Moving house for a school place: a checklist

Before you choose an area

1. Read the admission arrangements for every school you are interested in. Is there a catchment area, a distance rule, faith criteria, a test?
2. Look at several years of offer distances, not one. A distance that has shrunk three years running is telling you something.
3. Check sibling numbers. A large sibling intake one year can push the distance in.
4. Check the timing. Your address on the closing date (31 October for secondary, 15 January for primary in England) is usually the one that counts. Some schools check it again before September.
5. Look at the whole neighbourhood: house prices around each school, how deprived the area is, crime and travel times.

The rules on addresses

Your address must be your child’s genuine, permanent home. Admission authorities can ask for proof, investigate, and withdraw a place that was obtained with a fraudulent or intentionally misleading application, even after your child has started in some cases. Short lets used only to secure a place, while keeping your main home elsewhere, are a common reason for withdrawals.

Scotland and Northern Ireland are different

In Scotland, living in a school’s catchment area normally gives your child a place there; to choose another school you make a placing request. See catchment and placing requests in Scotland. In Northern Ireland, there are no catchment areas: each school publishes its own admissions criteria.

What our Moving report adds

House prices within each school’s latest offer distance, deprivation and recorded crime for your postcode, who lives in the neighbourhood, and the history of offer distances, in one place. See plans