Not in Cathment question

[monsoon]

Hi,

Currenty we are not living in catchment, but living closer to AHS. (around 12 miles). Looking at the history of allocation distance, we still have a chance to get a place at AGH. However, we may have to move a bit further (again not in catchment, possible 20 miles) to another area in some times after 2011/2012 possibly after accepting the place in March.

I would like to find out can they(Bucks council) take the offer away, because we moved further away?

Very concerned...

Thanks
Monsoon.

[Marylou]

Hi,

Currenty we are not living in catchment, but living closer to AHS. (around 12 miles). Looking at the history of allocation distance, we still have a chance to get a place at AGH. However, we may have to move a bit further (again not in catchment, possible 20 miles) to another area in some times after 2011/2012 possibly after accepting the place in March.

I would like to find out can they(Bucks council) take the offer away, because we moved further away?

Very concerned...

Thanks
Monsoon.

I think you are supposed to tell them. There is a chance they might withdraw the offer in the light of the information, but I suppose it all depends on when you actually move. Is there any way you can time the move until after the child has actually started at the school?

The allocation profiles are published on the same day as the offers are made, so you would be able to see from this whether or not your new home would still be within "allocatable" distance. Of course this might not be very helpful if you are already well advanced in the moving process.

In view of the competition for places, bear in mind that if you don't provide the information there is a chance that someone else will. A case in point: there were rumours flying around last year that a family was about to move to our village after one of their children had been awarded a place at the same school that we had been refused on distance grounds, but before starting there. Fortunately it turned out not to be the case - the family never materialized, maybe they moved somewhere else instead. I don't know whether or not I would have said anything, but I do remember feeling extremely disgruntled at the time! (And I don't think it would have done much for harmonious neighbourly relations either! )

[Sally-Anne]

Hi Monsoon

This could be tricky and it will all depend on when you are planning to move. As you probably know, the system is designed to weed out fraudulent applications, not applications where families have to move for genuine reasons. Provided you qualify for a place within the rules that are specified and you are entirely honest with the Admissions teams (at your own authority and at Bucks CC) at all times you have nothing to fear. The regulations are as follows.

The deadline for providing evidence of your current address is 12th November 2010. That address is the one that is used for allocating a school place. However, please note this point (taken from the current - 2010 - admissions brochure, so subject to change):

If you have been allocated a place at an over subscribed school and move further away before September 2010 the place may be withdrawn. In all cases, you must tell us immediately if you move house after making your application, but before we offer your child a school place. You must also provide evidence of that new address.

That is a slightly confusing statement because it suggests that there are two deadlines - September and March! The School Admissions Code clarifies the position somewhat, as follows (I have edited out points that are not relevant to you):

Withdrawing offers of places
1.50 Once an offer of a school place has been made it is only reasonable for an admission authority to withdraw that offer in very limited circumstances. These may include when a parent has failed to respond to an offer within a reasonable time or the admission authority offered the place on the basis of a fraudulent or intentionally misleading application from a parent (for example, a false claim to residence in a catchment area) which effectively denied a place to another child; or where a place was offered under co-ordination by the local authority, not the admission authority, in error.

1.51 A school must not withdraw a place once a child has started at the school, except where that place was fraudulently obtained. In deciding whether to withdraw the place, the length of time that the child had been at the school must be taken into account, for example, it might be considered appropriate to withdraw the place if the child has been at the school for less than one term.

My advice would be to stay put until September 2011 and to be completely honest at every stage.

Sally-Anne

[monsoon]

Thank you very much for the information... very helpful..

I am not sure when we have to move.. or even if do end up moving!!!! (too complicated to explain in this forum)..
Another question... once my child has started in Sep, then we move out in dec or Jan 2012.. can they take her place away.. ?

I am really freaking out, because I really don't want my daughter to start at AHS then had to move to another school, just because we have to move further away. That will knock her down for sure.

[Midget Man]

I think that after a chld has been there 6 month's they then cannot take the school place away from the child at this point. If you move further out of catchment once your child is offered the place and before the 6 month's this really could be an awful situation for the child.

[Sally-Anne]

As per the quote above from the Admissions Code, provided you have not obtained the place fraudulently, once your child has started school in September, the place cannot be taken away.

[monsoon]

Thank you so much for your replies....
I am just hoping and praying we can stay put for few more years.