The main question I have is if I move into Barnet within a 3 mile radius of school at this stage will it considered as moving in to gain unfair advantage/using address of convenience? Or as long as we can end old contract, start a new contract and move into new place by 31sy Oct, it should all be ok. As per the Barnet policy, some of the points such as using 2 tenancy contracts in parallel, friends/family address proof, etc are address of convenience violations i agree. However, ending one contract and starting a new one is also unfair? Since, most grammar schools also have a catchment and give a clear guideline of date as long as I use the same, will that be ok?

Page 14-16 gives details of the address verification used by Barnet

www.barnet.gov.uk/sites/default/files/024681_bc4927_-_guide_to_secondary_2026_final_1.pdf

HBS has been cryptic and ask to speak to Barnet council. Barnet council telephone line folks are not too clear on this topic un my experience. I couldn't find an operative Barnet secondary Admissions email id

Can you afford to live within three miles of the school?

On rent, yes

But realistically you can’t end one tenancy, find a new property and sign a new one within three weeks unless you are already under notice, so it would not work to use an in catchment address.

i dont think many people get in from the 3mile radius rule anyway so most spaces are given to those who perform best in the test.

Understood. Makes sense. Thanks

The fact that not many people get in on catchment doesn't mean that it wouldn't be a guaranteed place if you moved within catchment OP. And I agree that genuinely moving with a new tenancy is not the same as a move of convenience (I mean of course it's more convenient to live near your dd's school but if you're intending to live there permanently that's fine). So it's more a case of logistics and whether it's worth it as your daughter probably has a decent chance of getting in anyway if she's in the top 300. But you won't know for sure until March.

I think if she sits the 2nd round test and is within 3 miles she is guaranteed a place? This is from admissions.

"Candidates who currently live within 3 miles of the school at the point when they submit their application to the Local Authority in October, providing that the candidate is capable of following The Henrietta Barnett School education. In this category, a candidate will be considered to have the necessary capability if they sit the Round Two test. In the unlikely event that there are more candidates in this category than places available, then places will be allocated in rank score order. "

Anyone who lives within 3 miles by the time the caf is completed and passes round 1 automatically gets a place, so yes, by moving and renting within catchment the op would get a space.

edited to add: anyone who currently lives within the 3 mile catchment and was invited to sit for the 2nd round already knows that they have a place at the school. They don’t need to wait til March to find this out… they have to attend and sit the 2nd round, but their performance in it isn’t considered for their application.

Any updates to this @GutsyBear, I’m intrigued to know what did you end up doing?